I'm guessing that slide scanning will have more interest here than in the Post Processing forum but if not, please let me know and I'll repost there.
When I look at my 35mm slides using an 8x loupe they look sharp and the unmagnified scans look ok on my monitor. But when I look at them in Lightroom at 100% or greater they are slightly fuzzy. Not badly out of focus but not sharp. The photos* were taken using good quality lenses (Canon L) on a tripod, with Ektachrome film (100SW I think).
The slides were scanned on a Nikon 5000ED using VueScan software. The software has both an auto focus and a manual focus option and I've tried both, but neither helps.
I'm wondering if the issue lies with the Ektachrome film itself, that there just wasn't enough resolution in the film to beign with.
Any knowledgeable opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
I haven’t scanned slides in many years but lately have been scanning 120 color neg from my pinhole and 6x17 cameras. I’m using an Epson V700 with Silverfast with sharpening turned off. When I import the files into photoshop they are not sharp but once I go to Smart Sharpen the files look very very sharp. I don’t know if Smart Sharpen is in Lightroom.
Mark F wrote:
I'm guessing that slide scanning will have more interest here than in the Post Processing forum but if not, please let me know and I'll repost there.
When I look at my 35mm slides using an 8x loupe they look sharp and the unmagnified scans look ok on my monitor. But when I look at them in Lightroom at 100% or greater they are slightly fuzzy. Not badly out of focus but not sharp. The photos* were taken using good quality lenses (Canon L) on a tripod, with Ektachrome film (100SW I think).
The slides were scanned on a Nikon 5000ED using VueScan software. The software has both an auto focus and a manual focus option and I've tried both, but neither helps.
I'm wondering if the issue lies with the Ektachrome film itself, that there just wasn't enough resolution in the film to beign with.
Any knowledgeable opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
The film is not an issue. It will have more than enough resolution. The cause is either from scanning, or when you took the pic - you used a tripod so that means either motion blur or focus is the issue.
I have pin sharp 100%+ enlargements from cheap film and cheap single element plastic lensed cameras, let alone fancy stuff.
My for thought was is the mirror clean? It's not uncommon for the Coolscan 5000 to need the mirror cleaned as they are old scanners. Do other negatives that you have scanned recently also look sharp?
I’m use to files coming out of 60-100MPix sensors, so I was curious how much resolution I could pull from a 22 year old slide of my wife taken on our wedding day by my Contax T2. Yup, never without a camera in those days. I copied it via my A7CR using pixelshift to get an 11,470x17220 pixel image. Lots of empty resolution. I found that it was sharp, but not in the same way that my digital was sharp.
And here is Velvia scanned with a Coolscan 9000ED. Again, not pixel peeping sharp. For that I need to look at larger format film images. Regarding mirror cleaning…tutorials can be found online.
Another example - MP w Brightin Star 28mm lens and decades expired Kodak Supra 100.
Full image, then 100% and 200% crop!
The Brightin Star is NOT known to be the be-all and end all of lenses!
I am scanning with a Nikon Z7, 60mm g lens, ES-2 film holder, hand held over a light pad.
Mark F wrote:
I'm guessing that slide scanning will have more interest here than in the Post Processing forum but if not, please let me know and I'll repost there.
When I look at my 35mm slides using an 8x loupe they look sharp and the unmagnified scans look ok on my monitor. But when I look at them in Lightroom at 100% or greater they are slightly fuzzy. Not badly out of focus but not sharp. The photos* were taken using good quality lenses (Canon L) on a tripod, with Ektachrome film (100SW I think).
The slides were scanned on a Nikon 5000ED using VueScan software. The software has both an auto focus and a manual focus option and I've tried both, but neither helps.
I'm wondering if the issue lies with the Ektachrome film itself, that there just wasn't enough resolution in the film to beign with.
Any knowledgeable opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Mark, There are two distractions to sharpness or resolution. In film it is grain, and in digital it is noise. I'm just going to distill my opinion based on my experience - YMMV. Around 2005 when the 12 megapixel crop sensor Nikon D2X, and the full frame 12 megapixel Canon 5D cameras came out - I believe 35mm film was surpassed in image quality by digital. (Unless using extremely fine grain films like Technical Pan). Currently, IMO, medium format is neck and neck with digital - and there are things about each I really like.
Also, you wrote, "When I look at my 35mm slides using an 8x loupe they look sharp and the unmagnified scans look ok on my monitor. But when I look at them in Lightroom at 100% or greater they are slightly fuzzy."
100% or greater is not real life. You will never see a photo printed at 100%, because viewing distance varys, and printing resolution will be a tiny fraction of that artificial view you can see on your monitor. Just go shoot some photos, and don't worry about undetectable technical aspects of photography.
Jim
What are your sharpness settings when scanning and do you also increase structure in Lr? Curious because I’m using a very similar scanning setup as you and out of the box my scans are not *that* sharp.
I can see that the problem is on my end as you are getting tack sharp scans. As my slides were made using different lenses it is not a lens issue. So either the auto focus on my camera was off or as suggested, my scanner needs a cleaning and maybe a recalibration.
Mark F wrote:
I'm guessing that slide scanning will have more interest here than in the Post Processing forum but if not, please let me know and I'll repost there.
When I look at my 35mm slides using an 8x loupe they look sharp and the unmagnified scans look ok on my monitor. But when I look at them in Lightroom at 100% or greater they are slightly fuzzy. Not badly out of focus but not sharp. The photos* were taken using good quality lenses (Canon L) on a tripod, with Ektachrome film (100SW I think).
The slides were scanned on a Nikon 5000ED using VueScan software. The software has both an auto focus and a manual focus option and I've tried both, but neither helps.
I'm wondering if the issue lies with the Ektachrome film itself, that there just wasn't enough resolution in the film to beign with.
Any knowledgeable opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Perhaps we have forgotten to ask you to post a sample image where it was sharp under 8x, but not in the final scan.. If it is your scanner, then the mirror cleaning was a great suggestion. Another approach would be to scan B&W film. You should be able to see the grain structure with your scanned image.
fjablo wrote:
What are your sharpness settings when scanning and do you also increase structure in Lr? Curious because I’m using a very similar scanning setup as you and out of the box my scans are not *that* sharp.
I use a Nikon Z7 w 60mm G AF lens, ES-2 film copier, base ISO, f10, NEF (raw) setting.
Import into LR, convert with NLP, export w output sharpening = sharpen for matte paper/standard.
Desmolicious wrote:
I use a Nikon Z7 w 60mm G AF lens, ES-2 film copier, base ISO, f10, NEF (raw) setting.
Import into LR, convert with NLP, export w output sharpening = sharpen for matte paper/standard.
Are you using an AF lens?
Yep, using the Z7 or Zf (mostly the latter now), 60mm G macro, easy35, f9-f10.
fjablo wrote:
Yep, using the Z7 or Zf (mostly the latter now), 60mm G macro, easy35, f9-f10.
I‘ll test the output sharpening, thanks!
Maybe the easy35 is the issue? The output sharpening is my default for when I print - I leave that as it is all the time - I see the sharpness in LR before I export.
FYI I just checked the default import sharpening in LR when I import the NEFs - it is Amount 40, Radius 1.0, Detail 25
Desmolicious wrote:
Maybe the easy35 is the issue? The output sharpening is my default for when I print - I leave that as it is all the time - I see the sharpness in LR before I export.
FYI I just checked the default import sharpening in LR when I import the NEFs - it is Amount 40, Radius 1.0, Detail 25
Tested it earlier and appears to be caused by the sharpening settings. Seems film scans can take higher sharpening than what I'm used to from digital. With files from the Zf, I found that I needed to slightly bump the amount + apply the output sharpening you mentioned, to achieve a result that is as crisp as what you've shown above.
You've also manually turned off color noise reduction, right? I think the default setting in LR is 25, but it's a bit hidden in the new UI.
fjablo wrote:
Tested it earlier and appears to be caused by the sharpening settings. Seems film scans can take higher sharpening than what I'm used to from digital. With files from the Zf, I found that I needed to slightly bump the amount + apply the output sharpening you mentioned, to achieve a result that is as crisp as what you've shown above.
You've also manually turned off color noise reduction, right? I think the default setting in LR is 25, but it's a bit hidden in the new UI.
I've never even noticed the color noise reduction! My noise reduction 'tab' was minimized. Opening it up Luminance 0 (and so Detail and Contrast under it are greyed out), Color 25, Detail 50, Smoothness 50.
Those must all be default settings as I've never touched them.
Thank you for your kind offer Desmolicious but one of my friends has already volunteered to scan a few of my slides on his Nikon 4000 scanner. He's happy with his scans so if mine are still slightly fuzzy that will indicate I had an auto focus issue that I wasn't aware of. While I projected those slides I did not print them and did not notice a focus issue. I'm really hoping it's the scanner.
