Scanning Kodachrome

[dfp]

I am considering buying either the Nikon LS5000 or the Minolta 5400 slide scanner. Does anyone have any experience scanning Kodachrome slides with either scanner using Silverfast.


dfp

[LSI_Noack]

Dear dfp

just FYI: Please consider that ICE does have inherent problems with Kodachrome material according to Nikon's support pages:

http://nikoneurope-de.custhelp.com/cgi- ... ZT0x&p_li=

Nevertheless, both scanners produce great quality scans. It is only that ICE does not seem to work very well with b/w and Kodakchrome films.

Best regards
Sonny Noack
- tech support, LSI AG -

[degrub]

i beg to disagree on ICE and Kodachrome. It depends on how much silver was left in the film after processing. i have had less than 10 % of over 2000 KC slides that i had problems with ICE. My KC was mostly from the 50s, 60s and 70's and processed by KODAK. Silver B&W , i agree 99%.

IMHO, you trade a very stable light source of known characteristics for a time varying light source and just enough resolving capability to get recognizable grain effects (strongly consider the "Grain Dissolver" diffuser if you get the Minolta and want to do enlargements > 8x10 inches) with some films. WIth the Minolta you do not have as many problems with DOF IMHO. Have a look at the archives of comp.peripherals.scanners and search for author "Kennedy" for detailed technical discussions about both. Make sure you get IT8 option, particularly for the Minolta. Herr Noack is correct, you can get good scans from either.

Frank

[LSI_Noack]

Dear Frank

that is interesting, thanks for that valuable piece of info.


Dear dfp

just to avoid a possible misunderstanding. You can of course deactivate the ICE feature in SilverFast by just clicking on the ICE icon.


Kind regards,
Sonny

[Tomaz Klinc]

Most of the time Digital ICE does a decent cleanup job with my Kodachromes 25 and 64, but sometimes fails miserably, in particular with old Kodachrome II (it may riddle the scan with bullet holes). More serious problem is that K'chrome scans exhibit a pronounced and difficult to correct blue cast .

[kmart]

I have used Digital Ice on my 30 year Kodachromes and never once had a problem too. I also recently found a supply of Kodachrome targets at B&H photo which has made scanning these easier. Frank is right about the amount of silver left on the slide after processing. Most of the slides I have were done by Kodak which was the best processor back in the day.