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Scanning and noise

 The Canon 8800f scanner has made noises since I brought the scanner home. There is a youtube video on disassembling and cleaning a Canon 8600, which is similar to the 8800. There seemed to be no effect on scanned images, so I put the repair effort off. Noise. There are several types of noise associated with scanners and scanning.  Each scan injects some random noise into the image. The noise is different for each scan.  The solution is averaging several scans of the same image. More scans is better than fewer. Realistically, the effect after four scans is minimal and three scan work in most cases. There is a free astronomical imaging software program titled StarStax. This programs takes multiple scans of an image and 'stacks' them, mathematically. Corresponding pixels from each image have the values averaged an the result placed in a new image. This removes most of that type of noise. With this in mind, I began the process of scanning the archive film. After a long session of
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Scanning.

 The actual scanning of the films occurred in two parts. The settings were used with both color and b&w film. 1. Useing the 'color positives' setting in the software. 2. Using the 'color negatives' setting in the software. This results in two sets of images. One set appears as ordinary photos, the other as negatives. The idea was to get as pure a recording of the film as possible. Accordingly, I turned off all automatic adjustments and effects. Two settings in the software proved useful, though. 'Exposure' and 'Fading Correction.' I don't know what the fading control does, but I know that some faded images improved quite a bit using that control. The prints were scanned using the LiDE, before the 8800f was purchased. The film was scanned using the 8800f. Only a few test samples of color slides were scanned. I've decided to get a slide scanner since there are approximately 300 slides to be scanned. That will have to wait. I finished the prints
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Scanner adaptations.

 The Canon 8800f originally came boxed with accessory fixtures for scanning films of different types. I didn't want to spend $50 on eBay if I do without, so I developed workarounds. Scanners have CCDs that act like cameras. And like cameras, they have a focal length. Theirs is fixed. I read an interesting article on testing the focal length of scanners. That article gave me an idea. I got a piece of window pane glass and cut the glass to fit on the scanner glass bed, referred to as the 'Platen.' I did some test scans of old ruined negative film that had highly detailed, sharp etch marks that woiuld work as an indicator of level of detail. The window pane was placed on the platen and scans made at high resolution. The pane was removed and a similar set of scans made. The two sets were examined in the sharply deailed damage area of the film negative. The detail was clearer on the platen than on the pane. The glass window pane was kept as a way to insure the images were flat o
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Film scanning with a flatbed scanner.

 I've been involved in my family's genealogy for several decades, off and on. The family tree is extensive and goes back to Charleston, SC in 1685. One of my pursuits in that direction is the digitization of an extensive print and film collection with items dating back to the 1940s. About ten tears ago, I attempted to begin using a Mustek flatbed scanner. That unit was okay for prints and general family documents but was not able to scan film.  I removed the scanner's fluorescent tube and used a fluorescent flashlight to scan film with greater or lesser degrees of success. The next unit was a Microtek 5600. That unit could use an accessory to scan film. Eventually, I abandoned the scanner and the task. I acquired the accessory but was unimpressed. A few months ago, I found a Canon LiDE 110 at a thrift shop for a few bucks. The associated software was still available and installed readily. That scanner is a portable USB scanner that uses a personal computer's USB port fo
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Redirect to Home Entertainment Center

 There is much information on the movie aspect of media at my Home Entertainment Center blog. Most of my interest, currently, is in video rather than stills.
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Microscopes, almost

   Since the last major post, I have acquired 3 USB microscopes. These are not full-fledged microscopes, but devices that have zoom factors and light sources. One comes with screenshot/video recording software. I used this to examine a phonograph needle on my turntable. I had enough detail to determine the source of a playback problem.    As a result, I purchased a new stylus and now enjoy my LP collection.
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August 14, 2019 update

A lot has happened since the last post. I have acquired a Konica Minolta MAxxum 5D, replete with strap, charger and rechargable batteries. Everything works...exfept the CCD. All the pictures taken are blacked out. There's no visible physical damage to the unit. I'm considering opening up the unit and perhaps looking for a loose connection caused by a drop of the camera. I located and downloaded  a service manual with diagrams and service data. I want to continue some exploration of HDR imaging. To this end, I combined my interest in my cell phone's cameras with my HDR interest and found a few programs that seem to do a good job at HDR or providing the needed lo-res images for assembling an HDR image. I prefer the assembly method. The tonemap compressor from Radiance, programmed by Eric Reinhard, is the best general purpose compressor I've run across in the years of working, albeit intermittently, with HDR. The apps for the phone are from the Apple AppStore an
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