scanning slide film

[crackhead]

I'm scanning Provia and having a devil of a time getting the scans close to how the image looks when viewed on a lightbox. Everything comes out too dark when scanned and when I try to pull detail out of the shadows I get noise.

I heard that some people scan slides as negatives then invert in Photoshop. Is this a better solution? Also it seems my scanner's lamp isn't bright enough when scanning (I'm on an Epson 4490 which scans negatives just fine with little need for major tweaking)

[venchka]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...I have scanned B&W as slides and inverted with some success. I haven't scanned any slides with my new scanner. I suppose I should, probably this weekend. I'll be back. If I get it right I'll let you know what worked.

What scan software are you using? I am using Epson Scan and love it for B&W. I am getting scans that need almost ZERO work in Lightroom. Here's what I do:

Crop as needed to get just the image rectangle.
Click Autoexposure.
Open the Histogram window.
Slide the output sliders all the way to 0 and 255. Epson defaults to something like 10 and 240 on every scan. It's a PITA, but you have to do it.
Set Black point and White point to the ends of the histogram.
Slide the gray (Gamma) slider until the image looks right.
Repeat for all negatives to be scanned.
Hit batch scan and go do something else.
Done.

I'll do the same for some slides I need to scan and report back.

Good luck!

[crackhead]

I also use Epson's scan software. It's never failed me with color negative film (especially Portra VC which needs next to no color/exposure correction)

I'll try the workflow you suggested.

I think maybe that it's just the nature of Provia which is very picky on lighting conditions and dynamic range of a scene. It's disconcerting to have clipped highlights and blocked up shadows in the same picture. Also, the scanner can't "see" what my eyes see on the lightbox.

[venchka]

Hey, it's digital. Know what I mean?

However, I did scan a few 6x7 transparencies on a friend's 4990 with good luck. As I recall, the lighting was rather flat. Not exactly a tough scene to photograph or scan.

venchka added 2 Minutes and 55 Seconds later...----------------------------------
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You may have to get mean. Make multiple scans with different exposures and combine them in Photoshop. Yuck!