Scanning Kodachrome - magenta?

[oscroft]

Hi Folks,

I've just scanned a couple of rolls of Kodachrome KR64 on an Epson V700 using the Epson Scan software (I have a backlog, so I need the ability to scan 12 at a time).

And they all came out with a heavy magenta cast, which is not there on the slides. I checked the scanner hasn't gone wrong by scanning some Sensia too, and they're fine - Sensia scans fine, Kodachrome scans magenta.

It's easy enough to correct the cast, but it's a bit of a pain having to adjust every one post-scan (especially as I have another 30 rolls of the stuff off being processed right now).

Has anyone else had this problem?

[furcafe]

Your problem is probably due to the Epson software, as they all tend to have their own color settings, particularly if you're using any "auto" color balancing. I use Vuescan, but have the opposite problem: even w/the color balance set to "None," my KR 64 scans tend to be more blue & cyan than the original slides, so I use a customized color balance.

[varjag]

As mentioned, make sure you disable color auto-adjust in your scanning software. Also, scanner software usually tries to extract as much shadow detail as possible, with Kodachrome it can also lead to magenta cast (while with E6 shadows tend to be bluish). By darkening shadows with curves a bit you can usually reduce it.

[JTK]

Kodachrome doesn't scan in a similar fashion to E6 (or E4 or E3...and a half dozen (at least) iterations of Kodachrome vary subtly from one to the next).

Kodachrome and E6 transmit non-visible light very differently, always have...as is well known to people who have done high quality slide duplication.

You can't blame the software. This is simply a situation in which one needs to develop some minimal personal skills.

[oscroft]

Interesting, thanks. I'll have a play with the s/w settings (though it sounds as if that might not help). I suspect I'll have to keep removing the magenta cast post-scanning, which is not difficult but is a bit of a pain when I'm trying to get lots of films scanned quickly.

[robertdfeinman]

Make sure you have any IR cleaning features turned off.

If you switch to Vuescan you can set a grey point after a preview by right clicking on a neutral spot in an image. You can then lock the image color and use that setting for all your scans.

They will then reflect the color of the original lighting, which means that pictures in shade will be blue, etc. This may be what you wish, or you may need to fix this in Photoshop afterwards as well.

If you group pictures taken under similar conditions together you can set the white balance for each group and get slightly better results.

Automated scanning seldom gives optimal results. And, yes, the Epson software leaves a lot to be desired...

[oscroft]

Make sure you have any IR cleaning features turned off.

If you switch to Vuescan you can set a grey point after a preview by right clicking on a neutral spot in an image. You can then lock the image color and use that setting for all your scans.

They will then reflect the color of the original lighting, which means that pictures in shade will be blue, etc. This may be what you wish, or you may need to fix this in Photoshop afterwards as well.

If you group pictures taken under similar conditions together you can set the white balance for each group and get slightly better results.

Automated scanning seldom gives optimal results. And, yes, the Epson software leaves a lot to be desired.
Thanks for that. I think what I'll do is carry on bulk-scanning with the Epson software and quickly adjust the magenta cast manually post-scan (most of the shots aren't of any great artistic value). Then when they're all done I'll come back to any I particularly like and re-scan using more flexible software.