Thanks John, those are great suggestions, I will retry. rg
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >>I have alot of Kodachrome slides taken with my trusty ME-Super all the >>way up to my PZ-1. I have been attempting to scan these with my Epson >>4990, which is a pretty decent scanner from what I've read. > > > I used that scanner all the time at my last job. I scanned everything from > 110 negs to prints to 8x10 transparencies. It's a great little machine! > > >>slides always seem to scan very dark, even though I can put them on a >>light table and see them just fine, and they project beautifully. Do >>any of these scanners have provisions for upping the brightness of the >>lamp, or changing the ISO (sensitivity) of the scanner sensor? It seems >>that doing this during scanning would be more effective than me trying >>to stretch out the underexposed scan afterwards with levels. > > > What you're seeing is the scanner's auto exposure setting. First, make sure > you select ONLY the actual slide image when you drag the little box around > your scanning selection (in other words, you want as little black space > around the image as possible). You can select multiple slides by making > multiple boxes (you probably know this, I'm just covering all the bases > here). If you select more than the image you want to scan, the extra space > around the image can drastically affect your exposure. > > Once you have selected the slide, the auto-exposure should be just about > right on, as far as brightness goes. If not, there are those large buttons > in the scanner setting window that allow you to change the scan's curves, > color balance, etc. Using those options does not really degrade the scan as > long as you use them in moderation. > > >>The other problem I have is that apparently because of the mount, the >>slides seem slightly out of focus. I suppose to get them to scan >>perfectly in focus I would have to take them off the mount so they can >>lay flat on the scanner bed. That just seems drastic however. > > > Don't do it! You'll get newton rings up the wazzoo. > > With a flatbed, you're always best using the film/slide holders they > provide. You want the film itself to be held away from the glass. The > holders keep the film at the proper distance to be in focus. If you lay the > film flat on the glass you'll get newton rings almost every time. If you > still get rings even when using the holder, try placing the slides > emulsion-side-down. You'll have to flip the scan in photoshop, but it's > worth it to avoid the rings. > > Hopefully this helps. :) > > John Celio > > -- > > http://www.neovenator.com > > AIM: Neopifex > > "Hey, I'm an artist. I can do whatever I want and pretend I'm making a > statement." > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net

