Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The simple answer is that you cannot compare a projected slide with either a scanned image on a computer screen, or a print of the slide. A projector shines white light THROUGH the transparency. The dynamic range is huge. You can see in the shadows and the highlights, everything looks beautiful. When you scan the slide on an ordinary scanner (even a Nikon 2000) you lose visual dynamic range. If you print the slide on Cibachrome, you lose dynamic range. If you have deep shadows and bright highlights (both of your submitted pictures have this - especially the road and rocks against a bright sky) you will not be able to hold everything. If you were printing this slide, you would have to make a contrast reducing mask to pull the dynamic range into something that print paper can see. And you still might not get it all. Same with a scanner. A dynamic range acceptance of 3.4 or 3.6 just can't cut it. The Silverfast scanning software does a much better job than scanner supplied software, but to get what you want, you really need an expensive high end drum scan. Those images that scan best have a limited dynamic range and a rather flat gamma curve. What can I say. Other than film can record far more than an ordinary scanner can capture. But you can see it all with a "slide projector." This is why Leica color images look so good projected. Jim At 02:15 PM 12/29/98 -0700, you wrote: > Alexander wrote: >> > >> > Hello dear LUGgers, >> > >> > can someone tell me what is the purpose of using the best lenses, waking >up at odd hours, standing in the rain...etc... to get that super picture, >when at the end, if it is to be published digitaly (i.e. web) the results >are mediocre at best? >> > >> > I have tried to scan some of my slides for countless hours using PS5 and >tried all kinds of "tricks" but the results can never capture the original >sharpness and contrast. And the brightness? Well forget about that, not even >photoshop's brightness option can save you. >> > Not to mention having to compress the resulting files in order to >achieve an acceptable download time... >> > >> > Is there a solution? >> > >> > here are 2 samples I tried, If you have the time, check them out. >> > >> > http://www.mediadyne.gr/photos >> > >> > -A frustrated Leica user... :(