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Over the
years I have scanned a lot of my old slides and negatives, hoping to restore
them to their original colors and to rid them of scratches, dirt, etc. I've
also enjoyed using digital technology to fix some of the really dumb
mistakes I made when I originally took them. After scanning them I've filed
them away just in case I ever needed them again.
Well, it
seems like not everyone thinks that's necessary. About a year ago I needed
one more image for a book and didn't have anything suitable in my own
collection. I spotted a nice image on a photo sharing site and asked the
owner if I could use it. He said yes and sent me a copy on a CD.
Unfortunately it was a very small low resolution image, not much better than
what was on the web site. I asked if he could send me a bigger scan, or if I
could scan it for him, and he replied that he had tossed out the original
when it was scanned.
As I've
found out, technology changes with time, and the scans of a few years ago
may be nowhere near as good as ones done today. I was just rescanning some
pictures of my old Boy Scout Camp, Onteora Scout Reservation, and thought I
would show how things can change over time. They're not great shots by any
means, but they do show places that are important to me. That's sort of why many of
us are into photography in the first place, isn't it?
The
pictures on the left were originally scanned in 2003 on a Nikon Coolscan IV
scanner, which had a maximum resolution of 2900 DPI. The right column scans
were done on a Nikon Coolscan V, and at 4000 DPI. I don't recall what
version of Photoshop I was using in 2003 but the new ones were done in CS5.
- May 2010
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Nikon
Coolscan IV |
Nikon
Coolscan V |
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The Coolscan IV was great
for its time, but as the images show it had issues with some color
corrections and in washing out areas on some of the slides. The Coolscan V
was better in these areas, but I turned off the color correction and used
a variety of tools and plug-ins in Photoshop to restore these. I keep
hoping that Nikon will come up with an even better model but sadly it
looks like they are now out of the scanner business.
Unfortunately when I
started restoring the photos my parents had taken of me and my brothers I
couldn't find any negatives, just the worn and faded prints. I asked my
mother where the negatives were and she said she had tossed them out to
save space. Well, that gives some new challenges I guess...
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