Is it just me or is Velvia 50 almost impossible to scan?

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Hi guys,

Just shot my first roll of Velvia 50 in 135 format and looking at the positives I felt very pleased and impressed. However, I've just scanned them with my Epson v500 @ 3200 dpi, 24bit colour and all other settings turned off and I'm finding the scans very very soft. I'm pretty sure it isn't my shooting as I'm fairly confident I can get sharp images when I shoot digital and the softness is present in all the shots.

The first one is with no sharpening and 2nd one is with the sharpening in LR3 pretty much maxed out.

Velvia_50019_2.jpg


Velvia_50019.jpg


Any help? :thinking:
 
Are they completely flat? Try putting the negative sheet under some heavy books for a bit to make them as flat as possible.

Was there any wind when you were taking these shots? Even a slight breeze could've blown them out of focus after you had focused.

Most scanning workflows need some sharpening, which is why the "Unsharp Mask" is one of the first options in the Epson Scan software.

Additionally, the palette that Velvia has probably exceeds what the scanner can resolve, so the scans will only ever be so good really.
 
The negatives are definitely flat, DSCL did a fantastic job on the processing in my opinion. I've got the same issue with completely static objects shot at f8. I don't mind sharpening them and expect to do some, but the detail is pretty dire :(
 
What scanning software are you using?

Do you get the same result scanning in other negatives from another film taken with another camera?
 
I'm using epson scan. I've had pretty decent results from home developed B&W film from the same camera.
 
2nd image looks fine? 1st isn't that bad.
 
I must admit, I too got unusually soft results the one time I scanned a roll of 35mm velvia 50. Ever since, I have stuck to 120 velvia, no probe there.
 
trencheel303 said:
2nd image looks fine? 1st isn't that bad.
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The 2nd has had an enormous amount of sharpening done to it, which I don't mind but it is a little frustating.
 
mustanir said:
I must admit, I too got unusually soft results the one time I scanned a roll of 35mm velvia 50. Ever since, I have stuck to 120 velvia, no probe there.
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I've got some Reala and Provia that I'll be putting through soon so may be able to confirm if its a Velvia 135 issue
 
Nguss said:
Probably a daft question, but can you / have you tried adjusting the height of the film holder on the scanner?
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can you do that? :thinking: I'm not sure if that is possible?
 
I have a v700 and underneath the part the film goes into are little removeable rectangles which can be removed or swapped around to raise or lower the film holder slightly. Not sure if the V500 is the same?
 
Nguss said:
I have a v700 and underneath the part the film goes into are little removeable rectangles which can be removed or swapped around to raise or lower the film holder slightly. Not sure if the V500 is the same?
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It isnt unfortunately, fixed height holders :(
 
I was getting really frustrated with the Epson Scan software as well but perhaps for different reasons. I just couldn't get the right colour with it. I ended up springing for Vuescan, and randomly it seems a lot sharper too! I just need to remember to clean my negatives before scanning as I don't use any ICE now either.

Might be worth considering?!

I have also found 135 format to be trickier to scan on the V500...the holder just can't seem to keep it flat enough as it's too flimsy. 120 film is much better, but still could do with a heavier holder perhaps.
 
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The biggest part of the problem is Velvia's very high contrast which most scanners are simply unable to resolve. Whilst a slide may show plenty of deep shadow detail when projected because the projector can simply blast through the shadows, chances are that when scanned theres just black there instead as the scanner just cannot penetrate them. Multi-exposure scanning can help in this.

The softness is an inherant part of scanning any slides or negs, they need a fairly high dose of unsharp mask normally (with a higher threshold than normal according to some stuff I've read and tried) to get them to a good degree of sharpness. Their similar to digital raw files in needing sharpening.
 
Could you perhaps give an example of your scans, software and parameters used? My Velvia 50 scans on V500 with VueScan absolutely great. As an example - Fly Agaric mushroom here in this TP post was scanned from Velvia 50 on V500 with VueScan. I don't use any profiles (yet) and for this shot all corrections were done in VueScan.

To keep the film flat I use Scanassist (see TP post here) - very cheap solution and fantastic for the job.
 
s162216 said:
Multi-exposure scanning can help in this.
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That is pretty useless on V500 or V700 - they don't support multiple exposures while scanning and have repeated exposures for the flatbed scanner is not that great (head cannot be positioned that precise so the scans end up being slightly different each time and when combined may look misaligned or soft). I tried to use it on my V500 so many times and in the end gave up.
 
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