Scanning 35mm Slides

[HJR]

I am faced with scanning a large amount of 35 mm slides (Ektachrome,
Kodachrome-1960's) to be be viewed as a slide show on TV. (Pinnacle
Studio, MemoriesOnTV)
Considering the screen resolution of the average 31" TV (CRT), do I
need to invest in a dedicated Filmscanner or will a Flatbed Scanner
like the Canon 8400F or EPSON 4180 Photo be adequate for this task??
Is a dedicated Film Scanner (i.e. Minolta Scan Dual IV) really that
much faster in scanning a large number of slides?
Any suggestions appreciated

HJR

 

[Tim923]

We just got a $100 flatbed scanner to do slides. It's been very time
consuming. It has been about a full day's worth of work to do 50
slides. Any tiny piece of dust (almost invisible) that gets on either
the slide or the lighted plastic background gets magnified a "million"
times. So I've had to check for that before each scan. Lots of the
pics need to be cropped afterwards, and adjusted for brightness and
contrast, but most don't have to be cropped.

Some other reasons it is taking so long is that the computer is slow.
I also save the scans as large bitmap files to avoid recompression
after edits.

What is the smart way to do this?

-
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/news.html (profile) --Tim923 My email is valid.

 

[Anoni Moose]

We just got a $100 flatbed scanner to do slides. It's been very time
consuming. It has been about a full day's worth of work to do 50
slides. Any tiny piece of dust (almost invisible) that gets on either
the slide or the lighted plastic background gets magnified a "million"
times. So I've had to check for that before each scan. Lots of the
pics need to be cropped afterwards, and adjusted for brightness and
contrast, but most don't have to be cropped.

Some other reasons it is taking so long is that the computer is slow.
I also save the scans as large bitmap files to avoid recompression
after edits.

What is the smart way to do this?

For now you can try methods to clean the film, like using a
staticmaster brush. But the smart way, as such, is to use
another scanner with digital ICE (to remove the dust automatically
using information from an infrared channel that works with most film)
and perhaps one that does at least a few slides, if not a whole
stack automatically (although that feature may cost by itself may
cost a good bit more than just your current scanner). Likewise
a faster computer helps.

Basically, there are reasons some solutions cost more than others
and time to do things is one thing that one trades off for cost.


Mike

 

[Tim923]

Basically, there are reasons some solutions cost more than others

and time to do things is one thing that one trades off for cost.

Our HP Scanjet 3670 is a good value. Affordable, multi-purpose, etc.
No complaints there. I was curious whether a better slide scanner
would have better (automatic) results. Or is a lot of it a software
issue.

Lots of the scans came out well:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/8105xmashulk.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/scan0001sm.jpg

Lots came out too dark:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/7908barge2.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/8106disney.jpg

If they come out too dark, I can adjust the brightness & contrast
afterwards (see pic below), but lots of time it doesn't work well and
makes the picture look funny and unnatural. I likely wouldn't know
they were too dark until viewing the full size bitmap file.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/e8106disney.jpg

(Short shorts and socks pulled up to the knees were the fashion in the
early 1980s.)

The Disney World and Barge pics are easy to see on the projector and
don't look nearly that dark. So is there a better scanner that would
automatically do a good job on these "dark" slides. Is it an issue
with the software.

-
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8adrh/news.html (profile) --Tim923 My email is valid.

 

[Kennedy McEwen]

I am faced with scanning a large amount of 35 mm slides (Ektachrome,
Kodachrome-1960's) to be be viewed as a slide show on TV. (Pinnacle
Studio, MemoriesOnTV)
Considering the screen resolution of the average 31" TV (CRT), do I
need to invest in a dedicated Filmscanner or will a Flatbed Scanner
like the Canon 8400F or EPSON 4180 Photo be adequate for this task??
Is a dedicated Film Scanner (i.e. Minolta Scan Dual IV) really that
much faster in scanning a large number of slides?
Any suggestions appreciated

Almost any scanner you can lay your hands on that can scan film will be
good enough for your needs. The resolution of the CRT isn't the
problem, although CRTs for TV reception are very low resolution in any
case, the issue is the video standard you will be restricted to sending
the signal to the TV in. Even if you have RGB input access to the TV,
you will probably be limited to no more than 640x480 pixel resolution,
and around half that if you have to use a modulated standard, like PAL
or NTSC.

480 pixels from a 24mm high slide is 500ppi, so even a budget 1200ppi
flatbed will give you lots of overhead for cropping.

 

[Tom Ellliott]

I know this is not recomended but...
http://www.tom-elliott-photography.com/hp-scanner.html
for $25.00 it does a good job.
Tom