Frustration w/slides

[sillyphaunt]

I have been shooting slides with my Elan 7e so that I can print them on the Daylab and do manipulations. When I look at the slides, they look great, the colors are awesome, but when I scan them into my computer they look muted and underexposed. Is that the slide or the scanner? How can I tell if it's a properly exposed slide?

I would just get prints from them, but they charge $1 a print!

 

[Mumfandc]

Is that the slide or the scanner? How can I tell if it's a properly exposed slide?

Well, a properly exposed slide is just that...a slide that looks properly exposed.

An image scanned from a slide pretty much falls under all the varibles that effect any image displayed on your computer monitor. The scanner software may have density, levels, contrast controls etc. which are dependant on how your monitor is calibrated. The image may not even print out the way it looks on screen.

 

[terri]

Kylie, can you post some examples of the slides you are wondering about? That's the best way to talk about exposure difficulties.

There are tons of variables that come into play here....from how you are scanning, your scanner model, right down to your monitor calibration. Even us die-hard film geeks have to take the time to learn this stuff - I appreciate your pain.

 

[KevinR]

If you are looking at the slides on some type of light table and they look fine, then it is something to do with the scanning. If it is really important for you to scan these, find a lab that does it, and try a few.

 

[ksmattfish]

When ever I've scanned negs, slides, or prints I lose contrast and sharpness. This happened with the el-cheapo scanner I used to use, and still happens with the more expensive scanner I use now. Sometimes the scanner software can help, other times it's useless. I prefer to do my tweaking in Photoshop.