My Noritsu Drum scan, help please...

[lextalionis]

Hey gang,

I just received my Noritsu 35mm Extra High Drum scan of a Green Sea turtle UW photo I took back in 96’ off the west coast of Oahu while I was serving in the US Navy on the USS Columbus SSN 762 fast attack submarine. I bought a lot of Sea-and-Sea UW equipment while in Yokosuka, Japan. I took the train into Tokyo and then walked to Akihabara (Electronics District near Tokyo) and purchased the equipment. Anyway, long story short…I posted this photo on my flickr account as a 4X6 Color Print scan here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/motleypixel/2495576124/

About two weeks ago I had a flickr member email me asking if he could use this photo for his School of Veterinary Science since they were studying Green Sea turtle diet. He wanted to blow it up as a poster. Of course I told him this was a 4X6 color scan and it wouldn’t look good at poster size. I found the negative so now I have a 75mb 300dpi drum scan of the negative and I’m not pleased with the color etc. Maybe it’s just the way the negative scanned? Anyway I’m thrilled about the request and even more so since he teaches at my alma mater…GO GATORS!

So here’s the flickr “medium size” 4X6 scan which I cleaned up some in Photoshop:



Now, here’s the best pass of about 1 hour of tweaking the 75mb tiff in Photoshop ~900X600 resolution. I used Noise Ninja, clone stamp, and some color/saturation changes, I think the original color print scan color is much more pleasing:


Here’s the 75mb tiff file: http://www.motleypixel.com/public/posts/neg20A.tif

Is anyone up for an edit and render to a jpg suitable for color print of ~ 16X20?

Thanks in advance for the help.

-Roy

[swanny338]

Hows this for ya...I did the edit to the full size file so if you like it I can send it over to ya.

[swanny338]

I think there might be a bit to much green in mine... But that is a quick adjustment

[lextalionis]

Bryant,

Yea, I really like this work you did...keeping the sun burst more white and the turtle closer to true color is great. Please send me a high res or psd version.

Thanks,
Roy

[swanny338]

Here ya go.

http://swanny338.com/edited/
The file is neg20A1edit.tif

[venchka]

Who scanned it? Call them and tell them you're not pleased. Ask them to scan it again.

That said, C-41 negatives do tend to shift colors with age.

If you don't get anywhere with the scanning service, join the Large Format Photography Forum. Ask the folks over there to recommend a drum scanning service. Several members of that Forum own scanning services. I'm sure they will step forward. Sandy King will know who is good.

BTW, I've never heard of a Noritsu Drum Scanner. Are you sure that's the brand?

[lextalionis]

Wayne,

Thanks for the info...the C-41 negative is about 12 years old. Precision Camera and Video scanned it. That's what my receipt said Noritsu Drum Scann High Resolution 300DPI.

-Roy

[lextalionis]

Bryant, thanks to your help I've got the right color balance. I tweaked it a lot more, but mainly levels/usm/saturation/noise and I think I have a workable version now.



-Roy

[venchka]

OK, unless that's a typo, a real drum scan is 4,000+ DPI and costs in the neighborhood of $125 and up. A Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED isn't a drum scanner but produces 4,000 DPI scans. It's as good a film scanner as you'll find without going to the ultra high end flatbed and real drum scans.

Frankly, if you got a 300 DPI scan it's not worth using for a large print. Even 3,000 DPI isn't a true professional high res scan.

If I have the facts incorrect, I apologize. If the facts are correct, you didn't get a professional high resolution scan.