• SilverFast - Quality Scanner and Digital Imaging Software made in Germany since 1986
News
14. October 2016

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SilverFast 8.8 now including new Auto Sharpness Presets


For sharpening your images, SilverFast 8 offers the USM functionality (Unsharp Masking). In order to sharpen an image correctly, the resolution which will be used has to be taken into account. Varying scan resolutions require individual sharpening parameters.




Sharpening made easy with the new SilverFast 8.8:
Initially and before you start sharpening, set your desired resolution. Now open the USM tool dialog and our new Auto Sharpness feature will automatically select sharpness parameters, which have been adjusted to your specific scanner and scan resolution by our SilverFast experts. This procedure applies a basic sharpness to your images. In most cases the sharpness impression will now be considered as sufficiently optimized. If you are not yet satisfied with the sharpening effect, you can also make manual adjustments for fine tuning.

For further information on SilverFast Unsharp Masking please visit our USM feature website.

10. October 2016

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SilverFast now supports 4K monitors! – Starting with 8.8.0r6, SilverFast supports 4K monitors. The user interface is displayed correctly from this version on for the typical Ultra HD (UHD) resolutions of 4K monitors.

27. September 2016

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SilverFast 8.8 supports macOS Sierra (10.12) – SilverFast 8.8 scanner and HDR software runs natively on Intel Mac systems from version OS X 10.7 (including macOS Sierra). With the release of version 8.8, the SilverFast System Requirements have been changed, 32 bit operating system support has been discontinued.

Here you find a list of all supported scanners.

20. September 2016

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LaserSoft Imaging starting today at photokina 2016!


Photokina, the most important event for photo, video and the entire imaging industry, takes place this year 09.20 – 09.25 in Cologne, Germany. As in previous years, we will once again offer a firsthand look at our products SilverFast 8 and PrinTao 8.

This year our focus is on the digitalization and editing of difficult image originals, such as Kodachrome, Negatives and Black/White originals. We will demonstrate how in the digitalization of large amounts of images SilverFast Archive Suite´s “non-destructive” workflow saves time while maintaining maximum image quality. We will also demonstrate why the innovative SRDx (removes dust and scratches from image originals) and the Clone-Tool (removes large scratches and tears) are now two indispensable tools.

Together with our Partner Epson, we will present our printing-solution PrinTao 8, exhibiting our software with select Epson-model large format printers. We will demonstrate how users save both paper and money with PrinTao 8 and how even first-time-users achieve fantastic results beginning their very first try.

Take advantage of this opportunity, visit us in Köln and learn more about the various industry innovations and trends. We invite you to meet with our LaserSoft Imaging specialists at the Epson Stand (Hall 02.2 Stand B011 & C012).

We look forward to seeing you soon!

More information on further highlights and activities auch as our expert talks can be found here.


16. August 2016

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PrinTao 8 supports new EPSON SureColor Large Format Printers:


24″ Printers: SC-P6000 and SC-P7000 (LLK)
44″ Printers: SC-P8000 and SC-P9000 (LLK)


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With the new SureColor SC-P series Epson introduces four large format printers, which feature printing widths of 24″ or 44″ and are therefore optimally suited for the professional use in the fields of Fine Art, Photo and Proofing. A particular advantage is their ability to accurately reproduce a very large color space. The SC-P6000 and the SC-P8000 are using the Epson UltraChrome HD ink with eight colors, while the models SC-P7000 and SC-P9000 are using UltraChrome HDx ink with ten colors. The UltraChrome HD inks and the Epson PrecisionCore printhead guarantee consistent and high-quality durable prints that cover up to 98% of the Pantone color space.

PrinTao 8 – the Mac OS X printing solution that guarantees maximum print quality, while offering highly efficent handling and ease of use. PrinTao 8 takes over color management and all printer driver settings, allowing you to concentrate entirely on your images.

For more information on PrinTao 8, just click here.

4. August 2016

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Scanning Color Negative Film - A Tutorial by Sebastian Schlüter


Scanning Color Negative Film with SilverFast Ai Studio 8 and Adobe Lightroom

Sebastian Schlüter is a photography artist, who's work can be described as a personal record of his observations. He would even call it an extension or a diversified document of all his encounters. His creative tool is photography, Sebastian's style is pure, honest and calm. While he uses both digital and film cameras Sebastian has a preference for the subtle and simple style of film photography. SilverFast is his choice to transfer his analog images to the digital world.

He has now published an article about getting started with scanning color negative film: Video Tutorial: Scanning Color Negative Film. Sebastian introduces SilverFast's NegaFix, Global Color Correction and Gradation tools. He also covers the basic settings and the challenges that come with scanning color negative film.





Sebastian Schlüter: « Make your own scans, your own interpretations, give the scans your artistic voice. That is what makes home scanning so fascinating. »

Visit Sebastian's Website and check out many other great Scanning Tutorials.


1. June 2016

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Do you know all benefits of the Archive Suite RAW Data Concept?


Film strips, slides, photos … studies have proved, that the emulsion of your images suffers and begins to gradually degrade over time. Your precious memories will fall victim to chemical dissolution processes and start to fade. The solution is obvious: your images need to be digitized, your memories preserved. Now a question arises:

How do I correctly digitize my images?


You're not sure how to approach this digitization process?
You're also afraid of scanning your images incorrectly, so you would end up having to start all over? This does not have to be the case!

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Start today to work more efficiently and safely. Check out our Movie or learn more about our RAW data concept on our website. This will help you understand why 64bit files are best for archiving images.

Purchase today and get 25% off*:


* The promotional period ends on June 19th, 2016. The discount applies to SilverFast HDR Studio 8 and the SilverFast Archive Suite 8.



New for the SilverFast Archive Suite: The Clone-Tool


Logo_CloneTool_SF8_100x80 Your photos, film strips and slides are suffering from the fact that colors fade or the chemical composition of film emulsion changes over time. In addition, dust, minor scratches and other damage are hard to avoid. Fingerprints, strong scratches and severe damage can ruin the overall impression of your favorite images and memories. They cannot be corrected by tools for dust and scratch removal.

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Learn more about how to remove such unpleasant defects quickly and efficiently. You will be surprised how easy it is to correct major defects on your favorite images: SilverFast Clone-Tool Website




7. April 2016

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Archiving for the Future – with SilverFast


The quality analog originals is getting worse over time. Even under optimal storage conditions the ravages of time destroys slides, negatives and photos. Thus, there is an urgent need for action. PROFIFOTO, a German photo magazine, introduces an effective way to to save the photographic media - the SilverFast Archive Suite.

The SilverFast Archive Suite is a comprehensive solution for creating digital image archives. Scanner software, image processing software, scanner calibration and an integrated color management - all in one package. Suitable for professionals and beginners alike.

The PROFIFOTO magazine introduces the Archive Suite to the reader and explains some of SilverFast's manifold features. The patented Multi-Exposure, which increases the Dynamic Range when scanning film media, iSRD and SRDx for removing dust and scratches and the WorkflowPilot as a step-by-step assistant. Furthermore, the concept of 64bit HDRi RAW data is illustrated - scan today, process tomorrow.

PROFIFOTO: « No compromise on Scanning: The combination of 64bit HDRi data format and SilverFast Multi-Exposure fully taps the power of the scanner and the potential of the image original and provides an excellent data base – also for future applications. […] In terms of quality and productivity, nobody puts something across the Archive Suite. »

You can find the complete article in the current PROFIFOTO issue (#4, April 2016).


1. April 2016

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Successful week for LaserSoft Imaging at the CeBIT trade fair!


Predictably, the world's largest IT fair again attracted many, many visitors to Hannover, Germany. Present at two booths, LaserSoft Imaging introduced the latest products and services in the field of scanning and image processing to the photo enthusiastic public.

Our daily demonstrations at the community area of the Schleswig-Holstein booth were well attended and we had a lot of interesting personal contacts and discussions. Besides our customers, numerous journalists wanted to know about SilverFast's new features and in particular about SRDx, our new (software based) dust and scratch removal tool. A lot of enthusiasm was caused by the unprecedented effectiveness of SRDx and by the fact that - unlike conventional tools - SRDx uses no blurring for dust and scratch removal.

In the Public Sector Park mainly representatives of municipalities and communities as well as IT distributors were interested in our OfficeSeries products. The major focus was set on the new OfficeScan&Print MFP EP-2000 and the new OfficePrinter EP-500. These solutions are optimized for the use by departments and authorities, they provide ICAO compliant scanning and printing results. These devices also support the DIGANT process of the German Bundesdruckerei. Furthermore, they are designed to also work as ideal everyday office scanner and printer. (More information on www.officescanner.de, German)

Many political representatives visited us. In addition to Mr. Lohse-Müller (Head of the State Chancellery and State Secretary of Schleswig-Holstein) also Dr. Frank Nägele (State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Technology), Dirk Loßack (State Secretary for Education), Ingbert Liebing (Regional Chairman of the CDU Schleswig-Holstein) and Ulf Kämpfer (Mayor of the city of Kiel) were present.

We thank our numerous visitors for an exciting week at the CeBIT. We had a good time at the EPSON and WTSH booths, both fair appearances were successfully organized.



7. March 2016

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LaserSoft Imaging at the CeBIT – Daily Demonstrations



From March 14th to March 18th this year‘s CeBIT trade fair will take place in Hannover, Germany. Of cause, LaserSoft Imaging AG will be present for showing a wide range of applications and solutions.

As in many previous years, we will present not only hardware and software but also complete solutions for concrete problems in cooperation with our partners. We will be at the Epson booth (Hall 7, A39) to inform you about special solutions in the area of ID card creation, Medical Scanning and Cultural Heritage. For example, we will demonstrate, why the use of specialized hardware and software is necessary for printing ID cards.

Our main booth is located on the community area of​ the Schleswig-Holstein booth (Hall 5, D34). Here we present the SilverFast Archive Suite and solutions for Medical Scanning and Cultural Heritage. Visit our live demonstrations and learn how to quickly create a high-quality digital archive of analog image and object originals, how to revive old photographies and learn about the secrets of image quality.

More info, free tickets and demonstration schedule.

3. March 2016

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SilverFast 8.8 Review & Tutorial by Lon Seidman, Part 1


How to Scan Film Negatives Using SilverFast Software

This is the first in a series of videos Lon.TV will be doing on photo archiving, with an emphasis on bringing in old film negatives. Therefore, Lon is using a Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II. He considers SilverFast as the best choice for scanning negatives. This video is a great tutorial for beginners, showing how to quickly adjust basic settings and batch scan film strips. In addition, he introduces and explains SilverFast's dust and scratch removal tools - the infrared based iSRD as well as the new software based SRDx.



Lon.TV « This first video shows how you can efficiently scan negatives using a flatbed scanner and SilverFast software. It can be as easy as loading them up and just a few mouse clicks. But SilverFast is also very good at finding and removing dust and scratches that might be on your negatives. Removing them at the time of scan means you'll have less to do later. Also important to note that the concepts covered here also apply universally to scanning in general. »


29. February 2016

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SilverFast "Against Decomposition"


Digitizing Photos, Slides and Negatives, Part 1

"Winter time is best to recover analog image treasures and to store them digitally in high quality or to make them available to others. The instruments therefore have never been more varied, sophisticated and less expensive." (Jeremias Radke)

This article introduces different approaches for digitizing photographic material. A particularly detailed focus is put on "Scanning with SilverFast".

Mac & i « Everyone, who needs quality scans, can hardly avoid SilverFast. Post-processing the scanned images using an additional image editing software is usually unnecessary, because SilverFast already features important editing functionality for color and brightness correction, for noise reduction, for sharpening, and for dust and scratch removal. »

However, a small inaccuracy has slipped into the article: The article states, any dust and scratch removal is always accompanied by a loss of sharpness. That is correct in relation to many common tools, but does not apply to SilverFast iSRD and SRDx. And that is exactly what is exceptional with our dust and scratch removal tools iSRD (infrared channel based) and SRDx (software based): Both do not blur the images; therefore, the basic detail sharpness remains fully intact.

The complete article (German) can be found in the current Mac & i issue (# 1/2016) or for downloading from the heise archive (as PDF for 3,29 €).


26. February 2016

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Is PrinTao 8 Your Tao of Printing?


PrinTao 8 is a Mac OS X Printing Solution for Canon and Epson Large Format Printers

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Professional and color consistent printing for Canon and Epson large format printers using PrinTao 8. From layout to printing, PrinTao's intuitive user interface combines the most important printing functionalities. The clearly structured Start Wizard is a great help for selecting printer model, paper type and size as well as output quality with just a few mouse clicks. The Luminous Landscape, a great photographer's knowledge resource, has released an illustrated in-depth review covering all important aspects of PrinTao 8.

Luminous Landscape « Lesson of experience: LSI has accomplished something very useful for those who would like to print painlessly without the trepidations of printer drivers and dual-sourced settings. »

« The Bottom Line – Print Quality: As pleasant a user experience that the interface is, what I like best about this application is that it makes fine prints. »

« Recommendation: This product is highly recommended for users who wish to simplify their printing experience using high quality print software and are willing to print from non-raw versions (JPEG, TIFF, PSD) of their raw files. »

Not covered by the article is PrinTao's great Media Manager, which comfortably allows to manage and download Icc profiles for a large range of photo papers. Starting from Euro 99,- for downloading, and also including plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, PrinTao 8 runs under Mac OS X 10.7. PrinTao 8 – Printing in Perfection.

The complete review can be found here on the The Luminous Landscape website.
If you are interested to learn more, please also visit our PrinTao 8 Youtube Channel.


17. February 2016

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25 Years LaserSoft Imaging


Celebrate with us! 25% discount for the next 25 days

LaserSoft Imaging celebrates it‘s 25th anniversary: We appreciate your confidence in us and our software SilverFast and would like to thank you by offering a special 25% discount on all SilverFast upgrades, SilverFast full versions and IT8 targets.

Benefit from this special discount offer within the next 25 days.
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logo_printao8_50x50 This discount also applies to our printing solution PrinTao 8 for Canon and Epson large format printers.



3. February 2016

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SRDx - New Dust and Scratch Removal - Specially suited for Epson scanners that do not have an infrared channel


A manual correction or retouching of dust, scratches and other image defects is an extremely time-consuming task. In the professional field, it sometimes can take 1-2 night shifts to optimize a single image. When it comes to removing such image defects from a mass of images, an automatic optimization tool is mandatory for reasons of effectiveness.

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SilverFast iSRD (infrared Smart Removal of Defects) is a proven method to get respectable results in a short time through using the information of the infrared channel, which a variety of scanners have built-in. Unlike, for example, its equivalent ICE, iSRD is continuously further developed and improved.

But what, if your scanner does not feature an infrared channel? Previously, you had to time-consumingly edit manually in Photoshop or in another image editing software. And you had to be carefully doing this, because these programs often blur the images, which always results in a loss of sharpness. Therefore, you may benefit from the new SilverFast SRDx functionality, especially for the following Epson scanners, which do not feature an infrared channel:

A4 scanners: Epson Perfection V10, V100, V200, V30, V300, V33, V330, V350, V37, V370, V500, V550 und V600

A3 scanners: Epson Expression 10000XL und 11000XL

Read more about SilverFast SRDx for Epson scanners in this PDF (using the example of the Epson Expression 11000XL).


21. January 2016

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Imaging Resource - Non-infrared Dust & Scratch Removal


www.imaging-resource.com, one of the largest photo news and review sites on the web with a lot of in-depth reviews backed by exhaustive lab tests, reviews the new SilverFast 8.8 SRDx and History features.

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The Imaging Resource article mainly focusses on SilverFast's new SRDx feature. It is a tool for removing dust and scratch artifacts from images. SRDx can be applied on analog images during the scan process as well as on already digitized images. This technique does not require the scanner providing an infrared channel.

Imaging Resource: « The trick here is that SilverFast 8.8 has new algorithms that analyze the actual pixels and compares what are pixels versus what are not pixels (aka dust and scratches). By comparing the pixels with dust and scratches, this means that this process can be done on already processed images and you do not need to re-scan. […]

Note that if you have Ai Studio, HDR Studio or the Archive Suite, there are some added functionality with new special tools: A Marker Tool for decreasing and increasing intensity, an Eraser Tool for protecting important image areas, and Setup Masks for using different correction effects. […]

The good news is that if you already have SilverFast 8, you can upgrade to this new release, 8.8, for free. »


The complete review can be found on the Imaging Resource websites.