Scanning aerial photographs

[madmike]

Hi there,
Does anyone have any ideas about scanning aerial photographs (negs and Trannies)
I have a nice Epson 4870 scanner, and scan medium format aerial negs and trannies taken on bright days through an open window or with the door off. However, generally the result are not very good in that there is often a colour shift, and the contrast is much too high.
Now I know you can adjust these setting, but no matter what I try, I'm not getting very good results at all. I would say that trannies scan better than negs.
Scanning non aerial images is not a problem.

Cheers,

Mike:sadcry:

 

[Steep]

Well it depends how much money you have, A quality medium format negative scanner will cost you a small fortune, likewise a 35mm version. I have a Genius Colorpage HR8 scanner that can handle prints/negs/trannies 35mm up to 6x9cm and does a pretty fair job but you will be disappointed if you are looking for top quality.

If you have lots of really special shots then buying a dedicated scanner might be worth the money. If only a few then maybe get them printed/digitesed commercially.

P.S the HR8 is less than £90 to buy and worth it for the odd neg or two.

 

[Gandhi]

Is the colour shift present when you have the negs printed? Probably not as most labs colour correct the prints automaticaly, though the good ones do it by hand and eye. The chances are that what the scanner is seeing is what the original actually looks like, this is borne out by the fact that you can scan normal shots fine. Time to learn some photoshop skills as far as adjusting colour casts go.

I don't know what is causing the colour casts in the first place, but it could be due to atmospheric conditions.


I know nothing about aerial photography btw, I'm just making educated guesses here, but I hope it might help point you in the right direction!