Aztek DPL experience?

[Masterview]

I use a Howtek D4000 drum scanner and run it off an Apple G3 iBook laptop connected with a Firewire to SCSI adapter and Silverfast. I don't like the adapter, Silverfast is underwhelming, and the iBook isn't going to last much longer. I have been looking at my options and see that Aztek's software is the only one available new and with support, so I would like to hear from users what they think about it, especially compared to Silverfast. I know it only runs on Windows, so does anyone use it on Windows 7, or at least using the XP patch? This resulting files will be used on a PowerMac Quad G5, so I only need a computer for the scanning.

 

[timparkin]

Aztek DPL Pro

I use a Mac Pro for my post processing and have a dedicated windows machine for scanning and it runs DPL Pro driving a Howtek 4500. The DPL software is something I would consider as essential to getting the most out of the Howtek equipment.

The major 'bonus' of the DPL software is the ability to reprogram the sensitivity of the op-amps that are attached to the photomultipliers. Effectively this is like being able to turn the iso sensitivity up in a camera but much more flexible.

A trick I use regularly in order to get great shadow detail is to make a calibrated 'regular' chrome scan (a generic chrome scan is a preset that DPL standard comes with) which is fine and gets into the shadows but most of the data is in the highlights and mid tones. This means that if you boost the shadows a lot, you end up with banding and quite a bit of noise (just as you would with Silverfast).

However, I then make another scan with 'log chrome' preset which scans with a lot of data in the shadows (turning up the sensitivity on the PMTs).

Combining these together with a luminosity mask gives me pseudo 20bit scans which have great colour and gradation in the shadows.

The other advantage is when scanning neg film when the PMTs can be programmed to have their full range just covering the range of the tones in the neg film (I'm talking color neg here from my personal experience). This means you don't throw away most of your data as you would with a scan that covered everything from white to black.

In order to do most of what I'm talking about, DPL Standard would be fine. DPL Pro allows you to set the curves for the PMTs yourself (rather than using presets) which is great for tricky neg film and gives some of the best neg results I've seen.

My only negative on the DPL is that you can't batch process with different manual focussing (an anal requirement of mine as I prefer to manually focus at the moment)

Hope that helps!

Tim

 

[Ben Altman]

I've had DPL Pro for a 4500 for a couple of years and recently upgraded it to run a 7500 also. I run it in on XP Pro using a Dell box, but any old XP desktop from Craigslist would be fine. I network the files to my Mac for editing. I am not a high volume user, so cannot give you a detailed review. The results I get are good. I really like the feature Tim mentions about controlling the PMTs with individual curves, as I scan both B&W and color negatives and love the ability to get a full histogram from the scanner without stretching the values. I have created some base curves of my own by scanning a Stouffer step wedge and that often gives me a good starting point. The Aztec folks are responsive and helpful.

Drawbacks - the manual, while fairly thorough, is poorly written. The user interface is workmanlike but not entirely intuitive and definitely not sexy.

Cost these days is not a whole lot more than Trident; DPL seems like a better product to me, with continuing development work and decent support.

Best, Ben

 

[clay]

I use DPL Pro with my Howtek 8000 and I concur with all the above comments. It is extremely powerful yet easy to understand. If you are using one of its supported scanners, it is going to allow you to get the most out of your film scans. The ability to control the response on each PMT is the thing that sets this software apart from all the rest.

 

[Masterview]

That is encouraging. I'll look into getting a PC to hook up the scanner and use DPL. I got the scanner and just haven't used it as much as I intended because of the lack luster software. Hopefully this will change that.

 

[timparkin]

You have to remember that it's "engineering" software and so won't look like the latest iPad app

That said, it is easy to use and it looks like you've got some people here who would happily help ..

 

[Donsta]

I've used Silverscan and DPL quite a bit on Howtek 4500 - I much prefer DPL. You can run it on just about any PC - just dedicate a machine.

 

[clay]

I got a barebones Winbox at Microcenter to run my scanner. Popped the SCSI card in it, and it works fine. Totally dedicated to running DPL and the scanner. Compared to the cost of the software, the drum or even the loading station for the drum, the PC needed represents a very small fraction of the total cost. Also, if you don't do anything else on this computer, you don't have to worry about running a bunch of AV software or anything else that will slow it down. I don't even have mine connected to the internet. I plug in the network cable when I need to transfer files to my Mac and leave it unplugged the rest of the time.