Successful digital scanning of slides

[shelagh]

Hi there one and all,

Has anyone a real success story on this subject. I have borrowed a Nikon Coolscan 1V ED and I am really struggling to get anything like a realistic colour on the scan.  The detail is fine and size of the file is amazing but the colours are terribly blue and washed out.  Any advice would be gratefully received.

Shelagh

[shelagh]

I'm really  not just talking to myself, but it occurred to me that perhaps I had better show you what I mean. Picture 1 is a 2006 digital camera image and Picture 2 is a 2002 scanned slide, they are both part of the rockgarden at Tallinn BOtanic Garden.

Shelagh

[jomowi]

I use a Canon 2710 and have no problems.  It is important before you start is to calibrate the computer screen. then set the preferences including the colour management.  Also do this for your picture editor programme, Photoshop or Elements are best.  I use no "colour management" prefering to use my own settings throughout.  If you get the management right throughout things can get raher wierd.  Then after a prescan adjust the settings for the particular slide.  Final adjustments are done in Photoshop or Elements after clean-up.  The size of the files will be huge if you scan at maximum resolution, it all depends what you want to do with the pictures.  I usually use maximum resolution as I can prepare cut-down pictures if I want without rescanning

[annew]

My husband has given up scanning his slides, and instead projects them on to a screen and takes digital photos. He reckons this gives better results.

[Maggi Young]

Elsewhere in this forum and, I think, the old one too, there was discussion of scanning slides. Several machines were suggested. Most of Franz Hadacek's lovely pictures are scans.... so there IS a way!
I see what you mean by everything blue, Shelagh.
It seems that Barry Wright has hit a clever and simple solution though.... and that is one that even I might manage with a modicum of care. Great idea!

If you get the management right throughout things can get raher wierd.

Brian, is this what you meant to say? It sounds a bad thing rather than a plus point!

[Lesley Cox]

I use a Canon 2710 and have no problems.  It is important before you start is to calibrate the computer screen. then set the preferences including the colour management.  Also do this for your picture editor programme, Photoshop or Elements are best.  I use no "colour management" prefering to use my own settings throughout.  If you get the management right throughout things can get raher wierd.  Then after a prescan adjust the settings for the particular slide.  Final adjustments are done in Photoshop or Elements after clean-up.  The size of the files will be huge if you scan at maximum resolution, it all depends what you want to do with the pictures.  I usually use maximum resolution as I can prepare cut-down pictures if I want without rescanning

Right. Well that's me out anyway.

[illingworth]

Shelagh

I have this scanner and it works well for me with Nikon Scan software.  As Brian points out, calibration of the monitor etc are all important as is the type of slide film you are scanning. I scan Fuji Velvia. Kodachrome can give you a blue cast but there are work arounds.  Is the software you are using the most recent version? Have you done the software upgrades?  Have you tried adjusting the colour cast using "Levels and Curves" after the scan preview but before completing the scan itself?  What colour space are you using in the scan software?

Slide scanning is a time sink and I do it only in winter. My unit is stored right now ( to keep the dust out); otherwise I would open the software and think of a few more questions for you. 

I have taken the liberty of tweaking the picture you posted. Had the redo been done at the scan preview stage  the result would have been better.

-Rob

[David Nicholson]

Lesley, I'm with you. I don't understand some of the words never mind the actions!!!!

[SueG]

Lesley, David
Bear in mind the phrase - 'what one fool can do, another fool can do'! I was introduced to this when I first attempted multivariate statistics (don't ask) and it's stood me in good stead for all sorts of other things since. Technical language is often just a clear way of talking, afterall we talk about reticulated tunics, rice grains and farina - utterly incomprehensible to anyone whose not a plant nut - if in doubt keep asking!
On holiday this year I watched as a very jolly chap at the table next door worked his way methodically through a HUGE seafood platter to the amusement of my friend and I, and his wife, as he left he chatted to us and said ' the important thing is to keep your nerve'. So keep your nerve and try your slides!
Sue

[David Nicholson]

Sue, I should worry, I don't even have any slides

[SueG]

David - never mind you could have some of mine if you'd like to try . . .
Sue

[gote]

No scanner can know what the subject of the scan is supposed to look like. The scanner takes an educated guess and produces a file. It is then up to you.
Some scanning software allows tweaking but you should really aim at getting all the colour depth registered so that your photo-software has as much information as possible to start from.
I use Photoshop and I have found that in 90% of the cases one will get a good result by first cropping away any black borders and then use the automatic levels feature.
In some cases this will cause a colour balance problem in which case this can be fixed using the colour balance feature. I usually find that an increase of cyan by 20% fixes 90% of the rest.
This helps my pictures but would not necessarily help someone else who has been using a different film and stored the slides differently.
Sometimes the slide has deteriorated so much that parts of the original information is lost. No scanner in the world can help in that case.
There are of course impossible subjects like Ramonda. A Ramonda flower is infrared. Most films are more sensitive to infrared than the human eye is and interprete infrared as red. The result is a pinkish cast on the flower in the picture.
I also use a 2710 but I try to avoid tweaking when scanning because that may cause loss of information. A re-scan is also more time consuming than doing things afterwards in Photoshop.
I hope this is helpful.
Göte

[Peter Maguire]

Shelagh,

I've just discovered this thread and I think one possibility to check is which slide film you have been using. The Nikon coolscan has a facility called 'Digital ICE' for eliminating dust, and I think that I'm correct in saying that this does not work with Kodachrome film (Ektachrome form Kodak is ok, as are all other slide films). It's some thing to do with the development, most slides film use the E-6 process, but Kodakchrome is a law unto itself, which is why you used to have to send it to Hemel Hempstead, then France, and now some oscure place in Kansas.

You should be able to turn off the digital ICE setting within the software controls - try this website for some advice: http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-CoolScan-IV-ED

Good luck!

Peter

[Martinr]

Shelagh, I use an Epson Perfection 2400 scanner with an inset for scanning slides 4 at a time. I had a similar problem to yours until I discovered that after doing a preview scan I could crop the field of each image before taking the final scan. If you crop the image to get rid of all the dark border the scanner has picked up from the slide mount the colour instantly reverts to normal in the prescan and life is rosy.

Martin

[shelagh]

Hi one an all,

I haven't been ignoring you just waiting whilst the accumulated wisdom came in so that I could put it all in order and start with the simplest (being a bear of little brain).

Thanks to Brian, Anne, illingworth, gote, Peter and martinr. Firstly Anne I have followed Barry's lead and have photographed them all with reasonably good results. However I am not sure if they will be good enough for a digital presentation.

Martin's suggestion sounds fairly straightforward too so that is next, then I will go on to tackle the more fiendishly difficult approaches suggested by the experts.

I'll keep you posted and I really do appreciate the help offered it's like having your own 'Help Desk' and an International one at that.

Shelagh