Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Richard, the answer in a nutshell is: yes, you normally have to touch up. And you are right: at present film technology is definitely superior (and cheaper) at the consumer level. Before you go nuts trying to correct color, contrast, etc. and never get a repeatable pattern, you should standardize some of the parameters. First, you should calibrate your monitor. I am not sure which piece of software does it for you assuming you have a PC (I am only familiar with Macintosh). Second, you should color synchronize your equipment. This means, the color renditions of each and every piece of equipment in the color chain (monitor, printer, scanner, projector, whatever) are linked through software, so that they render (translate) color in the best possible way within their technical limitations. Again, I don't know, which software does that for PCs. Once you've done that, you can be fairly sure, that the hardware is set up in the best possible manner for color reproduction. After that, it's up to you, to tweak your scans according to your liking. If your scanner driver permits, try to do as much of the tweaking BEFORE the actual scan, so the information is INCLUDED in the scan and not taken away (loss of information) in a second step after the scan. You'll find some recommendable reading at http://www.cyberramp.net/~fulton/scans.html#menu Regards >My question: Is is standard for scanned slide images to need touching up >(color balance, contrast, etc.) before they can be used for publication? I >have checked the white balance of my new scanner and it is fine. > >Thanks for your help. Overall, I am a bit disappointed in the quality of >the image on a computer screen compared to the original slide shot with a >Leica. I can see that film technology is still significantly better than >consumer quality digital output. > >Happy shooting, > >Richard >-------------------- >Richard Clompus, OD >West Chester, PA, USA Andras Iklody-Szabo Caracas / Venezuela