Laurenz Bobke writes: : I think I'll give it a try - I still have my old PC, but scanning slides : with good resolution never was "fun" on this single core 3.5 GHz Machine. I used SCSI rather than USB when it was available on the scanner - the transfer speed was a massive improvement, though my tests scanning using a P3 500, P3 750, AMD 1800, AMD 2400 & AMD 2800 I saw no difference in scan speeds with these machines, nor a difference between win98 and win 2000. Oddly though an old P2 350 had a slight edge on all the above (!) Old machines really can be useful when the OS is slimmed down and they're not cluttered with rubbish :) especially if dedicated to a few tasks - like a simple fileserver. : The new PC is much stronger (4 GB RAM...) and I would not have to transfer : files all the time. there's a distinct advantage in that! However you can use something like Synchbak* - as Vuescan is saving them to the scanning machines hard drive (which can become your backup folder), the files can be delivered automatically to a folder on your new machine ready for processing * freeware and highly adaptable http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html ) : Now, the main decision is whether to immediately buy the pro edition or play : it safe and first buy standard and upgrade to pro if everything works as : expected. my guess is you'll become a devotee in no time and will be happy at having bought the pro version. And lifetime upgrades are free ! : How big is the difference between the two versions anyway? Is the "raw" file : I can generate much superior to a tif? RAW has all the advantages it has in a camera version.. and no one shoots TIF these days when they can shoot raw ;) However white balance is not a prob with shooting slides, nor should it be when scanning, but even Vuescans negative masks can do with the odd tweak. ICC is not a big issue for me (I don't wear a graphic artists hat when being a photographer) : I know the importance of shooting raw with a camera, but it would appear to : me that conditions are much more controlled when scanning (for example white : balance should not be a problem?) and all in all I just want to replicate : most of the slides I've taken and not be overly creative now. : After all I wouldn't scan the non-keepers in the first place... again, the free upgrades make this worthwhile.. though I'm happy using the old version I have, I'd only want to upgrade for some new feature of to add support to a new scanner or camera did I mention it also can be used to fiddle with camera RAWs ? :) http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/vuescan.htm#rawfiles karl
