I have begun scanning slides with a Minolta Diamage Scan Dual and have a problem (and a question). In contrast to scans of negatives, which come up and need minor manipulation for contrast and brightness, slides produce scans that are very dark. I have gone over the user manual thoroughly and there is no information there. I have prowled the various newsgroups looking for others with similar problems, but no luck. I have prowled the bookstores looking for "Scanning for Idiots" books, but no luck.

Am I the only person who has this problem with scanning slides? If not, how have the rest of you solved it?

Thanks.

-- RP Johnson (rpjohnson2@home.com), June 27, 1999

Answers

Have you tried http://www.halftone.co.uk/tech/filmscan/, it's an excellent source of info for scanning. This is also great http:// www.scantips.com/. The information regarding the manipulation of the histogram within the Minolta software is very helpful and will explain the reasons for the dark scans and what you can do about them. I'm currently waiting for my Scan Dual to arrive, as I have alot of film, both color negative and slides that need archiving.

-- Denis Hill (dionysius@home.com), June 30, 1999.

I have had similar problems with slides scanned a variety of scanners ranging from the LS 2000, LS 1000 and Photosmart. I have found that if the slide is just slightly dark, the scanned image will be dark as well. The easiest fix that I have found is to use the levels setting in Photoshop. set the slider to about 1.5 rather than 1 and the image brightness should improve quite a bit. You then can fiddle with the white and black points to get the result you want.

Hope this helps

-- Jonathan Ratzlaff (jonathanr@clrtech.bc.ca), July 01, 1999.