26. January 2010
New version online - 6.6.1r5

15. January 2010
The optimum archiving solution: SilverFast Archive Suite
The latest issue 01/2010 of french .psd PHOTOSHOP magazine features an enthused article about the SilverFast Archive Suite.

.psd magazine: "LaserSoft Imaging succeeded to develop a software that allows the effective digitization of large image collections in record time."
(cf. .psd magazine 01/2010 p.49)

The new 64bit HDRi format, which contains the infrared channel's data besides the usual image information, is introduced initially. These additional raw scan infrared data can be used later on to remove dust and scratches with SilverFast iSRD®. The improved iSRD® works more searching and detail saving than usual iCE®, and up to 4x faster on systems with multicore processors.
Some further SilverFast features are addressed in the article's second part as well as the workflow of the Archive Suite in detail. 12. January 2010
Update: The improved Auto-Sharpening USM is now available for Canon and Nikon scanners

(Click to enlarge)

With version 6.6.1r4b SilverFast saves scanner related information along with the image data. This allows an advanced automatic Unsharp Masking for the later post processing with SilverFast HDR, which takes the specific scanner details into account and is therefore able to produce brilliant, pin sharp images.

After this feature was previously available for EPSON scanners only, it can now also be used with scanners of the brands Canon and Nikon.

Read more about the SilverFast Unsharp Masking.

8. January 2010
Filmscans that last forever - with SilverFast
"They lie in boxes and cases, they fade and mold - slides and negatives from many years of analogue photography."

This is the introduction to a detailed article on film scanning released in the latest issue 02/2010 of German MACup magazine. Problems that often occur when scanning older film and basic tips therefore are covered as well as new and helpful technologies - also understandable for beginners.



The MACup editorial staff soon concludes: "Prerequisite for perfect scans of transparent originals is a proper film scanner. The device should feature an infrared sensor in any case, [...] and it should cooperate with the latest version of scan software SilverFast."

The second part starts with a detailed introduction of SilverFast, which explains important features like SilverFast Multi-Exposure®, iSRD® and the new 64-bit HDRi format. A following SilverFast workflow résumé completes the article.

Please read the entire article in the actual MACup magazine issue (German) or ...

... visit our HDRi website. 6. January 2010
A way to recover old Kodachrome treasures - with SilverFast Ai 6.6
After 75 years of production Kodak has discontinued the successful Kodachrome film in 2009. Due to the durability of these films the treasure of film material, that is lying in photographer's archives or private slide collections, is hard to imagine. Kodachrome film has very special characteristics, for which it is not easy to save these treasures, i.e. to digitize, to scan them. The german photography magazine fotoforum devotes an article to this topic in the first issue of 2010 and therefore tests the digitization of Kodachrome slides with SilverFast.


A reflecta DigitDia 5000, which is capable of batch scanning up to 100 slides using a slide feeder and the SilverFast automatics, was used for the testings. The SilverFast Kodachrome profiles prevented the bluecast, that normally shows up when scanning Kodachromes. Perfect truecolor results were received after calibrating the scanner using a special Kodachrome IT8 target from LaserSoft Imaging. An automatic dust and scratch removal is very complicated with Kodachrome slides. Using SilverFast's iSRD® in contrast the editorial staff could manage to achieve very nice results quickly.

The fotoforum's conclusion: "The scan software SilverFast is well suited for achieving great Kodachrome scans. The Kodachrome calibration ensures that Kodachromes are recognized colortruly without requiring the user to do extensive color corrections afterwards. Additionally SilverFast's dust and scratch removal iSRD does a good job on digitally cleaning the old Kodachrome slides."

Learn more about the SilverFast Kodachrome features and the Kodachrome targets on our websites.