[RobG]

Thanks, Phil. I almost always used Kodachrome 64 for color transparencies. This shot was a color slide, but the colors deteriorated so badly in storage that after I digitized the slide, I converted to monochrome. My process for digitizing slides is not that good, either -- I use a Raynox DCR-150 and telephoto lens with the DSLR, which results in less than sharp reproductions.

Epson makes some inexpensive scanners which can scan transparencies. Combined with Vuescan, you can restore colour slides really easily. I got some amazing results from Vuescan restoring old Ektachrome slides. The Kodachrome slides generally have much more stable colour.

[Tamia]

Epson makes some inexpensive scanners which can scan transparencies. Combined with Vuescan, you can restore colour slides really easily. I got some amazing results from Vuescan restoring old Ektachrome slides. The Kodachrome slides generally have much more stable colour.

Thanks for the recommendation, Rob. I'll look into this. Seems many of my slides have a blue or purple cast (those might have been Ektachrome) that have defied my limited PP skills, but generally I'm impressed that the color has remained true in most.

[cooltouch]

I don't use Vuescan -- in fact I really don't care for it. I find that the Epson Scan software that came with both my 3170 and my 4990 does a very good job of restoring the color of E-6 slides which have begun to turn. Typically it's a magenta or even purple cast they take on. Here's a before and after example for you:

Before:

After:


This is a Fujichrome 100 slide (E-6 chemistry), taken in about 1986.

[RobG]

Thanks for the recommendation, Rob. I'll look into this. Seems many of my slides have a blue or purple cast (those might have been Ektachrome) that have defied my limited PP skills, but generally I'm impressed that the color has remained true in most.

It's the dust, scratches and colour cast which I find Vuescan removes more easily than other software. You can try it for free. I have no association with Ed Hamrick (the programmer) other than being a happy customer since the beta versions.

I don't use Vuescan -- in fact I really don't care for it. I find that the Epson Scan software that came with both my 3170 and my 4990 does a very good job of restoring the color of E-6 slides which have begun to turn. Typically it's a magenta or even purple cast they take on. Here's a before and after example for you:

YMMV. I find Vuescan much simpler to get good results out of than Epson Scan. However, the main reason I use Vuescan is because I have a Nikon LS30, and Vuescan gives me:

1. A fix for the jagged scans which Nikon didn't fix in their software
2. Compatibility with Windows 7 64 bit
3. Access to all the available bit depth and the IR channel if I want
4. Ability to save raw scans so I can process them differently later without rescanning
5. A better dust and scratch removal capability than Nikon's (how it compares with Epson I'm not so sure).
6. Simple checkboxes to restore colour
7. Profiles for specific film types (which I confess I don't use because they're mostly Kodak and I mostly used Fuji)

On the down side, the default profile in Vuescan sometimes blows out highlights and loses shadow data, but that just means tweaking the adjustments.


I find it annoyingly difficult to reset Epson scan to the state for scanning documents, which is the main thing I use it for. Having seen your examples, I'll have to try it again for scanning slides. I generally scan slides on the Nikon, and use the Epson for non-35mm film formats.

[Blue]

Taken in 1987 with K1000

[peterjcb]

Thanks for the heads-up Gofour3 ....I love nostalgia.
All these were taken with the only SLR that I owned at the time, a Nikon F2 Photomic with a 50mm f2 lens all from the mid-70's
All were shot with either Kodachrome II and Tri-X, some were converted to B&W since I prefer it over color.
I had a full B&W darkroom back in the day...bulk loading film and I even had a huge dry mount press....wish I hadn't sold everything...
PS...all the scans were done with a Pacific Image prime film scanner....it worked well but I burnt a couple out. They have a tendancy not to last very long...PP was done with both DxO and PS6.

[arnold]

Nikon F2 Photomic with a 50mm f2 lens all from the mid-70's

Those came out very well.

[cooltouch]

I can't rightly say what it is about the model in the first photo, but it just shouts "70s" at me, and I can't really say why. Outstanding color saturation in that second shot. Looks like it was taken yesterday.

[peterjcb]

I can't rightly say what it is about the model in the first photo, but it just shouts "70s" at me, and I can't really say why. Outstanding color saturation in that second shot. Looks like it was taken yesterday.

I think it's the coat that Ksenia was wearing. She was a Russian model that was going out with a photographer friend of mine. It was a different era and people were more innocent back then compared to today where everyone wants be famous for something....

Now...I think that this one shouts 70's ...taken in Amsterdam 1975 Nikon F2 on Kodachrome II color slide. All that's missing is John Travolta in the photo...




Amsterdam 1975 NIkon F2/ Kodachrome II

[cooltouch]

I find it annoyingly difficult to reset Epson scan to the state for scanning documents, which is the main thing I use it for. Having seen your examples, I'll have to try it again for scanning slides. I generally scan slides on the Nikon, and use the Epson for non-35mm film formats.

Honestly, I seldom use my Epson for 35mm anymore. I have a slide duplicator with a roll-film stage that I've cobbled together, which is what I use for 35mm these days. I'm even working on a way to do it for medium format too, but I still use my scanner for that.

I don't think you'll be happy with Epson's dust elimination routine. On my Epsons, it produces artifacts that look like slivers of glass. Very annoying. I just don't scan with dust elimination or ICE -- just try to use a clean slide to begin with and then touch up in post. It can be tedious, but it's the best way for me to get it done with what I have.

[RobG]

Honestly, I seldom use my Epson for 35mm anymore. I have a slide duplicator with a roll-film stage that I've cobbled together, which is what I use for 35mm these days. I'm even working on a way to do it for medium format too, but I still use my scanner for that.

I don't think you'll be happy with Epson's dust elimination routine. On my Epsons, it produces artifacts that look like slivers of glass. Very annoying. I just don't scan with dust elimination or ICE -- just try to use a clean slide to begin with and then touch up in post. It can be tedious, but it's the best way for me to get it done with what I have.

The big thing for me with Vuescan and the LS30 is the colour restoration and the dust and scratch removal. Vuescan does a better job of dust and scratch removal than Nikonscan, and Nikonscan simply doesn't have built-in colour restoration. Sure, you can scan then edit in Photoshop or some other editor, but Vuescan takes a lot of the pain out of scanning old film. I haven't tried photo restoration as much with the Epson but I'd expect it to give good results more easily than Epsonscan.

Photo below - Vuescan on the left and Nikonscan on the right. The little boy on his grandfather's lap at the bottom of the photo is me, so the slide is about 48 years old.

[peterjcb]

Nikon F2 50mm / Kodachrome II > B&W conversion




NIkon F2

[cooltouch]

Rob, looking at the job Vuescan did with dust removal, I'm pretty sure it will outperform EpsonScan, even when using ICE. I've never used ICE because it ends up reducing effective resolution. And its dust removal feature, which is an option apart from ICE you can toggle on or off, is the one I described as introducing glass-sliver looking artifacts. So VueScan probably has it all over EpsonScan when it comes to dirt and scratch removal. Now as for color correction -- first let me ask, is this a rather small crop of the original you're showing in the photo? Because the corrected image seems rather flat and noisy. Of course, I'm saying to myself, that this could be because of the severity of color degradation in the original. I don't have any 48-year-old E-6 images to try and convert. But the thirty-some-odd year old ones I've converted with EpsonScan weren't nearly as washed out looking as your example and came out looking as fresh as when they were new. They hadn't lost color as much as having it moved over to the magenta/purple side of the color scale.

Peter, those are very nice conversions. I especially like the first one and the way the woman's hair and face are backlighted. Care to explain your conversion process?

[peterjcb]

Rob, looking at the job Vuescan did with dust removal, I'm pretty sure it will outperform EpsonScan, even when using ICE. I've never used ICE because it ends up reducing effective resolution. And its dust removal feature, which is an option apart from ICE you can toggle on or off, is the one I described as introducing glass-sliver looking artifacts. So VueScan probably has it all over EpsonScan when it comes to dirt and scratch removal. Now as for color correction -- first let me ask, is this a rather small crop of the original you're showing in the photo? Because the corrected image seems rather flat and noisy. Of course, I'm saying to myself, that this could be because of the severity of color degradation in the original. I don't have any 48-year-old E-6 images to try and convert. But the thirty-some-odd year old ones I've converted with EpsonScan weren't nearly as washed out looking as your example and came out looking as fresh as when they were new. They hadn't lost color as much as having it moved over to the magenta/purple side of the color scale.

Peter, those are very nice conversions. I especially like the first one and the way the woman's hair and face are backlighted. Care to explain your conversion process?

Michael, I used a Pacific Image prime film scanner to do each one then I processed the digital images in Photoshop.
Then I simply converted to B&W right in photoshop...pretty simple.
I have gotten a lot better in creating the look that I like but I'm very far from being an expert.
Oh, and the clone stamp tool in photoshop is your friend for getting rid of large dust spots or scratches. It performs miracles...

I would also recommend two excellent plug-ins for photoshop... Topaz and Silver Efex.

This was taken I believe with Kodachrome II with my NIkon F2 50mm and converted to B&W

[gofour3]

Thanks for the heads-up Gofour3 ....I love nostalgia.
All these were taken with the only SLR that I owned at the time, a Nikon F2 Photomic with a 50mm f2 lens all from the mid-70's
All were shot with either Kodachrome II and Tri-X, some were converted to B&W since I prefer it over color.
I had a full B&W darkroom back in the day...bulk loading film and I even had a huge dry mount press....wish I hadn't sold everything...
PS...all the scans were done with a Pacific Image prime film scanner....it worked well but I burnt a couple out. They have a tendancy not to last very long...PP was done with both DxO and PS6.

Those look great! I have a PrimeFIlm 7250u scanner that came with a Kodachrome profile, so scanning those slides give me the best results.

Phil.