Vuescan Settings for Epson V600: 1870s Carte de viste Images?

[moxie]

The best scanner I have is likely a Epson V600, which I am testing with Vuescan. I also could use Apple's Image Capture or Epson's scanner software via CS3 Photoshop's Twain import.

My project involves two 1870s Carte de visite images. They are sepia in tone, have some fading, and have some semi-transparent foxing. High ppi scans also reveal that the photographic paper has micro cracking which is not visible to the naked eye.

I want to scan the images and then deliver the resulting files to a digital artist who will digitally restore and colorize the images as I do not have the skill set to do so. I am not after the typical coloring one sees with many colorized photos which looks like some of the early badly colorized films but a realistic look. I've been able to find a couple digital artists that can likely complete the project based upon their prior work.

The Epson V600 comes with trays which hold slides and film slightly off the surface of the glass. Photos placed directly on the glass are not as sharp thus I needed to make some custom matte shaped frames to hold the photos off the surface of the glass. A thickness of around 1.26mm seems to work best.

I intend on scanning the images at 6,400 ppi to deliver the largest digital file to the artist as possible as the artist can always downsize this later. I've made some scans with the default Vuescan settings and without the scanner making any corrects to color, scratches, and so forth. I do know that these scanner's optical rating are overstated and that only so much information can be obtained from film grain; however, scanning at this high of ppi will create a image that is physically larger.

Would tweaking any of the default settings, such as input or output to produce any better results? some articles I've read say some sharping should be done the scanner while other say all should be done in CS as one of the final corrections to a image.

[steinr98]

I teach scanning at our photography club of 800 members strong. I have only one disagreement in which you state you will scan @ 6400 dpi. I have read numerous times that scanning over the recommended dpi, will actually "degrade" the scan. The recommended dpi for any photograph is "any size over 4X6" is 600 dpi. IF you were doing slides the recommended dpi is then 3200-4800dpi. A 3X5 photo is recommended @ 800 dpi as it is smaller ( as a slide is much smaller -therefore a higher dpi is used. All the way up to 8X10 600 is the recommended dpi- There are other methods that can be used for better scans but then $$$ comes into play!! Another excellent way to make a duplicate is to have the photo copied by a lab camera, then converted to digital. Good luck!! ps you may do a couple of scans at your 6400 dpi, but then do the 600 dpi and send in both and let them choose!!!

The best scanner I have is likely a Epson V600, which I am testing with Vuescan. I also could use Apple's Image Capture or Epson's scanner software via CS3 Photoshop's Twain import.

My project involves two 1870s Carte de visite images. They are sepia in tone, have some fading, and have some semi-transparent foxing. High ppi scans also reveal that the photographic paper has micro cracking which is not visible to the naked eye.

I want to scan the images and then deliver the resulting files to a digital artist who will digitally restore and colorize the images as I do not have the skill set to do so. I am not after the typical coloring one sees with many colorized photos which looks like some of the early badly colorized films but a realistic look. I've been able to find a couple digital artists that can likely complete the project based upon their prior work.

The Epson V600 comes with trays which hold slides and film slightly off the surface of the glass. Photos placed directly on the glass are not as sharp thus I needed to make some custom matte shaped frames to hold the photos off the surface of the glass. A thickness of around 1.26mm seems to work best.

I intend on scanning the images at 6,400 ppi to deliver the largest digital file to the artist as possible as the artist can always downsize this later. I've made some scans with the default Vuescan settings and without the scanner making any corrects to color, scratches, and so forth. I do know that these scanner's optical rating are overstated and that only so much information can be obtained from film grain; however, scanning at this high of ppi will create a image that is physically larger.

Would tweaking any of the default settings, such as input or output to produce any better results? some articles I've read say some sharping should be done the scanner while other say all should be done in CS as one of the final corrections to a image.

[moxie]

I teach scanning at our photography club of 800 members strong. I have only one disagreement in which you state you will scan @ 6400 dpi. I have read numerous times that scanning over the recommended dpi, will actually "degrade" the scan. The recommended dpi for any photograph is "any size over 4X6" is 600 dpi. IF you were doing slides the recommended dpi is then 3200-4800dpi. A 3X5 photo is recommended @ 800 dpi as it is smaller ( as a slide is much smaller -therefore a higher dpi is used. All the way up to 8X10 600 is the recommended dpi- There are other methods that can be used for better scans but then $$$ comes into play!! Another excellent way to make a duplicate is to have the photo copied by a lab camera, then converted to digital. Good luck!! ps you may do a couple of scans at your 6400 dpi, but then do the 600 dpi and send in both and let them choose!!!

Thanks for the information!

My main goal is to increase the final print size of the image as much as possible. I am hoping to print the images on small posters from a 3rd party printer who recommends 200 to 300 resolution, although posters will be printed at higher resolutions if the images essentially contain enough pixels to work with.

Although 6,400 ppi is not able to extract any more information from the image due to the picture's film grain and the limit's of the scanner's optics, it will provide more overall pixels to work with. I am not entirely sure what the artist will be able to do with the image or its final downsize resolution so I am trying to be on the safe side.

I've scanned the image at 6,400 and 3,200. If I downsize the 6,400 image to 3,200 its sharper than upsizing the it from 3,200 to 6,400. As I plan to deliver the scans to the artist via service similar to dropbox it should not be a problem, as you suggested, to provide multiple versions at different scanning levels. I'd have the artist do the scanning but I do not want to take the chance of losing the valuable photos.

I don't think there are any photo labs around around here with such equipment - probably in a larger city 100 or so miles away. I am also guessing local job printers and newspaper would not have any such equipment.