Digitizing slides and negatives: software to convert the negatives?

I'd like to digitize slides and 35 mm color negatives. My (older) Epson
scanner isn't equipped for the job, yet it's too good to replace with one
that can (like an Epson 4490). I like the idea of using a Soligor slide
duplicator, which has an attachment for negatives (I have a D70). The
stumbling block for me is handling color conversion of the negatives. I've
seen references to this being possible with Ulead PI 11 and Adobe PE ("just
a couple of clicks"), both of which I have, but I can't for the life of me
find this feature.

Has anyone out there done this and can tell me if there's software about
that really can do the conversion easily? Silverfast AI has the NegaFix
feature--really terrific, but the conversion is done before scanning.

Thanks in advance.

"MB" wrote in message
...
I'd like to digitize slides and 35 mm color negatives. My (older) Epson
scanner isn't equipped for the job, yet it's too good to replace with one
that can (like an Epson 4490). I like the idea of using a Soligor slide
duplicator, which has an attachment for negatives (I have a D70). The
stumbling block for me is handling color conversion of the negatives.
I've seen references to this being possible with Ulead PI 11 and Adobe PE
("just a couple of clicks"), both of which I have, but I can't for the
life of me find this feature.

Has anyone out there done this and can tell me if there's software about
that really can do the conversion easily? Silverfast AI has the NegaFix
feature--really terrific, but the conversion is done before scanning.

One way is to buy vuescan, which will convert negatives for you. There is a
free tryout version so you can see if it works first with your scanner.
www.hamrick.com/

Another is to use the levels command in Elements to invert the colors.
There is a small trick involved in subtracting the orange mask. In levels,
click the black and white eyedroppers on an area of max density and clear
orange mask, respectively. Then it's a matter of inverting the image to get
your final result. Better yet, invert the end points of the RGB sliders to
do an inversion in a single levels operation that you may save this for your
other images.

This is documented a little more at the curvemeister site, using levels, but
you adapt this technique to use levels (scroll down to the "To copy and
invert color negatives using a digicam" section :
http://www.curvemeister.com/tutorial..._you/index.htm
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

Dedicated film scanners give far better results than flatbed scanners. If
you do not already have a slide duplicator and a suitable light source I
would not consider that an option. Quality will be mediocre (6 MP digicam is
more like a 2 MP scan because of the Bayer pattern structure on the sensor).
I would have a look at the Plustek Optic Film 7200 (just Google for it for
latest info) which comes with Silverfast SE and is available at less then
200 Euro, at less then 300 Euro with infrared scratch detection / removal.
The scanner software has preset profiles for different brands / types of
negative film - something you find in none of the image editors. You can
find some more info on the www.plustek.com website.


"MB" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
I'd like to digitize slides and 35 mm color negatives. My (older) Epson
scanner isn't equipped for the job, yet it's too good to replace with one
that can (like an Epson 4490). I like the idea of using a Soligor slide
duplicator, which has an attachment for negatives (I have a D70). The
stumbling block for me is handling color conversion of the negatives.
I've seen references to this being possible with Ulead PI 11 and Adobe PE
("just a couple of clicks"), both of which I have, but I can't for the
life of me find this feature.

Has anyone out there done this and can tell me if there's software about
that really can do the conversion easily? Silverfast AI has the NegaFix
feature--really terrific, but the conversion is done before scanning.

Thanks in advance.

"Cgiorgio" wrote in message
...

Quality will be mediocre (6 MP digicam is
more like a 2 MP scan because of the Bayer pattern structure on the
sensor). I would have a look at the Plustek Optic Film 7200 (just Google
for it for latest info) which comes with Silverfast SE and is available at
less then . . .

Thanks so much for the info about Plustek. I've looked at the site and will
consider it. A bit of a shock was the fact that Silverfast's dust/scratch
removal feature brings the scan of one image to 38 minutes!!



"Mike Russell" -MOVE wrote in message
news:6zpqh.34189

One way is to buy vuescan, which will convert negatives for you. There is
a free tryout version so you can see if it works first with your scanner.
www.hamrick.com/

The Vuescan suggestion is also sound advice. A comparison of Vuescan and
Silverfast dust/scratch removers showed Vuescan to be far superior.

Thanks to both posters.

"MB" wrote in message
...

"Cgiorgio" wrote in message
...

Quality will be mediocre (6 MP digicam is
more like a 2 MP scan because of the Bayer pattern structure on the
sensor). I would have a look at the Plustek Optic Film 7200 (just Google
for it for latest info) which comes with Silverfast SE and is available
at less then . . .

Thanks so much for the info about Plustek. I've looked at the site and
will consider it. A bit of a shock was the fact that Silverfast's
dust/scratch removal feature brings the scan of one image to 38 minutes!!


I have just finished scanning 3000 negatives on a HP 7890.
It works well and you can do 30 35mm negs at a time..
load it and select the settings for each and go away for a couple of hours
or more at 2400dpi, more at 4800dpi (max optical resolution).
You don't use 4800 dpi unless you want the grain on the film BTW.
It will cope with quite a lot of overexposure of negs but there is nothing
there with a lot of under exposure (the opposite of digital cameras/slides)

On Jan 14, 7:21 am, "MB" wrote:
I'd like to digitize slides and 35 mm color negatives. My (older) Epson
scanner isn't equipped for the job, yet it's too good to replace with one
that can (like an Epson 4490). I like the idea of using a Soligor slide
duplicator, which has an attachment for negatives (I have a D70). The
stumbling block for me is handling color conversion of the negatives. I've
seen references to this being possible with Ulead PI 11 and Adobe PE ("just
a couple of clicks"), both of which I have, but I can't for the life of me
find this feature.

Has anyone out there done this and can tell me if there's software about
that really can do the conversion easily? Silverfast AI has the NegaFix
feature--really terrific, but the conversion is done before scanning.

Thanks in advance.

Check out the Epson V700, better than most dedicated slide scanners
(beats most of the 2700ppi scanners, can't quite meet the Nikon 4000ppi
versions). 3200ppi with Digital Ice 3 takes 6-8 minutes, works well.
Yes around $500 but a good scanner.

Tom