>I have alot of Kodachrome slides taken with my trusty ME-Super all the > way up to my PZ-1. I have been attempting to scan these with my Epson > 4990, which is a pretty decent scanner from what I've read.
I used that scanner all the time at my last job. I scanned everything from 110 negs to prints to 8x10 transparencies. It's a great little machine! > slides always seem to scan very dark, even though I can put them on a > light table and see them just fine, and they project beautifully. Do > any of these scanners have provisions for upping the brightness of the > lamp, or changing the ISO (sensitivity) of the scanner sensor? It seems > that doing this during scanning would be more effective than me trying > to stretch out the underexposed scan afterwards with levels. What you're seeing is the scanner's auto exposure setting. First, make sure you select ONLY the actual slide image when you drag the little box around your scanning selection (in other words, you want as little black space around the image as possible). You can select multiple slides by making multiple boxes (you probably know this, I'm just covering all the bases here). If you select more than the image you want to scan, the extra space around the image can drastically affect your exposure. Once you have selected the slide, the auto-exposure should be just about right on, as far as brightness goes. If not, there are those large buttons in the scanner setting window that allow you to change the scan's curves, color balance, etc. Using those options does not really degrade the scan as long as you use them in moderation. > The other problem I have is that apparently because of the mount, the > slides seem slightly out of focus. I suppose to get them to scan > perfectly in focus I would have to take them off the mount so they can > lay flat on the scanner bed. That just seems drastic however. Don't do it! You'll get newton rings up the wazzoo. With a flatbed, you're always best using the film/slide holders they provide. You want the film itself to be held away from the glass. The holders keep the film at the proper distance to be in focus. If you lay the film flat on the glass you'll get newton rings almost every time. If you still get rings even when using the holder, try placing the slides emulsion-side-down. You'll have to flip the scan in photoshop, but it's worth it to avoid the rings. Hopefully this helps. :) John Celio -- http://www.neovenator.com AIM: Neopifex "Hey, I'm an artist. I can do whatever I want and pretend I'm making a statement." -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
