Scanning Kodachrome slides for printing photobook

[doolittle]

I want to get scans of my parent's old kodachrome slides (+ some agfachrome, many of which haven't aged as well) with a view to using one of the online services to get a photobook printed for a 50th wedding anniversary present.

I have lots and lots of slides to choose from, but am going to go through them on a slide projector and pick the best ones.

I was thinking of ending up with 200 or so of the best ones.

If I only have a few slides I usually digitise them with a lightbox,macro lens,dslr and tripod.

I was thinking for this project of getting a second hand Coolscan IV or similar or Epson Perfection Vxxx. Either would get use again. Alternatively sending them off to be scanned for me.

I am sure a few of you have done something similar. Any thoughts or feedback? I have 2 months to get this done.

 

[Lilserenity]

Personally for 35mm you will get much better quality from a dedicated scanner. I also think to scan Kodachromes which can be quite difficult, a flatbed won't do them justice.

I'm sure the V750 might get something half reasonable but take it from someone with experience, a dedicated scanner with Kodachrome is much better.

 

[srichmond]

If it's any help, have a look at my scans here. I turned on ROC and GEM on the Nikon Scan software using the Nikon coolscan 9000. i think other scanners have this too.

 

[historicist]

I've scanned Kodachrome on a cheap flatbed and the scans were dreadful. I'd personally use a proper film scanner (or a service which uses one) because the dynamic range of kodachromes can be very high, and this is one of the weak areas of copying slides via a lightbox.

With dark Kodachromes the dynamic range was sometimes even a problem with a Coolscan IV, but the main problem I have found with scanning kr on a coolscan (IV and 8000) is that the colour balance often comes out rather strangely, most often looking very cold.

Most recently I used the technique of scanning as a RAW file (in Nikonscan you can save a scan as a .nef, same as with DSLRs); in Photoshop it's much easier to change the colour balance with the white balance slider in camera raw than other methods (at least those known to my limited photoshop skills).

FWIW here are all the kodachromes I have up on flickr (before I worked out that using RAW might be a good idea). They are all from a Nikon Coolscan except the ones from Japan in 2007 (flatbed):

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kodachrome&w=22377923@N00#page=0

PS although I used to have an Epson V500 I never used it for kodachrome, but in general it was much worse at 35mm than my Coolscan IV. The main advantage of something like a V700 is that you can scan a lot of mounted slides at one time, which is much more convenient; with the IV you have to sit there, and feed it mounted slides one at a time.

 

[RichyD]

My brother has an Epson V700 and scanned many of our old family Kodachromes. They came out so well that it prompted me to go back to film for 35mm. The advantage with this type of scanner is the batch facility. Having said that I am looking to buy a dedicated film scanner for all my slides over the last 15 years.

It depends on the quality of the input, ours were made on good Zeiss rangefinder but often out of focus and many were degraded from fungus, and what you want from the output, exhibition quality or family album.

I would say for a family album then a good flatbed like the Epson is fine and quick but if you want to create large prints of the best quality then a dedicated scanner.

 

[dmr]

I've done countless Kodachrome slides, old and new, on a K-M SD IV with consistently good results.

The trick to making it work well is a well-exposed slide and attention to detail when scanning. Here's an example, more in the gallery.

 

[Colin Corneau]

I'm really curious to try out my v700 for slides now.

I had a batch of Kodachrome images made recently -- I used a 100mm L-series macro lens on a Mark IV, taped to a window on an overcast day. Perfect and very sharp, too...FWIW.

 

[brainwood]

Getting good scans of kodachrome can be tricky . I find I can only get good colour at max resolution and at least 16 bit scans but like DMR I find my old minolta scan dual film scanner does this well.

 

[doolittle]

Thanks everybody for the responses! Really appreciate the feedback.
At the moment I am going through the slide collection with my dad and picking out the best ones (not always based on quality of the shots mind you!). The kodachromes have survived much better than the agfachromes (eventhough the agfa ones are 2-3 decades more recent, many have fungus).

Will see what kind of numbers we end up with, should help me decide which method to go.

 

[sepiareverb]

Love that image of the poppies brainwood.

 

[doolittle]

Have decided for this project, with the volume of slides involved, time frame and the final output (photobook so prints won't be huge), am going to go with either a flat bed scanner (probably something from the epson range) or send them off to get professionally scanned. I know the former option will sacrifice quality, but it might be 'good enough'.

 

[Knarxx]

Have a look at SilverFast

Have a look at SilverFast

I want to get scans of my parent's old kodachrome slides (+ some agfachrome, many of which haven't aged as well) with a view to using one of the online services to get a photobook printed for a 50th wedding anniversary present.

I have lots and lots of slides to choose from, but am going to go through them on a slide projector and pick the best ones.

I was thinking of ending up with 200 or so of the best ones.
[...]

Any thoughts or feedback? I have 2 months to get this done.

Scanning Kodachrome is not an easy task, the film emulsion is quite special.
This often results in color casts. I recommend SilverFast scanning software, it offers a usable defect removal for Kodachromes. http://www.silverfast.com/highlights/kodachrome/en.html

If you're going to buy a new scanner, you should have a look at the Plustek 7600i with SilverFast Ai IT8 and an additional Kodachrome calibration target from LaserSoft Imaging.
The Plustek 7600i is a inexpensive dedicated film scanner released this year.

And start early! It often takes longer than one would expect.