Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/05/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I just scanned a difficult old Leica shot Kodachrome. I say difficult, because I've tried for a couple of years, using various scanners and methods, to get a decent scan. Even had a drum scan made at one point. I just acquired a Leafscan 35, built in '93, so it's pretty ancient in digital years. End result is a 60MB file that printed superbly on Brightcube velvet paper, using my Epson 1200 with MIS archival inks. It isn't the most modern of workflows, but I don't know if I could have done better with anything newer. The photograph was shot with my 1954 M3 (first production run complete with glass back plate) and a 50/2.8 Elmar collapsible (the '60s version, not the latest). Ironically, I sold the lens several years ago because I read somewhere that it wasn't very good. That was back when worried about such things :-). The film was KR25. Aperture was f4. Don't know the shutter speed, but it was slow. The image was underexposed, which is why scanning was difficult. Here's the image (not the 60MB version, just a 100K JPEG :-)) http://www.lightcurves.com/agriculture/peaches.htm Dave BTW, this image is one of the reasons I've put away my digital camera and I'm shooting chrome film again. Had I even used neg film on this image would have been lost years ago. Granted, it's not the greatest image, but it's important to me. The image is of my brother and his wife. It was taken in my dad's experimental peach orchard. Experimental, because there are dozens of different varieties of trees. Some ripen at different times through the summer. My dad was a professor of agriculture. He was always breeding and grafting new varieties of fruit. His peaches were the greatest. Not the kind you can buy in stores. The best peaches are too delicate for shipping. Must eat them right off the tree. The tree in the photo was one-of-a-kind, some kind of white peach hy-brid. It died a couple of years ago and with it one of the most delicious fruits I've ever tasted. Munching on exotic varieties of peaches all summer long is one of the things I remember about growing up in the San Joaquin Valley of California. I don't miss the weeks of 100 degree plus says in July and August. But I miss the fruit, and the smell summer. This image brings that all back. It becomes more important with each passing year. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html