Rescued from oblivion

[Tronhard]

Many years ago it appeared that my collection of 35mm transparencies had been destroyed when they were in my car when it was stolen and those responsible burnt them. Last summer I found 8 boxes with a total of 80 slides that I had kept apart because they had personal value unlike the rest that were commercial in nature.

I took the advice of CiC members and checked out a company in the USA called Scancafe (www.scancafe.com). My initial fear was that they would process for transparencies only in the US but it turned out that they would accept them from Canada. If you view their site you can see what they do and the prices. Well, I culled my slides down and sent them in. After a while I was advised that they were processed and could be viewed. This part was a bit of lunchbag letdown as they appeared for my review and acceptance/rejection in fairly low resolution. Still, for cents each I got my slides scanned to a fairly high resolution.

When I got them back some were not as good as I had hoped: more a function of the condition of the original slides than anything else, but some were of sufficiently acceptable quality to keep and some were of such sentimental value that I didn't care about quality, I was just happy to have them.

So... here are a few of the rescued slides, taken around 35 years ago on Canon A-1 and Nikon F-3 bodies, using Tamron SP Adaptall lenses. They probably won't bear too much pixel peeping, but as images from the time I am just grateful to have them! If you like the results check out the website...


Singapore: Buon Island, Boats beached before a storm


Singapore Museum dedicated to slave trade displays


Reflections on Hooker Lake, Mt Cook National Park, NZ


Mt Cook, NZ


Mt Tasman and Mt Cook viewed from Lake Matheson, NZ


NZ Huiarau Range, Central North Island, NZ


Lake Wanaka in Winter


Reflections on Lake Te Anau, Fiordland NP, NZ -

While this was a favourite of mine, it was taken with a modest camera, the Olympus XA, and to make matters worse I inadvertently threw the transparency out and had to rescue it from a skiff full of rubbish, so the original slide was not in pristine condition. I would like to have got rid of some of the grain though, so if someone has a suggestion, feel free!

[Mike Buckley]

I'm glad to see that ScanCafe worked out reasonably well for you. It has been so long since I have used them that I don't remember whether they provided low-resolution images for online review at the time.

The last one is really special in my mind. If they still have the slides and if you paid the premium for their highest resolution scans, consider asking them to use their standard resolution. Alternatively, use less sharpening in your post-processing and maybe try some judicious noise reduction, which you have probably already tried.

[bje07]

nice rescue.

[rpcrowe]

Really nice images. I wish I had some of my images from film days but, alas, they are gone who knows where?

[mknittle]

They look pretty darn good to me Trev. Even at the biggest setting in lytebox.

[Dave Humphries]

I would like to have got rid of some of the grain though, so is someone has a suggestion, feel free!

Hi Trev,

A sampling, adaptive noise reduction program will deal with this, I ran it through Neat Image, which I use.



I may have over done the grain removal for your taste, but it is very configurable for different 'frequencies' of noise (or grain).

I note there's a white scratch in the centre which could easily be spot healed too (I didn't).

Cheers, Dave

[Tronhard]

Dave that was very kind of you and it certainly has made a difference to the image. I have downloaded it and will see what I can do with it from there. Again, MANY thanks! (they need an insertable thumbs up or clapping icon!)

Hi Trev,

A sampling, adaptive noise reduction program will deal with this, I ran it through Neat Image, which I use.



I may have over done the grain removal for your taste, but it is very configurable for different 'frequencies' of noise (or grain).

I note there's a scratch in the middle/right which could easily be spot healed too (I didn't).

Cheers, Dave

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice set Trev

[Tronhard]

Thank you Binnur! Always a joy to get your posts.

[Tronhard]

Lake Matheson offers an amazing vista, called the View of Views, of NZ's two tallest peaks: Mt Tasman and the taller Mt Cook (Mt Aoranki). I have a very strong memory from 1980 of getting up at 4:30am from my hotel on a frosty morning and trudging several km around the lake in the early morning mist to get these shots. I had to wait for the mist to clear, and the breeze that did so rendered the lake less than mirror-like.