Scanning 35 mm slides - multi-exposure? naming convention?

I am about to embark on scanning my boxes of 35 mm color slides using a Plustek 7300i scanner. I've read a lot of comments about how using a DSLR with a macro lens is superior but for various reasons I've decided not to do that. Anyway, I've got two questions: one, has anyone had experience with the multi-exposure technique that I believe is part of the Silverfast software? And two, what are some good naming conventions that work, or those that don't work? Thanks

I have never used Silverfast beyond the demo version, but have used Vuescan extensively. Vuescan does offer "multi-pass" scanning.

 

The analytical chemist in me looks at signal/noise ratio all the time, and in my mind multi-pass scanning SHOULD improve the scanner performance by collecting multiple samples at the same site. In practical use, I've found that even higher end consumer grade scanners(I've used an older 35mm/120 Canon flatbed, an Epson V700, an ancient Polaroid Sprintscan, and Nikon Coolscan III, V, and 8000 models) typically don't have great repeatability in how the scan head/film holder(depending on the scanner design) gets positioned from pass to pass. This can result in a small reduction in noise from a "thick" negative or slide, but almost always with a loss of sharpness. Incidentally, I've noticed the same effect to a less extent on the Epson and Canon flatbeds that make a separate pass for IR channel scanning-Nikons avoid this problem by collecting the IR channel with the RGB channels.

 

As for organizing-I usually scan things as I have them processed, and don't scan the complete rolls. In my case, I will typically name the folder with the date processed, the film type, and-most importantly-a quick description of the general comments. That description could be something like "trip to xxx fall 2018", "flowers spring 2019" or "family reunion summer 2009."(that one is my go to reference for Kodachrome :) ). If I have multiple rolls from the same occasion, I will usually make a sub-folder for each roll-it's usually designated "roll 1" etc, but might get additional information as to what is on that specific roll. Similarly, each frame initially gets named sequentially(frame 1, etc) but I will then often go back and append additional details such as the names of the people or a general description of what's in the frame. BTW, I usually designate all of this on the print file page where I store the originals so that I can easily match them up later.

 

If you're scanning trays and not rolls-which is often the case for me when I'm handling older family slides-I follow the same general naming convention but of course go tray by tray. This is also where having a working slide projector is handy, since it's generally easier for me to drop a complete tray onto the projector and flip through it to see what is in it(I loved my grandfather dearly and am glad that I have his slides, but at the same time I don't need 10,000 scans of his flower garden-I mostly cull those for photos of people, and then the rest go back in the closet).

 

In any case, that has worked for me since I got my first scanner in ~2007, and generally lets me find what I'm looking for without too much of a headache.

AFIK, multi-pass scanning is used to mitigate random noise, which adds as the square root of the number of passes (4 passes = half the relative noise). I am not aware of any scanner software which executes exposure bracketing. Bracketing is easily done if you use a digital camera. I've tried it, but without positive results. It would be most useful, theoretically, for high-contrast film with dense blacks, like Velvia. In practice, there is little detail of any consequence to be recovered in this manner.

 

For naming conventions, I look for a way that the scanned image can be connected to a particular slide or negative. Rolls are generally stored in archival sleeves, 7 rows of 6 frames each. Slides can be in the original boxes or in carousels. I start with a reverse date code (YYMMDD), to which I add the frame number. Each carousel slot has a number, which could be an addendum to some code describing the carousel's content or general topic (e.g., a particular vacation).

Ed, as I understand it multi-exposure is designed to increase the dynamic range. Essentially it's like shooting an HDR photo. The scanner takes two passes, one with the light on bright and the other with the light dim and combines the two exposures. However, I've read that, in some hands, it does this at the expense of detail, as if the two exposures are not aligned perfectly. Furthermore, it doubles your already slow scan time. I think there is another piece of software (GANE) that is designed for noise reduction.

Ed, as I understand it multi-exposure is designed to increase the dynamic range

I have not seen this in a conventional scanner. A Nikon scanner "adjusts" the exposure in rendering, not by any physical change in illumination or dwell time. The purpose of multiple scans is to reduce the dark noise by averaging. This may extend the dynamic range in that region, but only by a stop or less. A Nikon scanner repeats the lateral scan with each color LED (R, G, B and IR) before advancing the film. There are three rows of sensors in the line array. You can advance 3 steps, or only one for finer (and slower) resolution. I have not noticed any registration errors. Flatbed scanners can also do multiple scans, but by returning the head to the starting position and rescanning the entire frame.

Ed, See these links

 

Plustek OpticFilm 8100 Review | Photography Blog

 

Plustek OpticFilm 120 & SilverFast Ai Studio 8: A 35mm And Medium Format Scanner

Multi-pass scanning is intended to reduce electronic random noise from the scanner. Multi-exposure scanning is intended to increase dynamic range, and can be useful with chromes, which have a DR around 3.6 which matches or exceeds the true DR of most consumer scanners (also about 3.6).

Naming convention: For family photos, I make the filenames self-explanatory. All modern file systems permit long filenames, so I name the people in the photo from left to right, last name-first name. I separate last name-first name with a hyphen, and I separate different last names with an underscore. Then I usually add a unique descriptor and date, if known. For example, a photo of three people from the same family (Paul, Jim, and Cathy Jones) might be named:

 

jones-paul_jim_cathy_xmas-1975.jpg

 

A photo of people with different last names (Paul and Cathy Jones, Robert Smith) might be:

 

jones-paul_cathy_smith-robert_xmas-1975.jpg

 

More than one photo of the same grouping at the same place and time might be:

 

jones-paul_cathy_smith-robert_xmas1-1975.jpg

jones-paul_cathy_smith-robert_xmas2-1975.jpg

 

I use lowercase because some operating systems (e.g., Linux) are case sensitive, so lowercase avoids confusion. I don't record the information in metadata because some programs garble it or even delete it altogether if the file is opened and saved again. Also, some future viewers might not think of checking the metadata.

 

If a photo has too many people to list this way -- a group photo at a wedding, for instance -- I use a shorter filename (such as "jones-smith-wedding1_1995.jpg" and record the data in a text file with the same filename except for the "txt" extension. This naming convention ensures that both files appear together in a directory listing.

 

Also, I sort family photos into folders by decade ("1960s", "1970s", etc). And I put different sides of the family in their own folders. So the Jones folder and the Smith folder contain their own folders by decade. I even have folders for "no name" (unidentified people) and "miscellaneous" (for scanned documents, such as birth/marriage/death certificates).

 

I'm using this naming convention for more than 11,000 family photos and documents. I can quickly locate any photo by looking in the directories or by using the search tools built into Windows or MacOS. It works for me.

The mounts of most slides are stamped with the month and year of processing. To that you can add "A", "B", etc, and/or the day of the month the last frame was taken or processed. However they are often mixed in carousels. I recommend a hash code related to the method of storage, so they can be retrieved if necessary. The nomenclature for storage should be simple but unique. You can always add searchable descriptions or group them into collections by reference (e.g., Lightroom). The originals can still be retrieved, even if the add-on data is not unique.

All my photos, whether they are copies of slides/photos or original images, I rename using the date (YYYY-MM-DD) followed by a simple label such as a name or location with an index number if there are more than a few of the same name.

This format helps (me) to view the final results in the right cronological order. A lot of viewing programs only seem to be able to view images in alphabetical/numerical order so this system helps sort that out.

Slides can be difficult to get right if the date is unknown and the only date to go by is the processing date on the slide itself.

I am about to embark on scanning my boxes of 35 mm color slides using a Plustek 7300i scanner. I've read a lot of comments about how using a DSLR with a macro lens is superior but for various reasons I've decided not to do that. Anyway, I've got two questions: one, has anyone had experience with the multi-exposure technique that I believe is part of the Silverfast software? And two, what are some good naming conventions that work, or those that don't work? Thanks

 

I scan everything as long as it is scannable, using a Epson V800 and Epson scan. I have the negatives bundled in years and the film number eg 1-15.

For say year 1990 I scan in quarters, eg 1990_ Film1_Q1 etc and the frames are_frames.

So the scans are

1_1990_Q1_Film 1_01.tiff onwards,

2_1990_Q1_Film 2_01.tiff onwards

 

5_1990_Q2_Film 5_01.tiff onwards

 

In Epson scan I do an auto exposure, then slacken the hi and los,to leave some headroom.3200dpi 48bit Tiffs

Next I import into Lightroom and process the films to taste.

I render them, to a different drive

as 1990_Q1_Film_1_01.tiff etc

1990_Q2_Film 5_01.tiff etc

I render as 3000x2000pixel 8 bit compressed tiff.

Lastly I go through all the pictures in the rendered folder and add the names of the people in the frame or the place and make

4 folders one for each quarter of 1990, renaming them consecutively

Say 1989_Q1 and the pictures in the folder renamed eg

1989_Q1_001_Kate Catherine Nicola Q P.tif

1989_Q1_002_Paul's Ted.tif

for all pictures in Q1,Q2,Q3, and Q4.

This system means I always have the 'RAW' scans and also rendered scans with some data.

I do slides the same way.

I have nothing worth multiscanning, I do have Silverfast, but rarely use it.

My system is for scanning family pictures.

I hope this is clear and hope it helps

 

PS If I need jpegs, I import the rendered tiff into Lightroon and batch the jpegs and down size if necessary

Here are a couple of my old posts on cataloguing and scanning that touch on matter here and they have further links:

Thoughts on Theory and Practice of Scanning (Archival/Forensic)

Nikon Coolscan LS9000 ED, ICE, and CanoScan F4000US - Part 2

 

I think date is a useful way to 'catalog' images, but as said, additional descriptive text is essential.

Use folders and such subcategories to keep some sense of where you are.

Thanks to all for your contributions to this thread, especially tom and mike for your detailed comments. Very helpful!. I will have to cogitate about this and try to come up with something that works for me.