Scan Results

The scans are finished. Now I can download them from the fttp website. Full resolution files were put up, took me an hour and forty five minutes at high speed cable internet speeds to get them. A DVD hard copy will still come in the mail.

What do I think?

I liked how they turned out. 

I am rather meticulous about dirt, dust, scratches, smudges, etc... but they are, too. I had my chromes stored properly, and I cleaned them all before packaging them off. A high resolution scan will show even the minutest amount of dust. So, I wondered how well these guys would care for the images. They cleaned them very well themselves, and applied the ICE dust and damage management system from Nikon, plus they post processed them to virtual perfection. So, no dust or scratch problems.

Now, the resolution. Certain old slides I had were taken with a mass market 35mm of late 50s vintage equipped with a simple anastigmat lens. The film base varied from the early 1960s version Kodachrome II to various european brands. These slides ended up resolving into 4.5 - 6.5 MB files. That's good enough for up to 11x14" enlargements.

Two examples (re-sampled to lower resolution for the blog):

As you can see, the scans preserved the tonal variations of the originals as well as their sharpness.

Now, let's turn to some of my chromes from my modern era of film photography. Using high end equipment such as Leitz and Nikkor lenses specially designed for the sharpest transmission of image tonality and resolution. And shot with highly disciplined photographic techniques used in my professional photography business and in my teaching photography to advanced students. Films used varied from the sharpness champion Kodachrome 25, to pro versions of Fuji, Agfa, and Ektachrome. 

So, you would think that those images would resolve into bigger files, right? Well, they did. Those slides gave results from 18 - 21.5 MB file sizes. I could easily print up to 24x30" or bigger from that size of a full file.

Some samples:

Web sized images don't quite do the scans justice. The detail, both in the tonal range and actual resolution, is phenomenal. In both the older images and the newest ones. I'll post later some of what I have been able to do with the higher resolution images and my image manipulation software. Let me just say that there is more than enough detail in the files to enhance to my heart's content.

Final cost per image, including the DVD and all shipping costs to and from ScanCafe, was a surprisingly low $0.77 per slide.

Verdict: High end digital scanning is very much worth it!