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More slide/scanner advice requested

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More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby RBM » Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:44 am

More slide/ scanner advice requested

Like many on this forum, I have loads of slides that I haven’t seen in years. A recent post by Stefan got me thinking about doing something with some of them. That exchange indicated that there were a few brands of copiers available. Bob recommended the Epson V500.

My question(s) concerns alternative solutions. Does anyone know about the feasibility of photographing slides directly, using a good digital camera--10MP or even higher? I don’t know that much about still photography, but I’d guess that such a route would involve a macro lens, tubes, and other photographic equipment, but once set up I’d imagine things might go pretty swiftly. So, can slides be copied directly, with a good camera? If so, what kind of setup is involved? Third, is it worth doing, i.e., how does photographic copying compare in quality with the slide copiers mentioned in the “negative/slide scanner advice” post?

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Re: More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby Bob » Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:25 pm

Yes, you can photograph slides directly. This link can give you some ideas: http://www.scantips.com/es-1.html. Read the entire article.

Negatives are another matter. The commercial slide copy adapters are designed for film in a mount. You can't use film in a strip or cut into singles. Also, color negatives have an orange mask. Scanners, either dedicated film scanners or flatbed scanners like the v500 can effectively remove the mask while scanning. Masks differ by manufacturer and film type. Better scanning software will allow you to select presets for the various film types.
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Re: More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby RBM » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:45 am

Bob,

Thanks for the reply. I don’t have anything to copy except about two thousand 35mm slides, so copying negatives doesn’t matter to me. I began wading through the article you referenced, and I find it presupposes more than I know about photography. I’ll have to read it a few times and do a lot of googling to make proper sense of it.

The author confesses that his article is “chatty.” I found that he seemed to shift gears a lot about the adequacy of his photographing method compared to using a slide copier, so I’m not clear at the moment concerning whether to photograph slides or scan them. On the other hand, the two t sample images he provides of the “water wheel” slide seemed pretty good to me. To satisfy my question, it would have been nice if the author had also provided a scanned sample of the “water wheel” slide.

Since the author didn’t proved that slide copier illustration of the “water wheel” slide, let me ask one final (probably exasperating) question. To your mind, would a hypothetical “scanned” sample of the “water wheel” slide, perhaps on an Epson V500, likely yield a significantly better result than the two photographed samples he provided in the article? Or do you–or anyone else-- happen to know of an article that makes the photographed/scanned comparison I’m seeking?

I hope I’m not being too much of a pain.

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Re: More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby Chuck Engels » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:21 am

I must say, the quality I get scanning slides and negatives is really amazing.
For the reasonable cost and time involved I think it is by far the best option.
You can get reasonably priced scanners that will scan slides and negatives for around $100
Then all you need is Photoshop Elements or similar program for touch-ups.
I scanned over 1000 slides with my old Canon Canoscan, one at a time.
It was very time consuming but the results were better than I expected.
With the new Canon scanner I can scan up to 5 or 6 at a time. It still takes a long time (15 mintes or so) to scan them all at 300 dpi and resizing to 4 x 6. It takes even longer for highest quality or if I scan at 600 dpi.

Anyway, just wanted to mention that the scanning option is a good one and the results are truly amazing in my opinion :TU:
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Re: More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby Bob » Sun Jul 01, 2012 1:33 pm

It's going to depend on what you intend to do with those slides once you scan them. If you only want to display a low resolution image on a web page or print a 4x6 photo, you don't really need the same high quality scan that you need if you are intending to make large prints or archival quality reproductions.

The scans you can get from a decent flatbed scanner these days are excellent and will suffice for most consumer level purposes. The biggest drawback is simply speed. It takes time to do a high resolution scan and even longer to use the digital ice feature to remove dust and scratches. With 2000 slides, that is an important consideration. I don't know of any flatbed scanner that has a bulk slide feeder. You might want to consider the Epson V700. It's more expensive, but it can scan 12 slides at a time instead of the 4 you can do with the V500. The V700 also has a higher dMax (4.0) than the V500 (3.4) which means you will be able to capture more of the shadow detail (slides can be more contrasty than negatives and may go above a dMax of 4 in some cases).

Using a dSLR and a slide copier can also give excellent results. Because most dSLRs use a dx sensor instead of full size, you will likely need an extension tube. You will also need a macro lens. Macro lenses are expecially designed to focus close and have less distortion than a conventional lens. The big advantage of using a camera is that once you have things set up, you can make a high quality copy in seconds. There is no digital ice feature, so you will need to be careful to work in a dust free area and clean your slides.

Another option to consider is a dedicated Slide copier with a bulk feeder. They are more expensive though. Here's one, for instance: http://www.adorama.com/IPIPS5000.html. That one has a dMax of 3.8 and a 50 slide feeder.

One thing about digital ice that you should know. It has trouble with Kodachrome which has a cyan layer that doesn't transmit infrared well. The newer versions of digital ice do a better job with kodachrome than the older ones, but be aware that the problem exists. If you have a lot of Kodachrome slides, you should try a few sample slide of various ages (the cyan layer formulation changed over the years) to see if it will be usable for you.
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Re: More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby Chuck Engels » Sun Jul 01, 2012 3:59 pm

Thanks for the great info Bob, I learn something new here every day :TU:
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Re: More slide/scanner advice requested

Postby RBM » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:42 am

Thanks, Bob and Chuck, for your advice. It looks like both approaches have merit. I believe, though, that I’ll start out by trying the photographic route. The merit of that choice, for me, is that I’ll have to buy a macro lens. Whether or not the lens proves a satisfactory solution for scanning all those slides, it’ll be fun to go hunting intriguing bugs in the yard when the slides get frustrating.

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