film scanner
Does anyone own a film or slide scanner that they could recommend. Nikon made a good one for 35mm (5000 ED), but it's discontinued and sells for $100's more on e-bay than it sold for originally. I need one that is relatively fast, has about 4000dpi resolution and is reasonable.
Hi Glenn Depending on how many you want to scan might just want to send them out. I have thousands and decided to start scanning, sent a bunch to the Scan Cafe and was very happy with the results, will be sending another batch !! Used to have my own but it is a pain btw if you do get one a slide feeder would be a great accessory.
Another option:
A 4000 ppi scan of 35 mm = 5670 x 3780 = 21.4 megapixels. So how about a slide copy attachment to your DSLR? The trick in the raw conversion is a linear conversion (ACR does not do linear, at least the versions I have seen).
A DSLR can snap away very quickly and you can get through a lot of slides pretty fast. You do need a good macro lens.
Roger
Roger I tried slide copiers attachments for duplicating my slides but never was comfortable with the results, had to go to a dedicated copier with an enlarger lens. ... copies were for projecting in slide shows to keep originals from fading !!
Never tried the projecting on a wall so I'm just guessing ... but would not recommend at least for quality output !
The difficulty in photographing slides with a digital camera is comtrol of contrast. So whether slide projector or slide copier, a normal raw conversion will enhance contrast. Back in days of film, on needed to use a special film for copying (forget the name). But one can get a linear response from some raw converters, such a dcraw. The linear response should give the tonal quality needed.
I'm about to do a big project of digitizing my old slides. I plan to use a 5D mark II and 180 mm macro lens and sunlight as the light source (or color balanced light table). I think I can get through many in a much shorter time than with my Nikon slide scanner.
A few initial tests showed good results. Now for some time.....
Roger
Roger, I have a Nikon D700 and a 105mm macro lens. Perhaps you can send a link for the device that holds the slide or negative. Will PS4 take care of removing scratches or dust from the photo?
Glenn
The Switch
Once you have a digital image it seems all the same rules would apply in PP.Originally Posted by Glenn Forbes
The slide carrier (along with lighting) is the issue. There are threads about camera scanning, and a possible solution for slide mounting, at The Dam Book forums.
Glenn
I went through this process recently. I could not find a decent current scanner. Plustek was close, but difficult handling and low Dmax. I got myself a used Minolta 5400. Great scans. Delighted with it.
John
PS I had thought high grain was inevitable for scanned film until I used this scanner coupled with Vuescan and its filter for dust and scratches (not the grain filter). It turns out that a lot of what I had seen previously was not grain, as I can see the grain still but not the OTT grain-like appearance that came with a scan which disappears along with the dust.
Thanks for the tip on Scan Cae. I have been putting off scanning hundreds of 40 yr old slides. This looks like a good solution.
Bud
This is a great discussion! I have been watching this thread with interest as I have a few thousand slides that I need to scan. I have a Nikon 4000ED, but not very happy with the scans. The scanned images seem to have a good amount of noise and the sharpness of the images don't measure up to images taken from an 8.2 mp SLR (Canon 30D). I looked at the Scan Cafe website as Al had suggested, and they scan at 3000 dpi. Is there is a significant difference in quality between 3000 dpi and 4000 dpi? Thanks all for great inputs on this thread.
Ravi
Ravi If you find one you absolutely like and would like scanned perfect just go for drum scan !! I was happy with the regular scanning (to jpeg) form the Scan Cafe, thought about tiff output but the difference was high. Had six or seven that I really liked and had them drum scanned !!! ... the for the Durm Scans I used Nancy Scans !! .. like it a lot !!
.. forgot
Roger the film for duplicating slides is Ektacrhome Duplicating Film Code EDUPE for 36 exp rolls or EDUPE/SP663 for hundred foot rolls ... btw if you do lots of them is best to purchase in large quantities, all lab film needs to be color corrected and if frozen the batch will remain constant !!!
Thanks Afred. That does bring back memories. I think there is still a roll or to in my freezer, along with dozens of rolls of velvia and velvia 4x5 sheets.
Roger
Thanks Al. I will check out both places for scans.
Ravi
I did some quick experiments this summer using a 5D2 and the 100/2.8L macro to dupe some old Kodachromes. Over the years, I've tried everything under the sun to make decent scans, but I've never found anything that made me happy. The 5D2 produces pretty decent results, but you really have to watch the exposure to avoid pixel blooming, where blown out highlights bleed into adjacent areas. I'm using an Alien Bees 1600 with a large soft box as my light source. I'm intrigued by Roger's comment about linear conversion and will definitely give that a try.
I can say definitively that the DSLR dupes have far less grain than typical scans. They also produce much smaller files. A Nikon 5000 scan is roughly 120MB, whereas a 5D2 dupe is about 30MB. The only real downside is dust on the slides, which is a problem with most scanners too. And yes, the speed advantage is not to be overlooked.
I'm just waiting for Canon to ship the 1Ds4, since I think there might be just a tad more detail in the slide than the 5D2 can capture. My setup is roughly the same as the one you can see in the DAM book forums, although if you scour the web, you can find numerous other variations that should also work.
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