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kodachrome slides
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Feb 11, 2013 07:35:38   #
Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.
 
mrtoad90 wrote:
i am retired after years and years of taking kodachrome slides - switched a number of years ago to digital - with the spare time i have now i would like to put the slides into a digital format - any suggestions to help with this process would be helpful

if you suggest a scanner - which one do you recommend

thanks

mr toad

I just completed scanning almost 2,000 slides, both Kodachrome and Ektachrome. I have a 'cheap' dedicated scanner called a 'Wolverine F2D 300" and got excellent results. Naturally, any I wanted to print had to be PP because of stubborn dust spots or occasional scratches, but I was happy to be able to convert same to digital. I've had a ball both viewing those old memories and now that I'm able, making prints of those extra special ones to pass on to my grown children, grandchildren, etc. Cheap worked fine for me and it didn't take nearly as long as my flatbed dual-purpose scanner does. No problem making a decent 5x7 print from them.

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Feb 11, 2013 08:27:49   #
js259
 
Kodachrome slides are extremely fragile, especially the emulsion side. Do not touch or brush Kodachromes! To prepare them for scanning just blow them off with canned air or dust off.
If you can find a Nikon LS4000 or 5000 scanner they will do a wonderful job.If you can find a batch adapter it is even better, because you can load about 25-30 slides and let it go.
Vuescan software has a very good Kodachrome profile and digital ice-dust remover.
I saw a comment that digital ice does not work with Kodachrome-incorrect. In the Vuescan Pro software under filters you will find the infrared -light, medium etc. use it on light setting.
At a reasonable price it does an excellent job and you can adjust what resolution you would like to get for the slides.
My department did this service for an ivy league university with a large Kodak scanner and all customers were extremely satisfied with the results.

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Feb 11, 2013 08:31:31   #
hj Loc: Florida
 
Papa Joe wrote:
mrtoad90 wrote:
i am retired after years and years of taking kodachrome slides - switched a number of years ago to digital - with the spare time i have now i would like to put the slides into a digital format - any suggestions to help with this process would be helpful

if you suggest a scanner - which one do you recommend

thanks

mr toad

I just completed scanning almost 2,000 slides, both Kodachrome and Ektachrome. I have a 'cheap' dedicated scanner called a 'Wolverine F2D 300" and got excellent results. Naturally, any I wanted to print had to be PP because of stubborn dust spots or occasional scratches, but I was happy to be able to convert same to digital. I've had a ball both viewing those old memories and now that I'm able, making prints of those extra special ones to pass on to my grown children, grandchildren, etc. Cheap worked fine for me and it didn't take nearly as long as my flatbed dual-purpose scanner does. No problem making a decent 5x7 print from them.
quote=mrtoad90 i am retired after years and years... (show quote)


I have to agree regarding the inexpensive wolverine scanner (several models). I paid over $800 to send many slides off to ScanCafe who ships the slides to India and they took over two months to return. The results were no better than the ones I now get from my Wolverine and it cost less than $100. Each wolverine scan takes less than 5 seconds. I moved to the wolverine after having a dedicated Minolta slide scanner that cost me over $300 and each scan took over 3 minutes each. I don't have that kind of time. Sold my minolta on eBay and Love my wolverine scanner! It may not satisfy a professional, but all of my extended family members were very pleased seeing the digital pics from 30 - 40 - 50 - years ago.

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Feb 11, 2013 08:49:43   #
selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA
 
js259 wrote:
Kodachrome slides are extremely fragile...

I have not found Kodachrome to be more fragile than Ektachrome or other film. To the degree that you can trust Wikipedia:

Limitations of Digital ICE

Digital ICE is used to detect scratches and dust during transparent film scan and is not applicable for opaque document scanning. Where Chromogenic black-and-white films are supported by Digital ICE, other black-and-white films containing metallic silver (which form from silver halides during the development process of the film) are not. This is because the long wave infrared light passes through the slide but not through dust particles. The silver particles reflect the infrared light in a similar manner to dust particles, thus respond equally in visible light and infrared light. A similar phenomenon also prevents Kodak Kodachrome slides from being scanned with Digital ICE (Kodachrome's cyan layer absorbs infrared).


Although special handling of infrared may reduce the problem with Kodachrome, it is not likely to eliminate it.

There is probably no alternative to cleaning the slide as carefully as you can and then spotting to fix the dust spots that could not be removed manually.

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Feb 11, 2013 08:58:47   #
wkocken Loc: McGregor, MN
 
We went through our slide collection over 2 weekends with the kids. It was great fun. We pulled out the keepers and boxed them up and sent them to a mail order service. I think it was Scan Cafe. They ship them over to India, and return them several weeks later along with a CD. It cost about 25 cents each. We had 300 slides, so it only cost me $75. The quality is OK, but most of my slides were just family snapshots. They have a pro service for more $$.

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Feb 11, 2013 09:12:53   #
2bob Loc: Sydney, Australia
 
This is my first post to the site, though I read and learn from the posts of others on a daily basis. I have an Epson V600, a perfectly adequate flatbed for film and I prefer to use the Vuescan software over and above all the major options available. After weeks and weeks of testing and evaluation I commenced scanning. Believing I was getting the best from the scanner and software. After 1500 scans I found a way to dramatically improve the results; With software settings and film cleaning. I rescanned. Bugger! :)

I mounted the film in the provided holder.

With care and away from the scanner I used a blower/brush to clean the film. Brushing first (without poking) then blew the loose dust away.

Checked the platen for dust between each scan. And finger marks!

I scanned at 4000DPI 24 bit or 48 bit and saved as Digital NeGative (DNG). All other 'enhancement' options in the software were turned OFF. Including infrared dust removal as I found it was not required.

Each scan was eventually loaded into Photoshop and where required colour adjustments were made using the independent channels of RGB, (Image/adjustments/Levels).

Other degradation such as fading etc were also performed at this time.

The workflow was to scan a large batch of film and when the mindset was ready, to process the images.

I note that all my film had been stored (up to 50+ years) following the standard guidelines ie; Low humidity/dust and lightproof.

In all I scanned 5000 Kodachrome slides, B&W and colour negatives. The image here was from a 35mm Kodachrome slide, ISO 25, cropped, 1977. I recall that little manipulation was required. As it is a snapshot, I have provided it as an example of my technique above. I hope this helps.



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Feb 11, 2013 09:35:57   #
jimbrown3 Loc: Naples, FL
 
I have tried two methods; Epson perfection V700 Photo and an old slide copy attachment with macro lens on my 5D III. They both give me identical results. They look good until I attempt to bump up the magnification. They then become soft. In film days, The "Stock Market" (Now Corbus) made copy slides of my work that were sent to their branch offices worldwide. they were so close to originals as to be indistinguishable from originals. It baffles me we can't do the same with film to digital that will stand up to "100%". Any ideas ?

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Feb 11, 2013 09:40:07   #
2bob Loc: Sydney, Australia
 
You might consider resolution as I mentioned in my original post ie; 4000DPI.

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Feb 11, 2013 10:02:37   #
Dr Grump Loc: Southern New England
 
mooseeyes wrote:
I have an "Epson Perfection V700 Photo" scanner. It comes with everything that you need to scan 35mm film, 35mm slides, medium format, and 4x5 film.

Very high resolution scans of color negs, color positives, as well as B&W film. This scanner also works well for scanning flat media and prints.

The software that comes with it is great. This scanner also has a built in dust remomval system, and other nice features. I used to have a high end UMAX flatbed scanner and a Polaroid 35mm film/slide scanner. My Epson V700 Photo replaced both of my old outdated scanners, doing a much better job than either of my prior scanners.

If for some reason my Epson V700 Photo would happen to die on my, I would buy another one of these, without hesitation!
I have an "Epson Perfection V700 Photo" ... (show quote)


Me, too. Not all that expensive and great results.

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Feb 11, 2013 10:03:05   #
jimbrown3 Loc: Naples, FL
 
Thanks for the suggestion, I tried 7,200 DPI with same results, just took longer. I was hoping to get results that I could enlarge to 100% and be near the quality of digital. Was copying both Kodachrome and E-6.

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Feb 11, 2013 10:16:26   #
rps Loc: Muskoka Ontario Canada
 
It's a long tedious process. You probably should be selective in what you scan.
Kodachrome has aged beautifully. But you may be shocked at the state of some other old films which even under good storage conditions will fade, shift colour or even go blank. Ektachrome tends to go purplish or orange. Anscochrome (never a big seller) actually bleached out. You can correct colour to a certain extent (adding to the tediousness of the job.) In some cases I found it better to desaturate and save only a black and white image.
You will be better off with a slide/negative scanner. The flatbed units don't deliver the same definition.

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Feb 11, 2013 10:25:32   #
jimbrown3 Loc: Naples, FL
 
Fortunately all the slides were enclosed in separate archival sleeves and then put in an archival page. So, color is not the culprit. I have looked for a dedicated scanner but have found none with good reviews. I guess the NIkon one was highly regarded, but is no longer available. Any suggestions ?

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Feb 11, 2013 10:30:28   #
rdoc Loc: Rochester, MN
 
I guess I took the easy road and am very satisfied with the results. I sent my slides to a company called Scan Cafe (scancafe.com) and they did a super job of converting the slides to digital files. I sent a test batch of 100 (as wide a variety as I could) and when those came back with such good results, I sent about 1,000 more of my best pics and have been very happy with the results. Here are three of the shots.







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Feb 11, 2013 10:35:04   #
jimbrown3 Loc: Naples, FL
 
Sure looks like they did a GREAT job. Thanks .

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Feb 11, 2013 10:37:59   #
rayford2 Loc: New Bethlehem, PA
 
Nikonian72 wrote:
ASR666 wrote:
I've found canned air to be the only non-destructive method that works. Other methods such as washing, liquid cleaners, etc. leaves streaks or results in pigment loss. Also, all these methods don't remove fungus which is the biggest problem with old slides. There's no way to effectively remove fungus that I'm aware of since it binds with the pigment and surface. So, I scan the slide at a high enough res and then use the software to extract as clean a copy as I can.
Not the answer I want to read. I was looking for the magic solution.
quote=ASR666 I've found canned air to be the only... (show quote)


I'm just guessing at this, but how about the old Kodak "Photo-Flo"? Maybe a diluted dishwasher spot remover would work.

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