NegaFix produced excellent scans, but many of the controls can be found on the main interface, so again some unnecessary doubling up. The Pixel Clone tool is an unnecessary addition which I can't imagine will get much use - if any, from most users. LaserSoft support Digital ICE for the Epson 4990 and other scanners, given the price of SilverFast I feel LaserSoft should incorporate support for FARE with the Canon 9950F.

This is a cumbersome process and didn't always produce the best result, I tried it several times but found that using the Spot Healing brush in Photoshop CS2 produced good results. The main weakness in this software is the dust and scratch removal filter. The manual is in PDF and covers every aspect of the interface and almost on every palette there is a movie tutorial showing you how to get the best results (Karl-Heinz needs to put a bit more life in his delivery though). There are many features buried within the interface, even now after using the software for over 10 days I am still finding extra features. The interface may seem daunting when you first launch the software, but you can be productive within minutes.

Now Lasersoft have released a full Ai version of SliverFast, this breathes new life into the Canon 9950F and finally we can see just how much detail can be extracted from film scans. This was mainly due to the limitations of ScanGear software. I was eager to put this scanner to the test and despite a few difficulties during the review the scanner didn't deliver its full potential. The Canon 9950F promised to be the ultimate in consumer flatbed scanners, a Canon spokesperson even told us that it was so good that they were discontinuing their film scanner. Even after six pages I still feel I have only scratched the surface of this software. I only intended doing a two page review on SilverFast Ai, but then I discovered that there were some very useful features in the Studio version which needed to be looked at too.

Canoscan 9950f review