Green spots on slides - any scanning experts out there?

Hi guys, newbie in scanning here.......

 

When scanning some 25 yr old slides, I see that small dark green spots are

recorded. I do not think these are dust, but what can it be? Fungus, bad

chemicals in processing, or....? I appreciate any help!

 

If you decide it is fungus or some chemical processing, will ICE take care of

the problem?

 

Today I use a Minolta Dual Scan II (without Digital ICE)and with Polaroid Dust

and Scratch Removal 1,0 PS-plugin, but the plugin clearly deteriorates other

small elements in the scan as well...

 

With some 5-6000 slides to scan, I woould really like this problem to be

solved as soon as possible, and if another film scanner with ICE is the way to

go, then I have to start saving. If you do not think it could be solved with

digital ICE, please say so, as I really would like to buy some lenses instead.

 

regards

Per-Christian

 

http://home.no.net/pcn/d70/Hamburg%20047.jpg

It looks like dirt to me. Scanning results in pretty high magnification, so dust invisible to the eye becomes visible in the scan.

 

Digital ICE would certainly help, even in the unlikely event that something happened in processing. It doesn't hurt to brush or blow off the slides prior to scanning, while examining them obliquely under a bright desk lamp. The image also is too red, so you need to calibrate your scanner as well.

It takes about 6 minutes to scan a slide at high resolution, plus the time to do any editing and archiving. If you work full time on this project, it would take 4 to 6 months to complete. You probably want to get a scanner with an automatic feeder, like a Nikon LS-5000 (the feeder is another $500). Furthermore, you may not want to scan all the slides. A little triage will save a lot of time.

 

You need to pay particular attention to organizing and cataloging the slides prior to scanning, then naming files while scanning so that you can easily associate an image file with a particular slide. You may wish to rescan a given slide in the future, or correlate the subject and any notes. Why spend all this time and be sloppy about the bookkeeping?

This is probably caused by a fungal growth - I had a similar problem with

Ektachrome,although the spots weren't green.

I sent a sample to the Kodak Technical dept. in the U.K.,and this was their response :

 

'My colleagues have passed onto me, your query about the "raindrop" like effect that you

have seen on your Ektachrome slides. I have reviewed it with the European expert on slide

films. Unfortunately he confirmed my suspicions, that your slides appear to be exhibiting

signs of fungal growth. Storage conditions can influence quite markedly fungal growth.

Kodak has a publication devoted specifically to the storage and care of photographic

materials which I hope you will find useful:-

 

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/e30/e30Contents.shtml '

 

I successfully solved the problem on the slides that were exhibiting this fault,by wiping

them carefully with alcohol - Isopropanol - which I obtained from my local pharmacist.

 

Reputedly, very rough vodka has the same effect.

 

Good luck if you try it.

Thank you Edward & Malcolm for your kind answers.

 

Edward, do you have any suggestions for naming and storage?

 

For my digital images I use the naming convention "yyyymmdd <topic> ##" and I store the images in folders separated by months, for example: 200609.

 

My slides are partly organized by topic, partly unorganized in binders (trema-system). As I do not know when (and where) some of these images were taken, how do you think the scanned files would be organized most efficiently for easy retrieval?

And here is another example:

http://home.no.net/pcn/d70/61.jpg

Regarding system for indexing slides. I've been using a product by Image Innovations Inc (www.slidescribe.com) to catalog my 6K+ slides. It allows you to assign a unique number to each slide along with a description. Also lets you sort on key words or text areas. You can print a lable for each slide with the Number and description. I plan on scanning the slides and assigning the same number to each slide as the index, making both slide and scan easy to find.