Kodachrome + ICE

[bjolester]

I am in the process of scanning my fathers 35mm Kodachromes from the 1960s. Currently I have a very good Epson V750 scanner, and also a non working Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 that I hope to get repaired somehow. I am also considering purchasing another dedicated 35mm film scanner if my Minolta turns out to be non repairable.

I have read somewhere that ICE should not be employed with Kodachromes because of the silver based emulsion, that results in artifacts in the scans. But after having scanned some Chromes on my Epson V750 I realise that it will be a very demanding task to manually spot all of the 500 or so slides:bang: Do any of you have any experience with Kodachromes + ICE?

Another question: Is PEC 12 a good/ safe cleaner for Kodachromes?

I am grateful for any advice on this matter!

 

[Dwig]

....Do any of you have any experience with Kodachromes + ICE? .

Yes, but none that were good ...

I you are using EPSONscan with your v750 you might try using EPSONscan's own dust removal option. It's not as good as ICE when ICE is working, but it can be better than full manual cleanup. I've found that for the most demanding enlargement the EPSONscan's dust elimination does leave some flaws. In those cases I resort to completely manual cleanup.

I've found PEC12 to be a safe and effective cleaner for negs and transparencies, including Kodachromes, but not for slides (mounted transparencies). I wouldn't consider using any liquid cleaner on a mounted slide as you just get a massive buildup of grunge moved to the edges.

 

[Ranchu]

+1 what Dwig said. PEC did not work for me at all to clean old slides.

 

[majid]

Processed Kodachrome slides don't actually contain any silver, but the Kodachrome dyes are opaque to infrared, and Digital ICE detects dust on the basis that the image dye layers are transparent to IR but dust isn't.

Digital ICE4 Pro, as featured on the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000ED (and only that specific model AFAIK), was advertised as working with Kodachrome. Good luck getting hold of one, however.

 

[charjohncarter]

I doesn't work for me (Epson V500). Some say other slide films work, but I haven't tried. This is a Kodachrome from 1963 that I used ICE on.

1964-5 by carter3john, on Flickr

If this is too small click on the bottom for a larger version.

 

[bjolester]

Thank you all for giving such helpful advice. I will then rule out ICE and PEC 12 for my Kodachrome slide project!

As a sidenote: If I am unable to repair my Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400, I would probably at some point like to purchase a new 35mm filmscanner to supplement my Epson V750. The Epson V750 gives me fine results with 120 film. But having been spoilt with the superb performance of the Minolta DSE 5400, I guess I would be better off with a dedicated film scanner for 35mm film. Amongst the Plustek and Reflecta range, the Reflecta Proscan 10T (Pacific Image Primefilm XE) looks the most interesting. Does anyone here have experience with this scanner?

 

[bjolester]

Since I started this thread I have been able to fix my Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400. The problem was dust and debree inside the transport mechanism. I am so glad the scanner is alive again!!! In addition to this I have also sourced a Minolta DSE 5400 ii that I am able to borrow for my project!

I have scanned about 50 of my Kodachromes from the late 1960s on the 5400 version ii using ICE. I cannot see any artifacts or lack of sharpness when comparing scans done with ICE to scans without ICE.

I have read that some people have achieved good results scanning Kodachromes on the original Minolta DSE 5400 using ICE in combination with the grain dissolver. I will check this out for myself now that my 5400 is working again.

Are there any of you that have experience with the Minolta DSE 5400 version 1 and version 2 and scanning Kodachrome? Obviously the version 2 is faster, but which model is best suited for scanning Kodachromes (with ICE)?

 

[gdi]

That's good news- the only scanner I have had that did high quality Kodachrome scans with Ice was my 9000. Too bad only long discontinued scanners can get the job done!

 

[Kate-the-Great]

If problems with ICE & Kodachrome pop up again, I highly recommend trying the (free) Polaroid Dust & Scratch Removal app. It's a bit dated (potentially close to 10 years old now) but it does a magically-good job of cleaning up high-res scans.

More info Here (I know, Ken Rockwell- but the app is legit and I've had good experiences with it)

Download link Here

 

[bjolester]

Thank you for providing good advice!