Scanning Slides - HELP!!!

[PaulSands]

Can anybody offer any generic advice on settings for scanning slides. Are there any fundamentals that you have to take into consideration because they are transparencies?
I have had two sets of slides back in the last couple of weeks that I have been very happy with but when I come to scan them they emerge looking washed out and fuzzy and totally lack the warmth and clarity of the originals.
I am using a Prime Film 1800u
see examples of scans
http://paulsands.org/snett030420.htm
http://paulsands.org/don030413.htm

[kdr]

if its shot on fuji velvia and you don't have that as an option in photoshop, set it to ektachrome or reversal.

you are shooting on velvia now aren't you........

[MolsonBoy]

Paul I found that the software provided with most scanners is not the greatest stuff. I think I mentioned in an earlier thread about third party software so I won't repeat myself.

I have an Epson flatbed that can scan negs and slides. I did have the same problem with the scans as you mentioned. The Lasersoft software helped me get better scans. I can do multiple passes that gives a higher quality scan. I scan my negs into Photoshop and use the color correction, contast and level tools to improve the scanned image. I found that the preview window in the scanning software to be too small to make proper adjustment.

If you have been using the un-sharpen mask tool, that the software may have, try not using it during the scanning process.

What resolution are you setting? I, for some reason, seem to get better scans at low resolution (72dpi) than higher settings. I usually scan at low res when I just want to play with image at bit or scanning for web use. You want to set your resolution output to meet the your needs. If I decide to get an image printed I make sure that it is at least 250 dpi.

And the last thing I can think of that I do is that I always set the image to be saved as a "tiff" or psd (photoshop document) file format. If I need to I can covert the file to a jpeg later. Jpeg are a compression file format which cause the image to lose quality everytime you save it. So try to avoid saving as jpegs until you need too.

[F1Nut]

I use a cool piece of software you can try it at:

http://www.hamrick.com/

Hope this is of some use.

Steve.