Scanning Velvis - Coolscan

[George61d]

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oops typo in velvia.

 

 

Despite being in photography for years I only shot my first roll of velvia two weeks ago.

 

The slides are well exposed but when I scan them in using nikon scan and a coolscan 5000ed they are extremely dark and the histo is all to the left. I am using the positive setting with calibrated RGB.

 

Vuescan prodcues a much better result but is still darker than the original and is blowing highlights that are not blown on the slide. Using media set to image or to slideand when slide is selected I also tried generic and E6 slide settings.

 

I know I can increase analogue gain, and tweak curves and stuff - but a well exposed slide should scan well without the need for analogue gain.

All other films I use scan just fine - This roll of velvia is the only one giving me a problem. It is as if the hardware is not able to deal with it properly.

 

B.T.W its original stock velvia 50. It was not stored in a fridge but like I say visually the slides are fine.

 

anyone got any ideas ?

[innerimager]

Is the image cropped correctly before the scan? If the all black borders are present it can cause underexposure.

[vic vic]

hi george........

 

it is a bit trouble to get from your good slide to digilized version without the top scannerrs that are "perfectly" calibrated........ (creo and imacon for example).........

 

so......... first of all - make sure u r croped inside the image before u start doing the basic correction.....

first soould be levels, then curves, then additional color corfrections and tunings........

the other important factor is the gamma gradation in which your software works........... check out how is your gamma - usually G=2.0 more or less......... but then, if not correct - adjust it.......

[guywalder]

 

I know I can increase analogue gain, and tweak curves and stuff - but a well exposed slide should scan well without the need for analogue gain.

 

 

George,

in my experience I need to manually tweak every image when scanning (Coolscan 8000), so this sentence seems pretty optimistic.

I dont use Velvia myself, but I understand that it is a very contrasty film, which may be what is challenging your scanner, and if it is orientating itself on deep shadows it may be compromising the scanners dynamic range...??

Guy

[Kasimir]

Try the Velvia at EI 40.

Works much better for me than 50.

In addition You can calibrate Your scanner with Wolf Fausts Targets.

[ron110n]

Could be the lab but I can't tell till I see a sample.

E6 Developing time may be too short that resulted to dark images.

Too long will result to not just clipped but blown highlights.

 

I always have good luck with Velvia.

 

-Ron

 

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[George61d]

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Thanks to all who replied.

 

The slides themselves are fine - so the lab is not the problem. Nonetheless I won't use them again as I have found at least three slides with creases in them.

 

Any way it seems that vic vic may have solved the problem. I am on a mac which I have calibrated at 2.2gamma - but the Nikon scan software saw fit to use 1.8.

 

This may also explain why vuescan was so much better.

[nikau]

I have always had trouble scanning Velvia well. It can be stunning projected through my Pradovit projector, but any of the four dedicated-film scanners I've owned (currently a Nikon 9000ED) struggled to bring out the detail. If I know I'm going to scan from the transparency, I don't use Velvia.

[leicapages]

Scanning Velvia is not easy given the very high saturation of colors that the film produces. If scanning is the ultimate goal, then you would be better off with more neutral films such as Provia 100 F or Sensia.

[ai1]

I do not often use Velvia, because it is ovedrsatruated for my tastes, but I have successfully scanned Kodachrome (some recent, some going back to the 1960s), and various versions of Ektachrome (including EPP, which also is more contrasty than I care for) as well as the rare Velvia slide. Mostly, I currently use Fuji Pro 160S, a long-scale color negative film. I use a Nikon Coolscan ED 5000 with NikonScan.

 

To scan slides correctly, however, it helps to use IT-8 calibration. NikonScan does not direclty permit this, but Silverfast and Vuescan do. You do not need these software packages,.however, if you otherwise have profiling software, such as Monaco EZColor. (You can and should use this tyype of software to calibrate your monitor, otherwise nothing will look entirely correct anyway). Here is the technique:

 

Turn off NikonScan color managment.

Create a profile for your film using an IT-8 slide using the profiling software.

Ektachrome and Kodachrome targets both be purchased from B&H; you should be able to use the Ektachrome IT-8 target with Velvia, but you may want to look around for a Velvia speciifc IT-8 target.

 

Make sure color management remains off in NikonSCan.

Preview. The slide may be a bit dark, but the information should be there. You can use the curves palette or LCH palette to adjust. Do not do much of anything else.

Scan.

 

Open the file in Photoshop. Before doing anything else, assign the profile you created.

 

After you assign the profile, convert to your preferred working space, such as Adobe RGB, J. Holmes Ektaspace or Pro Photo RGB. Generally, this brtngs the image into reasonable balance. Check levels, make necessary adjustments; then use curves to deal with contrast issues and make whatever other adjustments necessary.

 

This probabaly sounds nore complicated than it is, but it has allowed me to extract a lot of detail from slides, including contrasty ones. By the way, I have concluded that some old EPN slides produced some the of the best scans. A little grainer than the more modern films, but , again, longer scale. The grain is easilty managed using noise reduction software, such as Noise Ninja.

 

Good luck.

[Photoskeptic]

George, I scan Velvia on a Minolta 5400 (series 1) with SilverFast software. I have no problems whatsoever. I scan at 4000 dpi.