robert goldstein

I do not have an Imacon, but I can tell you that scanning is a time-consuming, laborious process. The first question you should ask yourself is whether all of your thousands of negatives are truly worthy of scanning. If you are honest with yourself, the answer will almost certainly be "no." My practice is to scan only the best images or those that are of particular value in documenting a certain event or place. All the rest remain peacefully undigitized in plastic sheets.

I appreciate all of the input so far. Keep it coming.

 

Bob Michaels, I have 1.8Gb RAM installed, but is there not a limit to the RAM that

Photoshop CS can actually utilize?

My question is not about how to resize the image, but rather what is the best resolution at which to edit it. Sometimes, I do not even know the ultimate output size when I begin working on an image

I routinely scan 35mm slides at the maximum resolution of my scanner (5400ppi),

so as to get as much detail off the slide as possible. However, in 16bit mode,

this creates unwieldy files that are about 215Mb in size. After editing in

Photoshop with multiple layers, the files can easily exceed 1Gb in size.

 

What is the best way to deal with such huge files? Is it always best to edit

at maximum size and then resample/resize for final output, or is resizing

before editing acceptable? The latter approach could be problematic if

multiple output sizes are required, either at the time of initial scanning or

in the future.

 

I guess what I am seeking is a proper workflow for handling and storing my

scans. Any advice will be appreciated.

Virtually all digital images, whether they were captured on film or a light sensor, benefit from some sharpening. This is because the digitizing process results in blurring. Obviously, personal taste comes into play. If one prefers the slightly soft, unsharpened image, then sharpening is unnecessary.

Have you examined the negative under a high power loupe to be certain that the edge is indeed in focus? Have you found other scans to be similarly out of focus? If the answer to both is "yes" then you have a problem with film flatness. Your scanner probably has an extremely shallow depths of focus.

I completely agree with Scott that slide film is not a good choice for making prints unless

you will have high quality scans made first. And minilab Frontier or Noritsu scans are not

high quality. You would probably have to invest money in a decent film scanner along

with the time needed to acquire scanning skills. As with so many things in life, it's not

that hard once you know how.

<Scott, in my experience nothing is more over-saturated than digital print from slides.

Often the colours apeear so unreal...! May be is the skill of the operator...>

 

Totally, man. A properly scanned and edited slide can be printed with superb, realistic

color. The determining factors are the quality of the original slide and the skill of the

operator. Oh, yeah, hardware matters, too, but the point I am making is that it's not the

digitization itself that produces bad results.

As a general rule in life, you get what you pay for. Bargain basement processing is likely

to have much less quality control than premium processing. Even a local "pro" lab that I

have used has returned slides to me that were loaded with crud, and I don't mean surface

dirt. That's why, right now, I am trying out dr5 in Denver. They charge $8.55/roll

unmounted minus a 10% discount for orders over 12 rolls. If they are as good as I have

heard (and they claim), I will consider it a reasonable value.

I highly recommend Noiseware Professional for grain and noise reduction and Focus Magic

for sharpening. I also use PhotoKit for toning B&W images.

 

Some people can't see any reason to use plug-ins; I can't see any reason not to.

The most interesting finding is how superior the E6 scans are to C41. It would be nice to know what films were used.

Does it have the bluish cast in shadows, as does Provia 400f?

"The trick to making b&w prints without a color cast is not to use color inks."

 

That is certainly one way to do it. But Chromira B&W prints are absolutely gorgeous, and

the Chromira is a color printer. With a single exception, I have been exceedingly pleased

with the results.

"Printing B&W images onto color paper is going to be the problem, not resolution."

 

This is true. Digital color printers sometimes have a slight, variable color cast that is

noticeable on monochrome prints but not color prints. One way to minimize this effect is

to add digital toning to the B&W image which can overwhelm the color cast.

 

I have had quite a few B&W images (on color film) printed on a Chromira using Fuji paper,

and only once have I had to have the print re-done. I like Chromira, because its dmax is

huge. Identical prints on an Epson 9800 seem slightly washed out in comparison.

It seems to me that a fundamental flaw in Wai-Leong's "test" is that he is comparing

apples and oranges. Photos of Yosemite Falls and of a beautiful woman are so different in

fine detail and tonal gradations that one cannot draw any conclusions regarding resulting

prints. If you really want to discover the differences between 35mm Leica and MF Hassy,

shoot the exact same subject with the same film, scan on the same scanner and print

using the same printer at varying sizes. Or do it all optically. I am quite confident that the

differences will be obvious at larger sizes.

 

That said, I have some 12x18 digital prints from 35mm film that are pretty amazing.

Good film, good lenses and good technique can work wonders.

"Wide-eyed utopian idealism," that's rich. There was actually a time in this country when

there were laws against monopolies and there was a Justice Department that would

enforce them. Now we have one mega-merger after another, and no one bats an eyelash,

because, we are told, that's what a free market requires. And it's true. Unregulated

capitalism inevitably leads to massive concentrations of wealth. The point that I have been

trying to make is that we must not ignore the social consequences that come from such

concentrations. Utopian idealism has nothing to do with it.

"I'm sorry, when I wrote "all true" it was before Robert's post had appeared. I definitely do not want to be misquoted as validating his remarks, which while idealistic, are unrealistic."

 

Was it unrealistic to point out that the small business entreprenuer is an endangered species in America? I find it amusing that the Chamber of Commerce never fails to pay homage to courageous individual business owners, all the while its more potent members are striving to wipe them off the map. One may consider all this to be inevitable or even desirable, but one should not ignore the social consequences.

For all the pious talk we are subjected to glorifying the idea of entreprenuership, small business entreprenuers are being squashed like grapes by large national and multinational corporations. The system is rigged to favor the big guys, who do provide more selection, and, frequently, better prices. Still, the loss of small businesses across America is one of the factors contributing to the shrinkage of the middle class. Some would consider this too high a price to pay merely to satisfy our (largely manufactured) consumerist urges.

There are numerous plug-ins. My favorite is Noiseware Professional. You will no doubt

receive other recommendations.

The real problem in shooting inside museums is not the light, but the mass of people who

clutter up the pictures, as can be seen in the examples already posted. There may be

creative ways of including people, but this is probably not your primary photographic goal.

Good luck, and have fun.

Bummer! I thought this thread would be about tattoos and piercings.

Astia 100f. Relatively low contrast, minimal grain and GORGEOUS blues.

I have had a 5400 for two years and have never exerienced a glitch. My guess is that your

problem is software related. Have you downloaded the latest driver from Minolta?

After having shot and scanned the best print films (Reala and 400UC), I switched to transparencies and have not looked back. Astia 100f scans better than any film I have tried and has almost as much tonal range as some print films. Grain is very fine.

 

I would suggest that you try several different films for yourself and see which ones suit you best.

As an addendum, I want to say how pleased I am with the service and results from WCI.

They are definitely a first rate operation.