Have a look at this scan:
This 35mm slide was scanned using a Nikon 9000. The Nikon is a film scanner, equipped with Digital Ice 4, and cost me $6000 at the time when I bought it.
Do not get me wrong. The Nikon has some amazing sensitive technology to pick up sharp, crisp pixels. But whenever I press all those enhance buttons, the scanner's editing software takes those pixels and sometimes messes them up.
As you can see in the comparison above, Digital Ice did get rid of the dust and did bring back some faded colour. But it also took away detail, and over saturated the colours.
If my $6000 scanner gives me results like this, what will your home scanner give you?
Why Does Digital Ice Or Other Scan Enhance Software Mess Up Scans?
Here is how Digital Ice works. Using infrared, the software looks for a cluster of pixels. If that cluster of pixels are, say, white, next to a background of red, then it will colour in those white pixels in with red. Have a look...
Digital Ice looks for inconsistencies. Eg. Red background, with a cluster of white pixels.
Digital Ice finds these white cluster of pixels and fills them in with red.
Of course this is a VERY simple diagram of how it all works. But that is the basics. So what is the problem? Well, after Digital Ice is finished filling all the dust and scratches, your image will have less detail. Have a look...
Digital Ice takes away detail in order to fill in dust and scratches.
But the biggest problem I have with Digital Ice is that it does not know what is important, and what is not. For instance...
Digital Ice thought the whites of the eyes were dust to be filled in.
Another issue I have with Digital Ice or scan enhancement software is that what it does with faded colour. When you have a faded colour, I find that the scan enhancement software over compensates. Have a look what happens to the grass...
Faded colours sometimes do not come out right.
You might be thinking, "can't you just tweak the setting before you scan?" That is true. I can adjust everything just right, and it looks perfect in the preview screen. But when the scan is finished, the digital photo is still not right.
If you ever tried scanning your own, you know the frustration you go through trying to play with the settings, and your scans never come out like you thought they would.
Oh, Digital Ice doe not work on black and white slides and negatives, and on ALL photos.
If Your Scan Enhancement Is Giving You Lousy Scans, Then Try This Instead
Here is what I do. I set my scanner to do a "natural" or "raw" scan. What I mean is I DO NOT click on Digital Ice, ROC, DEE, Colour Fix, etc. I leave all those buttons alone. All I do is tell my scanner to scan at a high-resolution (4000 DPI for slides and negatives, and 900 DPI for 4x6 photos).
Then I edit the scans in Photoshop or GIMP (open source version of Photoshop). After editing photos since 2000 and scanning since 2005, I figured out the best way to edit scans.
Have a look...
A natural slide scan-- no scan enhancements or Digital Ice.
Slide scan with Digital Ice and colour enhancements applied.
Natural scan, no scan enhancements or Digital Ice, BUT edited in Photoshop.
Learn How To Edit Your Scans To Get Quality Results Every Time
I have a step-by-step guide on how I scan and edit all my customer's family slides, negatives, and photos.
I will show you that you do not need an expensive scanner or be a graphic designer. All you need to learn some quick tricks, and you can be scanning quality images right away.
If you are scanning slides, check out...
How To Scan Slides: A Step-By-Step, Non Technical Guide
If you have negatives, check out...
How To Scan Negatives: A Step-By-Step, Non Technical Guide
If you are scanning your photos, check out...
How To Scan Photos: A Step-By-Step, Non Technical Guide
Hope my tutorials help with your family scanning project. Good luck!
Konrad
