Scanning Slides

I had the same experience with Ektachrome. They were quite old and some
almost completely faded. I could not do much with them. The Kodachromes
were fairly good. This doesn't answer your question but at least you know
that you have company
"B&B Musmon" wrote in message
...
Although I have had my PhotoSmart Scanner for a very long time, I have
never scanned slides. I have an opportunity to do some work that
involved scanning slides. Before I say I can do it, I want to make
sure I can do it.

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

I don't even know what kind of slides they want scanned but what
should I stay away from, obviously Ektachrome is on the list.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Barry

I had the same experience with Ektachrome. They were quite old and some
almost completely faded. I could not do much with them. The Kodachromes
were fairly good. This doesn't answer your question but at least you know
that you have company
"B&B Musmon" wrote in message
...
Although I have had my PhotoSmart Scanner for a very long time, I have
never scanned slides. I have an opportunity to do some work that
involved scanning slides. Before I say I can do it, I want to make
sure I can do it.

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

I don't even know what kind of slides they want scanned but what
should I stay away from, obviously Ektachrome is on the list.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Barry

"B&B Musmon" wrote in message
...

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

You doubtless are trying to scan Ektachrome E2 or E4. It has been known for
a long time that these slides fade over time (more precisely, all colors
except red fade).
There is a product called Restoration of Color, originally made by Applied
Science Fiction, which can deal with this problem.

The current Ektachrome is E6, and it is much much better with respect to
fading.
Jim

"B&B Musmon" wrote in message
...

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

You doubtless are trying to scan Ektachrome E2 or E4. It has been known for
a long time that these slides fade over time (more precisely, all colors
except red fade).
There is a product called Restoration of Color, originally made by Applied
Science Fiction, which can deal with this problem.

The current Ektachrome is E6, and it is much much better with respect to
fading.
Jim

"B&B Musmon" wrote in message
...
Although I have had my PhotoSmart Scanner for a very long time, I have
never scanned slides. I have an opportunity to do some work that
involved scanning slides. Before I say I can do it, I want to make
sure I can do it.

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

There are two main possibilities: (a) the scanner is funky, (b) the slides
are funky.

If you look at the slides on a light box with a loupe, do they look reddish?
If so, the scanner's doing the right thing.

Here's something to try that might work.

Load the image into Photoshop, open up the levels tool, and set
the black and white points* for each RGB color individually. Then look at
the image and adjust the middle slider for each RGB color to remove any
remaining color cast. If you want to get fancy, use the curves dialog to
adjust shadow and highlight color balance separately.

*: Move the left and right end sliders so that they just touch the darkest
and lightest points on the histogram. The auto color balance function does a
heavyhanded version of this.

I don't even know what kind of slides they want scanned but what
should I stay away from, obviously Ektachrome is on the list.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Actually, _Kodachrome_ is the one to stay away from: the dyes have weird
spectral properties that interact badly with some scanners.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

"B&B Musmon" wrote in message
...
Although I have had my PhotoSmart Scanner for a very long time, I have
never scanned slides. I have an opportunity to do some work that
involved scanning slides. Before I say I can do it, I want to make
sure I can do it.

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

There are two main possibilities: (a) the scanner is funky, (b) the slides
are funky.

If you look at the slides on a light box with a loupe, do they look reddish?
If so, the scanner's doing the right thing.

Here's something to try that might work.

Load the image into Photoshop, open up the levels tool, and set
the black and white points* for each RGB color individually. Then look at
the image and adjust the middle slider for each RGB color to remove any
remaining color cast. If you want to get fancy, use the curves dialog to
adjust shadow and highlight color balance separately.

*: Move the left and right end sliders so that they just touch the darkest
and lightest points on the histogram. The auto color balance function does a
heavyhanded version of this.

I don't even know what kind of slides they want scanned but what
should I stay away from, obviously Ektachrome is on the list.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Actually, _Kodachrome_ is the one to stay away from: the dyes have weird
spectral properties that interact badly with some scanners.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

Although I have had my PhotoSmart Scanner for a very long time, I have
never scanned slides. I have an opportunity to do some work that
involved scanning slides. Before I say I can do it, I want to make
sure I can do it.

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

I don't even know what kind of slides they want scanned but what
should I stay away from, obviously Ektachrome is on the list.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Barry

I used to have a Photosmart scanner and still think it is a very capable
machine This scanner has no problem with Ektachrome but is unable to scan
most Kodachromes because of the density of those emulsions.
I second the opinion with regard to fading: if the scans have a reddish hue
they have faded and color shifted. If other images scan properly there is
nothing wrong with the scanner.
The easiest way to correct this is to use a photo editing program that has
the functions built in to correct color fading or allows the use of
plug-ins.
I would recommend Photoshop Elements if you do not have such a program.
The Applied Science Fiction plug-in has been mentioned. Two other plug-ins
that can correct faded colors, as well as help with more normal images are
Color Washer and iCorrect Edit Lab.The latter is also available as a stand
alone program. I recently was handed my wife's decades old childhood
kodacolor negatives, all faded and color shifted, and was very grateful for
the time saved by these plug-ins correcting the colors usually on the first
pass. It is really a treat to see the colors come up on those old images.

I thank all of you for your helpful replies. This fading issue sure
adds a whole new dimension to the project and a whole new immediacy to
the process being done before there is no image left to deal with.

Thanks again,
Barry

Although I have had my PhotoSmart Scanner for a very long time, I have
never scanned slides. I have an opportunity to do some work that
involved scanning slides. Before I say I can do it, I want to make
sure I can do it.

The only slides I have are quite old. They are Ektachrome. The
software does have a setting for Kodachrome but that doesn't scan very
well. There is a redish shadow on every slide. I tried all the
settings and nothing makes it look any better. I download VueScan and
it basically looks the same.

I don't even know what kind of slides they want scanned but what
should I stay away from, obviously Ektachrome is on the list.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Barry