I've recently scanned many scores of slides, negatives, and prints from both my own work and others: some were shot on crap cameras and on slide film that lost all it's colour after some years of poor storage. Others were more than 100 years old, and in very poor condition. From my own experience: I prefer Epson software for 35mm and MF: I found the interface easier to use and it has most of the adjustment options that VueScan does. VueScan has a small menu selection of the film used to shoot the original, Epson only allows choices between slides, and B&W or colour negative types. VueScan is the only choice, between the two, for APS film, as it finds the frame borders accurately, whereas the Epson does not. Neither is very good with the sub-APS formats. I haven't noticed a lot of difference between scanning emulsion side down or up, to be honest. With both slides and negatives, I put the shiny side down, as the texture of the emulsion *might* affect sharpness at high scan resolutions. Scan at a resolution high enough to give you a reasonable print capability: for example, if you want a 10x8 inch print from a 35mm slide, scan at 2400 or 3200 dpi. All dust and scratch elimination software tends to soften the image scanned: I prefer to use PS (or software of your choice) for post-process sharpening. The ICE technology in the Epson software I find useless in that regard. In post-processing, sharpen first then deal with dust and scratches: if you do it the other way around, the sharpening will reveal yet more flaws! Both programs will restore faded colour quite effectively, but may generate a bad colour cast if the original is really badly faded: slight fading is recoverable. There is not much you can do with a really awful shot!
Hope this helps, John in Brisbane -----Original Message----- From: PDML <pdml-boun...@pdml.net> On Behalf Of Eric Weir Sent: Wednesday, 6 May 2020 12:47 AM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> Subject: Scanning slides Emerging from lurking to ask for help. A couple days ago I got out a shoebox of slides from a trip to Russia 20 years ago. A few were shown to the group I traveled with a month or so after we returned home. Other than that I have done nothing with them. As a result I am unable to identify many of the subjects and scenes. Nevertheless, some are interesting, if not good photography. (They were shot with a Pentax K1000 and a fast 50mm lens, the only lens I took on the trip. Not sure of the film. Best guess is Fuji Velvia 100.) I would like to start scanning a selection of the slides. I have an Epson Perfection V500 Photo scanner. I have always found the Epson scanning software difficult. I recently forked over $100 for a VueScan license and have found it much easier to work with. That said, yesterday I watched a video demonstrating scanning with SilverFast and was impressed. Among other things, It can eliminate dust and scratches, do color correction, and scans to a Raw file. And the price is reasonable. I’d appreciate opinions on SilverFast vs. VueScan I have no experience scanning slides. one question is how to orient the slides in the scanner, i.e., which side of the film should be up and which down. My slides have the date and frame number on one side and “this side toward screen.” should that side face up or down on the scanning table? Random comments or advice about scanning slides would be welcome too. Thanks, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Weir Decatur, GA USA eew...@comcast.net "Imagining the other is a powerful antidote to fanaticism and hatred." - Amos Oz -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
