Slide Scanning..

[Nova55]

Howdy guys,

I just picked up an HP C8180 all in one scanner thing to do my slide collection. Theres a feature on it so you can scan them and print them directly to photo paper without going through the computer. So I did one and it came out GREAT, possibly the best print I have ever seen, from an inkjet at that. However when I scan one to the computer it looks like shit. Grainy, blurry etc. For instance, here are two unnamed ones that were scanned for me:




On the full size scans you can see every little detail. Now heres a John Mech slide of 511 that I scanned. Note how grainy and blurry it is.



Am I just missing something in the settings or what? If this is the quality this thing scans at I can safely say its getting returned. I spent a few hours last night just playing with settings and resolutions and crap and I seem to be getting nowhere.

Would appreciate any insight in this..

[Otto Vondrak]

Here's the thing you have to realize about scanning slides... you have to consider what the final output will be. If its to print to photo paper and hang on your wall, you'll need a high resolution scan. If you want to make an 8x10 from a scan, you need to scan an image that is equal to 8"x10" at 300 dpi. Don't take a 1x2" image at 300dpi and blow it up to 8x10 at 300fpi- that will ensure blurry images. You need to start with high res to get high res.

If you're only scanning for display on the web, then low-resolution is fine. I've been scanning all my images so they are 14x9.5" at 72dpi. Every computer displays images at 72dpi. Adding resolution doesn't make a difference. So whatever size you want the image to appear at, that's how you should scan it.

It also help if you have software that allows you to touch up dust spots, adjust tones, and things like that. I use Photoshop. There may be other less expensive options out there. Some of my scans are soft because I use a flatbed scanner that can be adapted to scan slides. It's not the best system, but it gets the point accross. All of the photos on my Flickr site were scanned that way.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottomatic77/

Hope this helps!

-otto-

[Alcoman]

A couple of thoughts. I bought a new scanner called the Epson V500. I discovered that I scan one slide at a time instead of 4, the sharpness is great. If I scan 4 at once, they come out soft. Also, This scanner has 3 modes for slides: Auto, Home and Professional. The best results are in professional mode.

Check the slide with a lupe first to make sure it IS in focus. Then scan it in auto mode and save it to your computer.See if that works better.

[bruce a.]

I am looking at slide scanner now ,Any onr seen the Wolverine F2D ?

[Chessie GM50]

I've always used Costco's send-out scanning service for all my slides, but if you're not a Costco member, I'd probably go with a Pulstek scanner. They aren't very cheap, but I've seen some pretty good results from them.

[bruce a.]

Has any ohe used a Epson V300 to scanne 35 mm slides ? How did it work ?

[bruce a.]

Any one use a Canon 8800f ? How did it work ?

[RailBus63]

Has any ohe used a Epson V300 to scanne 35 mm slides ? How did it work ?

I use an Epson V500 to scan 35mm slides and I'm very pleased with the results.

[bruce a.]

Thank you for the infor. Bruce

[mxdata]

You can also create a rapid fire slide scanner by picking up an old Honeywell Universal Repronar and mounting a recent digital SLR fitted with a good closeup macro lens on the camera boom. It does not allow the flexibility of color adjustment you get with a made for the purpose scanner, you will need to use a separate software like Photoshop for that, but it will spit out very high quality images as fast as you can load the slides.

MX

[bruce a.]

Hi , I got a Canon 8800f it works great.