For new and old - how to scan photos for indiamike

Midnite Toker · May 30th, 2003, 21:45

You can't get more off-topic than this, but I'm lifting the thread up to keep it available to new members.

OK - now you have bought a scanner for your India photos, what else can you do with it?

Well, how about playing your LP records with it?

No joke - look at this site, which has downloadable sounds from a scanned LP.

hairypotter · May 31st, 2003, 00:22

amazing wot people do! i hope this works coz i've got a lot of lps lying around!

Joph · Jan 3rd, 2006, 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan D

Some posts in this thread may seem out of sequence as this thread has been merged with another.

I must buy a scanner and post some of my pics of India. There must be some steam engines among them. Problem is the pics from the 60's and early 70's are all on slides. Will it be possible to scan these or do I have to have them printed first?

Can anyone recommend a good model or will any old scanner do the job?

What about the idear of projecting your slides on a nice white wall, and catch them from there with a digital camera?

Just an idea.
Joph.

Alan D · Jan 4th, 2006, 18:51

Strange Joph that you have posted on this old thread just at this time.

For the last couple of weeks I have been scanning hundreds of old slides from the sixties and seventies. As we never actually get the projector out and look at them, my wife wanted them up as a slide show on the monitor and is also having them printed out and arranged in photo albums.

Taking Midnite Toker's advice I bought an Epsom Perfection 1660 scanner and have used it with Adobe Photoshop. I know the results are inferior to professionally scanned slides - lack of sharpness, trouble sometimes with contrast in some slides, strange pixel behaviour, especially in skies, but as they are mostly only going to be looked at by us, with deteriorating eyesight, it didn't seem worth spending loads of money.

Hadn't thought of your suggestion of projecting them and photographing them with a digital camera. Has anyone tried this?

Joph · Jan 4th, 2006, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan D

Hadn't thought of your suggestion of projecting them and photographing them with a digital camera. Has anyone tried this?

I did. ;-)
I ones tried about 25 years ago. Projected the slides and shoot them with an anoloog camera (which is an general better than a digital because it has more pixels). Besides the rubble which came from a not flat surface of the projection wall, the results seemed reasonable after having them printed.

Wanderer22 · Jan 5th, 2006, 01:04

For best results, scanning the actual negative or slide is the way to go. There are several ways to do this with top quality costing big bucks. The real pros use drum scanners that can handle 35mm up to large format negatives. These are the Rolls Royces and can cost 10-50K $US. A dedicated negative scanner is next best with something like the Nikon Coolscan 5000 (for 35mm) going for around 1K $US.

This is the route I've taken, and am very happy with it. A nice feature of the Coolscan is the fact that it has an extra infra red sensor that is able to measure dust seperate from the colour and eliminate it. Unfortunately this is not much help for black and white negatives as the silver blocks IR just like dust. Flat bed scanners don't work very well unless you have one of the special models with a second light source for transparent media. For small negatives like 35mm these aren't great, but they will do a fairly decent job on medium (120) and large format 4"x5"). Done correctly film can still out perform digital, especially if the digital uses a small size sensor like a lot do. Have heard that digital needs to be 8-10 Megapixel to equal 35mm film.
It really boils down to quality and what you want to do with the images. If just to post on the web, you may be happy with the low end. On the other hand if you plan to make large prints, the extra resolution and sharpness will be very noticeable. The following site gives some visual comparisons...
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...l#introduction

W22

May 30th, 2003, 21:45	#16
Midnite Toker absconding member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 475	Scan your LPs! You can't get more off-topic than this, but I'm lifting the thread up to keep it available to new members. OK - now you have bought a scanner for your India photos, what else can you do with it? Well, how about playing your LP records with it? No joke - look at this site, which has downloadable sounds from a scanned LP. __________________ travel tips, blog, downloads, panorama photos, online security, tokes: the tokezone

Jan 4th, 2006, 18:51	#19
Alan D Maha Guru Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Southampton UK Posts: 1,866	Strange Joph that you have posted on this old thread just at this time. For the last couple of weeks I have been scanning hundreds of old slides from the sixties and seventies. As we never actually get the projector out and look at them, my wife wanted them up as a slide show on the monitor and is also having them printed out and arranged in photo albums. Taking Midnite Toker's advice I bought an Epsom Perfection 1660 scanner and have used it with Adobe Photoshop. I know the results are inferior to professionally scanned slides - lack of sharpness, trouble sometimes with contrast in some slides, strange pixel behaviour, especially in skies, but as they are mostly only going to be looked at by us, with deteriorating eyesight, it didn't seem worth spending loads of money. Hadn't thought of your suggestion of projecting them and photographing them with a digital camera. Has anyone tried this? __________________ What a long strange trip it's been!

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May 31st, 2003, 00:22	#17
hairypotter Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: India Posts: 11	amazing wot people do! i hope this works coz i've got a lot of lps lying around!

Jan 5th, 2006, 01:04	#21
Wanderer22 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 459	For best results, scanning the actual negative or slide is the way to go. There are several ways to do this with top quality costing big bucks. The real pros use drum scanners that can handle 35mm up to large format negatives. These are the Rolls Royces and can cost 10-50K $US. A dedicated negative scanner is next best with something like the Nikon Coolscan 5000 (for 35mm) going for around 1K $US. This is the route I've taken, and am very happy with it. A nice feature of the Coolscan is the fact that it has an extra infra red sensor that is able to measure dust seperate from the colour and eliminate it. Unfortunately this is not much help for black and white negatives as the silver blocks IR just like dust. Flat bed scanners don't work very well unless you have one of the special models with a second light source for transparent media. For small negatives like 35mm these aren't great, but they will do a fairly decent job on medium (120) and large format 4"x5"). Done correctly film can still out perform digital, especially if the digital uses a small size sensor like a lot do. Have heard that digital needs to be 8-10 Megapixel to equal 35mm film. It really boils down to quality and what you want to do with the images. If just to post on the web, you may be happy with the low end. On the other hand if you plan to make large prints, the extra resolution and sharpness will be very noticeable. The following site gives some visual comparisons... http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...l#introduction W22

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