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I’ve been scanning negatives for many years, using VueScan. Yes, VueScan can have a steep learning curve to get past the basics. But with a little study and patience, if set up properly, VueScan can potentially save hours and hours of time over the software that comes with the scanner, and the Pro version may offer advanced features beyond what the manufacturer’s software provides.
Another major problem is that a scanner manufacturer can stop updating their software to keep up with new version
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After my earlier reply, I realized there may be a way to scan directly into Photoshop using the software built into your Mac. It only requires downloading and installing one Epson software component, which will allow the Epson scanner to be seen by the built-in scanning features in macOS, which Photoshop can use.
I tested this using an Epson scanner I have from the early 2000s that is older and less capable than a V700, so I think it should work with a V700, which is said to be a very nice sca
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I’ve been scanning negatives for many years, using VueScan. Yes, VueScan can have a steep learning curve to get past the basics. But with a little study and patience, if set up properly, VueScan can potentially save hours and hours of time over the software that comes with the scanner, and the Pro version may offer advanced features beyond what the manufacturer’s software provides.
Another major problem is that a scanner manufacturer can stop updating their software to keep up with new versions of macOS. VueScan is constantly updated and is compatible with the very latest version of macOS, so it solves that problem too. Which affects my own very old scanner…there is no manufacturer’s software compatible with macOS 14.5, but VueScan is compatible and keeps running my scanner through every macOS upgrade.
But, let's suppose you still want to give up on VueScan. First, let’s answer your question:
I'm wondering if there is any way to be able to use Photoshop instead of the proprietary software that came with the scanner in order to be able to scan in negatives, slides, and x-rays.
By @Patrick323261272nm3
That requires a plug-in specifically written for both that scanner and Photoshop. Which usually means it is also proprietary, so if the proprietary software isn’t a solution then that would (usually) cut off the possibility of a plug-in.
One potential solution is taking advantage of the scanning features built into macOS, which Photoshop can use. (Edit: I expanded on this option in my follow-up reply in this thread, see that one.)
If your goal is to scan directly into Photoshop, just be aware it is often not the most efficient way. A better goal is to have the scanning software save files to a normal folder on your desktop. That would simplify things, because now all you have to do is find software you like that can run the V700 and have it save scanned negatives to a folder.
I’ll quickly describe how I scan negatives or anything else in bulk.
1. I have VueScan tell my scanner to scan a negative strip, automatically number each one in the sequence, and save each frame to a separate image file in the folder.
2. I have another application watching that folder. I have Lightroom Classic watch it, but Adobe Bridge can also be used. Either app can show a grid of the photos that the scanning software is saving to it, so I can watch them appear as they are saved, making sure they were scanned properly in case I have to do any over. But you could also do this with just the Mac desktop, for example by putting a folder into Icon or Gallery view.
3. It is not necessary to scan them directly into Photoshop, because if I need to edit any of them in Photoshop I can simply have Photoshop open it from that folder. For example, if an image is selected in Bridge, pressing the Enter key pops it open in Photoshop.
There is no way this kind of project can be anything but time-consuming. The best way to save time is to automate as much of it as possible. For me, that means:
1. Use scanning software that can be set up to do as much as possible automatically, such as scanning entire filmstrips, breaking them up into separate files, sequentially naming them to match the negative numbers, etc. For me, that software is VueScan. (Some prefer SilverFast.)
2. Whichever software you choose, study the options to reduce the amount of image-by-image work needed later.
3. Use an organizer app such as Adobe Bridge, Lightroom Classic, or other to be able to do bulk metadata entry (names, places…) and organization after scanning. They can also be used to apply visual changes to multiple frames at once, or entire film rolls at once.
Photoshop only edits files one at a time, so it is very slow for bulk management and editing. I started out editing scans with Photoshop over 20 years ago, and that is why progress was so slow back then. Now I use bulk photo organizer/editors instead, so today I can have them apply metadata and visual edits to many more scans a lot more quickly.
Today I only use Photoshop on the few frames that need more corrections than Lightroom Classic or Bridge+Camera Raw can handle in bulk.
After my earlier reply, I realized there may be a way to scan directly into Photoshop using the software built into your Mac. It only requires downloading and installing one Epson software component, which will allow the Epson scanner to be seen by the built-in scanning features in macOS, which Photoshop can use.
I tested this using an Epson scanner I have from the early 2000s that is older and less capable than a V700, so I think it should work with a V700, which is said to be a very nice scanner.
1. Go to the Epson web page for the V700, select your operating system, then expand the Drivers section. Download the file “ICA Scanner Driver v5.8.23 for Image Capture”. This will download a disk image named “ESICA_5.8.23.dmg”.
2. Double-click ESICA_5.8.23.dmg, and run the installer in it. This installs a component that allows macOS to see the Epson scanner directly.
3. Connect the V700 scanner to the Mac and set it up to scan film. On my Epson, this involves using the film holder and making sure the lid backlight is on.
4. Open Photoshop, and choose the menu command File > Import > Images From Device. That command connects Photoshop to macOS built-in scanning, and opens the Import Images from Device dialog box which is not part of Photoshop but is actually supplied by macOS.
5. If the name of the V700 scanner isn’t selected in the left sidebar under Devices, select it. This will display scanning options in the right sidebar.
6. If it doesn’t do an overview scan on its own, click the Overview button.
7. In the right sidebar, make sure all of the settings are the way you want them, including the folder where it will save the scan. After you set the frame Size, you can drag the dashed rectangle over the film frame you want to scan next. Remember that because consumer film frames are so small, the scanning resolution should be high if you want to be able to print enlargements from the file. I set mine to 3200 dpi, which will allow a 300 ppi enlargement of a 35mm frame at up to about 10 inches. However, the actual sharpness you get can depend on other factors, such as whether the film has a curl to it (causing edges to go out of focus) and whether the film holder can keep that film flat.
7. Click Scan to do the final scan. The macOS scanning software saves the new image to the folder set in Scan To, and also sends it to Photoshop, which opens the scan.
(There is a way to make macOS scanning save each frame separately in one pass: Select Custom Size and then draw out the other frame rectangles yourself, because at least for my scanner it doesn’t auto-detect each film frame. VueScan, shown below, can auto-detect all frames and save each separately.)
By adding the Epson scanning component to the Mac, you can use the Epson scanner with any application that takes advantage of macOS built-in scanning. Step 4 showed how to get to macOS scanning from inside Photoshop, but you can also do it by:
- Opening Apple Image Capture.
- Opening any application that has a command that opens that same macOS scanning dialog box. For example, in Apple Preview the command is File > Import from Scanner, in Affinity Photo the command is File > Acquire Image, and in Pixelmator Pro the command is File > Import.
One more note…the scanner did not work reliably through a USB hub. I had to attach it to a USB port on the Mac itself. The Epson help files do warn about this.
Again, I think scanning one frame at a time into Photoshop is a very slow way to scan thousands of negatives. And, macOS built-in scanning offers only basic options compared to the software by Epson or VueScan. Below is what VueScan is going to do using the same Epson scanner, after I set it up: Auto-detect all frames in the strip (because Multi Crop is on), restore their faded colors (because Restore Fading is on in the Color tab), split them into separate frames, and number their file names to match the film frame numbers (because of how the file name option is set up in the Input tab). VueScan also scanned the same four frames at high resolution in much less time than the macOS scanning software did.
IIRC Image Capture does not use the built-in ICE hardware, that requires either Epson Scan, VueScan, or Silverfast.
By @Lumigraphics
That’s right, Digital ICE features aren’t supported by the free macOS scanning option. Good of you to mention that, because I certainly think Digital ICE saves a lot of dust/scratches cleanup time when scanning film. It’s another reason I use VueScan.
Fortunately, Epson discloses that on at least some of their scanner pages, you can see a note in the Epson web site screen shot I included earlier where they point people to VueScan or SilverFast if they need Digital ICE.
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