scanning slides with 3200 - advice sought

[Blizzard]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

I'm scanning a large batch of slides for a relative. I've scanned them all
at 2400 using the pro setting with no sharpening, no colour correction, no
dust removal and no cropping (ie "normal" preview).

They are now a bunch of very dull and dark looking tifs and the colour is
very faded looking. Some are so dark they can hardly be seen.

After rotating and manual cropping I intend to batch process them with
Photoshop. Does the following sound OK?? Auto levels, Auto Colour, Curves
(to increase brightness), then selecting out the darker ones for curves to
brighten again, then unsharp mask (all at 4 pixels and 100%). I'll then save
these as JPGs and give the guy the tifs and the jpgs. I may remove a little
dust manaully along the way but there isn't much as I did them with a soft
brush prior to putting them in the scanner.

It has taken me quite a bit of experimenting to come up with the above but
realise there is probably a way to arrive at better results so I'd be
grateful for comments and suggestions.

 

[Blizzard]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

"blizzard" <wombats@4eva.mon> wrote in message
news:kBuNd.3096$fc4.1377@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
> I'm scanning a large batch of slides for a relative. I've scanned them all
> at 2400 using the pro setting with no sharpening, no colour correction, no
> dust removal and no cropping (ie "normal" preview).
>
> They are now a bunch of very dull and dark looking tifs and the colour is
> very faded looking. Some are so dark they can hardly be seen.
>
> After rotating and manual cropping I intend to batch process them with
> Photoshop. Does the following sound OK?? Auto levels, Auto Colour, Curves
> (to increase brightness), then selecting out the darker ones for curves to
> brighten again, then unsharp mask (all at 4 pixels and 100%). I'll then
> save
> these as JPGs and give the guy the tifs and the jpgs. I may remove a
> little
> dust manaully along the way but there isn't much as I did them with a soft
> brush prior to putting them in the scanner.
>
> It has taken me quite a bit of experimenting to come up with the above but
> realise there is probably a way to arrive at better results so I'd be
> grateful for comments and suggestions.


I should have added that they have been scanned using Espon Scan direct into
ACDsee and that one problem is that after using auto levels in Photoshop,
the scans are still too dark to see them to crop properly. I currently have
to use curves to brighten them enough to crop. What am I doing wrong??

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

Oy.
Before you can batch scan you have to make sure you have images that have
the same qualities with regard to lightness and darkness and general
coloration.
Also you do not mention the emulsion: if it is Kodachrome you may be SOL
with regard to your scanner: Kodachrome is very dense compared to E6 type
emulsions and many scanners just can;t handle it. On the other hand if you
preview and make adjustments you may be able to coax reasonably good scans
from the slides.
Alas it is all so time consuming.
You probably have to preview each frame in the holder, make minimal
adjustments in your prescan software and then see what you get.
You should be using whatever dust removal program your scanner uses but,
again, if you have alot of Kodachromes you may be SOL.

 

[Blizzard]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

"bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:0JBNd.1744$lz5.1733@newssvr24.news.prodigy.net...
> Oy.
> Before you can batch scan you have to make sure you have images that have
> the same qualities with regard to lightness and darkness and general
> coloration.
> Also you do not mention the emulsion: if it is Kodachrome you may be SOL
> with regard to your scanner: Kodachrome is very dense compared to E6 type
> emulsions and many scanners just can;t handle it. On the other hand if you
> preview and make adjustments you may be able to coax reasonably good scans
> from the slides.
> Alas it is all so time consuming.
> You probably have to preview each frame in the holder, make minimal
> adjustments in your prescan software and then see what you get.
> You should be using whatever dust removal program your scanner uses but,
> again, if you have alot of Kodachromes you may be SOL.


As there are quite a few and time is short, I particularly wanted to avoid
giving them individual attention. Levels in Photoshop was looking promising,
but I've now tried Paint Shop Pro and found that a script for Automatic
Contrast Enhancement - Automatic Colour balance - Automatic Saturation
Enhancement, followed by manual crop, followed by a script with One Step
Photo Fix - mild Unsharp Mask Sharpen gives good results.

The are more than one film type but most are Kodakchrome and they go back to
1965. What is "SOL"?

I have tried the scanners dust removal software and now avoid it like the
plague as it removes wanted detail. Are you saying it would be better than
running a batch dust removal script using Photoshop?? (The Epson 3200
doesn't have an IR channel.)

The wanted detail along with some dust marks are now stored on the original
scans which can be manually processed at some time in the future if
required.

 

[Blizzard]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

"blizzard" <wombats@4eva.mon> wrote in message
news:kBuNd.3096$fc4.1377@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
> I'm scanning a large batch of slides for a relative. I've scanned them all
> at 2400 using the pro setting with no sharpening, no colour correction, no
> dust removal and no cropping (ie "normal" preview).
>
> They are now a bunch of very dull and dark looking tifs and the colour is
> very faded looking. Some are so dark they can hardly be seen.
>
> After rotating and manual cropping I intend to batch process them with
> Photoshop. Does the following sound OK?? Auto levels, Auto Colour, Curves
> (to increase brightness), then selecting out the darker ones for curves to
> brighten again, then unsharp mask (all at 4 pixels and 100%). I'll then
> save
> these as JPGs and give the guy the tifs and the jpgs. I may remove a
> little
> dust manaully along the way but there isn't much as I did them with a soft
> brush prior to putting them in the scanner.
>
> It has taken me quite a bit of experimenting to come up with the above but
> realise there is probably a way to arrive at better results so I'd be
> grateful for comments and suggestions.


The correct answer was . . . .

Vuescan.

It handles the dark slides really well and the long exposure setting is a
great help and makes a big difference. With the darkest ones I have to slide
the white point up whilst looking at the right end of the histogram. If I
use auto settings I get a very dark scan which, aftera great deal of work
in Photoshop, is almost, but not quite as good as the Vuescan one. I love
vuescan. These good scans make up for a few problems with options changing
of their own accord and refusing to load again, until comp is rebooted.