I am rapidly approaching the three year mark in my project to scan our vast film archive. Admittedly I am taking my time and working on it only when I feel like it, so progress is a little slower than anticipated. This approach probably has a lot to do with why I am less than 50% of the way through the task along with the fact that it has been an enormous learning curve.

An initial delve into the archive just after I received the scanner was one of curiosity and resulted in a very random set of results. I realised that this was a messy way of working so decided to use a more structured chronological method, starting with the oldest material first and working in a linear fashion toward my final film work. There is a whole bunch of photographs that I have omitted from the project for now as these date way back to school days. Therefore my starting point were my earliest negatives dating from 1981. In recent weeks I reached a juncture where I moved from negative to positive film therefore phase one of the project (negatives) is more or less complete. I state ‘more or less’ as some of the raw material will be reprocessed due to technique changes and improved competency.

During the summer months I took time out from my own work to scan a large collection of negatives and slides from Alison’s side of the family, which were uncovered during a house clearance. Formats included 35mm (positive and negative), 126 and medium format. There was even some disc camera negatives that I am not sure what to do with yet, although I did get some half decent results from simply placing them on the v850’s scanner glass. The material was in various states of degradation, colour loss and scratches being the worst two offenders. Restoration work took weeks and became a fascinating aspect of the project. When released to the family I was surprised to find that many images had not been seen before, particularly some of the 1950’s medium format stock.

More recently I have started scanning my 35mm slide collection, which brings with it a whole new bunch of challenges. For some years I loved the intensely saturated look that could be achieved by slightly underexposing film. The effect could be amplified by using a high saturation film stock and polarising filter…the results being pretty surreal. But over time my taste changed and I now favour a more muted look. 

Anyone who has scanned slides will be very aware they are dense little beasties as they are intended to be projected onto large screens from a distance of at least several meters. Consequently the dyes used have to be dense to transmit colour along with being significantly enlarged. Their limited dynamic range means that under/over exposure can be problematic and underexposure can reveal colour casts from the dyes used. Depending on the film stock used, these colour casts can be very problematic. My own experience is that Kodak stock (excluding Kodachrome) presents a red or magenta bias while Fuji film stock leans more toward the green part of the spectrum. So for the largest part of what lies ahead of me, removal of overbearing magenta and red tones is one of the biggest challenges I face. Colour calibration of the scanner goes a small way to helping, as does selecting the correct profile. But experience is teaching me that only so much can be done with the raw data as the colour cast is a subtle but intrinsic part of a slide’s properties. And as it it not being projected to a large size, density is amplified in the scanned image.

Fortunately many post processing applications have methods of compensating for this. My own technique involves adjusting saturation, colour temperature and tint. The amount of adjustment required varies significantly from slide to slide, so I cannot create a useful preset to batch apply changes accurately. This means that I am dealing with each slide on an individual basis. By doing this I have found that careful selection and adjustment of various layers, i.e. subject, background, sky can be tweaked in accordance with personal taste. 

Dust and scratch removal also poses significant problems. While some scanners have built in automated removal tools, they can leave behind artefacts that require further editing, or not be fully effective. This is very relevant when it comes to monochrome negatives as the infra red technology (Digital ICE) often used for removal only works with colour media. Ever since I started shooting slides I have been fastidious with regard to keeping them free of dust. To this day, all are stored in sealed boxes. Consequently I do not need to use any automated dust removal - a blast from a blower brush before scanning ensures hardly any appears in the scanned file. A bonus is that scan times are faster.

I am still using the Epson v850 Pro that I started out with almost three years ago. As Epson have now discontinued their entire range of slide and negative scanners the pool of manufacturers servicing this niche is shrinking. A flatbed scanner is still the most versatile solution for my needs as my requirements go beyond scanning 35mm media. And while flatbeds may not have the edge over dedicated film scanners regarding sharpness, I have found that with careful set up and use, I achieve acceptable (to me) results. There is no doubt in my mind that good quality scanning is an art, and I am a long way from mastering it. But for me it represents another aspect of my passion for photography and I enjoy the ongoing learning curve, challenges and experimentation. A review of some of the first slides I scanned at the beginning of this project shows how much I had to learn and what I considered acceptable back then, simply isn’t. Without exception, all of these slides will be reworked in the coming months.

Beyond the projects completion, a whole other body of work is materialising; An old schoolfriend of my late mother rediscovered a cache of black and white photographs of her and mum when they were 17 years old. She has since passed them to me and are among my most treasured memorabilia. There is a whole back catalogue of my own photos I took as a kid with a Kodak 110 camera - the negatives long lost. Alison and Ethan have their own archives from pre-digital years. There are a bunch of century old glass plates a late Aunt gifted to me that I want to take a closer look at.  All will eventually be digitised. I think it is fair to say that this is a labour of love that is still several years from completion.