slide scanner

[imageel]

Brian - this link shows what you can get photographing the negative directly - these are at full resolution so are quite large -https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z2dq7mznj4dffit/OL4e6dUMk7

The bus photo is from a 120 roll negative, originally shot on a Kodak Box Brownie or similar and subsequently taken with a Fuji Finepix ~3.2Mp camera.
The 2nd one from a 35mm colour negative of a younger me and my 1.5y old dog this time shot using a Nikon D2X at10Mp cropped size.

Both digital camera shots easily out-resolve the original negatives as can be seen by the film grain that is resolved in the photos, and both look quite blurry in comparison to what we nowadays have become accustomed to from even cheap digital cameras -both photos print quite well even up to A4 size!

Some other scanned shots re-sized and over-sharpened here - http://www.image-electric.com/home/albums-5
..and my workshop build too

I can post a photo of the rig I made up if you are interested, and also some techniques for automated reversal of colour negatives,
Ed

 

[RogerS]

That's an interesting link, Ed.

I've just bought off eBay the Epson 3590 Perfection as recommended. I've only scanned in a couple of slides but resolution not brilliant. I notice that the glass plate seems to have a slight bloom underneath which may be defracting the light. When I get a moment I will try and clean it. Think I may have to get the slide projector down from the loft (at least, I think that that is where it is!) and look at the same slides. Such a long time..could well be down to the original lack of sharpness in the camera...which, for the life of me, I cannot recall make or type....such a long, long time ago.

EDIT: Like the workshop build. Plenty of room in the field behind for Cameron's 'build-where-you-like' new planning regime :wink:

But like the Duxford photos even more. Spent ages trying to 'Guess-the-Plane' !

 

[imageel]

Roger - yes I think that you will find that a lot of 35mm and older negatives were not terribly sharp, but in those days a postcard size print was all that was expected out of them!
Historically the move from medium format to 35mm was a marketing ploy to bring photography to the masses, which it did albeit at a lower quality, hence the pro's staying with medium format and some even still using large format glass plates - wedding photographers come to mind.

another option if you have slides/transparencies is that you can get lens clip holders especially designed for slide duplication which might be easier/quicker to use than a real projector.

re: Guess the Plane - there are plenty who do that over on the Hand Tools forum :lol:

Ed

 

[bugbear]

Roger - yes I think that you will find that a lot of 35mm and older negatives were not terribly sharp, but in those days a postcard size print was all that was expected out of them!

Indeed - some of the early film was so grainy that it was common for 6x9 negatives from brownies (and similar) to be printed up as contacts, without an enlarger!

BugBear

 

[RogerS]

Here's one of the first three that I scanned in. Looking at the Get Info it looks as if the scan dpi is perhaps too low. I have to confess that I didn't look at any of the settings, just wanted to have a play.



I know that the exposure is pretty terrible. I think if you click on it then it opens up in a new browser window at larger size

 

[RogerM]

Looking at the full size image (1798 x 1149), sharpness doesn't seem to be too much of an issue, and only you will know how the exposure compares to the original. You'll need a soft paint brush to clean the slides though as this one is covered in dust, and that will also transfer to the bed of the scanner. You'll need to give the bed a quick wipe between each set of slides in my experience.

The dust is pin-prick sharp though! :lol:

 

[devonwoody]

Hopefully you find this exposure compensation better?

 

[RogerS]

Hopefully you find this exposure compensation better?

Bit OTT, dw! You've let the tall buildings burn out all the detail !!!

 

[RogerP]

It tweaks up a bit but it's covered in dust and very soft.

 

[AndyT]

Clearly, avoiding dust is the best option, but I've found that for cleaning up a few spots from a scanned image, the tools in Google's free Picasa software are perfectly adequate and easy to use

 

[RogerS]

LOL...I have two Roger's..one says sharpness is OK and t'other says it's soft!

 

[RogerP]

LOL...I have two Roger's..one says sharpness is OK and t'other says it's soft!

Well here's crop from the centre .... very soft I'd say :|

...

 

[devonwoody]

Yeah he ought to have had a tripod or a stronger one. (got myself covered :wink: )

 

[RogerS]

Reckon you're right! I'll have a look at the settings tomorrow.

 

[imageel]

Okay that scan is very noisy, and it doesn't look like film grain so I deduce it is from the scanner, and as others have said you need to clean the slide. If you have some lint free cloth similar to that supplied to cleaning eye glasses you will find that you can rub quite hard to remove some of the dust/dirt, but don't be tempted to 'breath' on it as the moisture will soften the acetate and you may end up rubbing away the image :?
Just to add to the 'let's see what can be done with this photo' - here is my attempt
Original adjusted -

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h6ym2bn2xwhwbbj/orig.jpg
100% crop

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xjgvor6p5r06qy/crop.jpg

 

[RogerS]

Just fired up the scanner. Rescanned at 12800dpi. 78MB file !! Looked at it ..still soft..so reckon it's the old camera I had.