Kodachrome failure?

I took this shot on Kodachrome 64 with an M3 and Summicron 50. This was about 15 years ago. I have scanned the slide repeatedly, and I get lousy results like this. What happened? I don't recall what the slide was like originally.

Do you have Digital ICE turned on in your scanner? If so turn it off because it doesn't work with Kodachrome (or B&W).

Do you have Digital ICE turned on in your scanner? If so turn it off because it doesn't work with Kodachrome (or B&W).

+1

That result looks typical of what you get by trying to scan K'chrome with IR dust/scratch reduction turned on.

Interesting. I thought IR reduction was turned off, but in rescanning I may have turned it on. Thanks, folks.

Quickly spotted, and I don't dispute the explanation at all in this case. But just thought it was worth a mention that some versions of Digital ICE could indeed be used with Kodachrome apparently. I believe it was called Digital ICE Professional.

 

Some more info here: Scanning, Digitizing Kodak Kodachrome Films: Basics, Tips, Experiences, Indications, Recommendations, ICE Dust Removal

I carefully blocked the IR stuff, and the result was improvement. The spots are there, but could be removed in PS.

but could be removed in PS.

The overall colour needs a bit of PhotoShop work if you don't mind me saying.

 

The blue and green curves need aligning with the red, and a slight hue rotation wouldn't come amiss.

a quick and dirty fix is to set the white on the brightest and the black on the darkest ("ozone" system). Without any other fix that gives you a much better starting place for balancing and restoring something closer to the original/

 

But no film, not even Kodachrome, is immortal and this one does not seem to have been treated well in its history.

 

Also, especially if you don't set the parameters before scanning, scanners need help from an operator as a general rule.

But no film, not even Kodachrome, is immortal and this one does not seem to have been treated well in its history.

Digitising and digital restoration can almost work miracles.

I managed to get the correct colour back into some old Type-A Kodachrome 64 slides that had been exposed in daylight many years ago. The blue cast was surprisingly easy to correct.

 

This is by no means perfect, but was quite quickly done just using the restricted editor on my smartphone. PhotoShop could get a much better result.