How to scan slides

[billcotter]

I do a lot of restoration of old slides and negatives from various World's Fairs, and a lot of people ask me about what is involved in getting their own photos to look good again. I just put together a short page trying to encourage them to restore their photos and not toss them. The address is

http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/restoration

I'll briefly echo what others have said - a scanner with Digital ICE is the key to starting the job. It will save you a TON of time, especially if you have a large number of slides. ICE actually works with an infraed beam that scans the negative for extra thickness (dirt) or thinness (scratch). You have to see the results to believe it. Some scanners and some software also allow for multiple passes to better interpolate the results. I find that a 35mm slide takes about 3 min on my Nikon Coolscan with ICE on, but the extra time is well worth the time I would have to spend manually fixing some of this stuff.

Regards

Bill

[dkcoats]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

...one thing you may want to consider is using a small air AC operated compressor like the kind used to fill up tires or for use in home workshops.

A caution here: automotive/industrial/construction-type compressors are a bad choice for photo applications. When you're pumping up your tires or driving nails, a little oil or water along with the air isn't a big deal. When you're cleaning film, it is.

dc

[alain754]

Originally Posted by billcotter

a scanner with Digital ICE is the key to starting the job. It will save you a TON of time, especially if you have a large number of slides. ICE actually works with an infraed beam that scans the negative for extra thickness (dirt) or thinness (scratch).

If your slides are Kodachrome, I'm not sure Digital ICE work well ... anyone knows something about this ?
Alain

[imann08]

Originally Posted by billcotter

I do a lot of restoration of old slides and negatives from various World's Fairs, and a lot of people ask me about what is involved in getting their own photos to look good again. I just put together a short page trying to encourage them to restore their photos and not toss them. The address is

http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/restoration

I'll briefly echo what others have said - a scanner with Digital ICE is the key to starting the job. It will save you a TON of time, especially if you have a large number of slides. ICE actually works with an infraed beam that scans the negative for extra thickness (dirt) or thinness (scratch). You have to see the results to believe it. Some scanners and some software also allow for multiple passes to better interpolate the results. I find that a 35mm slide takes about 3 min on my Nikon Coolscan with ICE on, but the extra time is well worth the time I would have to spend manually fixing some of this stuff.

Thanks a lot Bill. Being able to see Digital ICE in action through your link is very helpful for me. I have really debated whether or not I want to spend the money to work on these slides since they are my possession. If it was a job, then it wouldn't have been that hard to decide. After seeing your link, it really tells me that I should do it.

For everyone else to consider, can Alain754's question be answered? To add to that, if there is a problem, what is its significance and what is an alternative or addition to Digital ICE if the problem is significant?

[pure]

could i add a question here please:

i got slide scans from the lab. accidentally they scanned it in iso-cmyk. but i prefer working in adobe RGB colorspace, as its smaller files and bigger colorspace. they want to sell the images as stock material, mostly on their website, so they would have to convert it later also, i guess.

may i oversea something here, or any disadvantage in converting all 100 scans from cmyk to RGB before retouching them?

thanks

[billcotter]

I have found that the scratch removal function of Digital ICE usually works with Kodachrome, but only if the other features such as color and grain reduction are off. If they are left on the photo shifts dramatically in terms of brightness, producing a very odd halo effect on bright areas, and leading to unacceptable color correction. For Kodachrome, I will scan with ICE on, the other features off, then color correct in software with Digital ROC and other tools.

Hope that helps. If anyone needs to see some samples to illustrate any of this just let me know.

Bill

[Steve Conway]

If all else fails, set up a screen and project your slides and shoot them from the screen. I have had good results with this method..(camera on tripod). If needed, a touch-up in PSP works pretty well.

Might work with negatives too, but haven't tried it.

Steve

[Bryan L]

I've had great results with my Epson Perfection 4990 flatbed scanning slides. I've done hundreds of Kodachrome with ICE and have had great results. I've never used a dedicated slide scanner so I'm not sure how they compare. I've scanned and made 4x6 prints (mostly) for customers and they look perfect.

One thing to take into consideration is the amount of time. You can figure on between 4-8 minutes per slide with DICE turned on. I can do 8 at a time. I "think" the Nikon slide scanners are faster but I'm not sure.

-B