Salvaging Faded Ektachrome Slides

1957 Ektachrome booklet (courtesy of Mr. Maurice Fisher at Photographic Memorabilia)

Eastman Kodak introduced Ektachrome transparency film in sheet film format in 1946. The big advantage of Ektachrome over the famous Kodachrome was the former could be developed at local laboratories or even at home. In Ektachrome, the color couplers were included in the emulsion and processing required only one color developer. Kodachrome required a major laboratory operation for developing, and this meant a turnaround time of several days for most users. 

The film that my dad used in 1959 would have been the version that required the E-2 Process or the Improved E-2 Process. The film speed was probably 32 ASA. His slide mounts have the same blue pattern as the example on the cover of the Kodak booklet. The text on the slide mount is in English, but I do not know where he had them processed. Were there color photo labs in Rangoon at the time?

The big failing of early Ektachrome was that colors faded. Most 1950s and 1960s Ektachrome slides are now a red mess. Image data is there, but much of the color information has been lost. In the days before Photoshop or other sophisticated software packages, there was not much you could do with one of these faded slides. I threw out hundreds of family slides decades ago when my wife and I sorted my dad's archives. 

Let us look at one example from Rangoon, Burma, from 1958 or 1959. I scanned the slide on a Plustek 7600i film scanner using Silverfast software via a Mac mini computer with the BigSur 11.7.4 operating system. The original slide shows the characteristic red color shift. You see the same with Anscochrome slides from the 1960s. 

Standing on a furniture box that came from Hong King

This is the scan on "Auto" mode as a 48-bit TIFF file (16 bits for each color). There does not appear to be much useful color data left. (I have resized for this article but not changed color).

This is the "Portrait" mode in Silverfast. I am amazed how well it did with no more intervention on my part. The software is doing some clever work in the background.

This is a 16 bit monochrome scan. This does not look too bad and demonstrates that there is still image data on this media. In another 64 years, will there be retrievable image data on our digital storage media or on our accounts in the "cloud"? Sorry I keep asking this, but you readers know the answer.

Photoshop's automatic color correction tool did not work well on a slide this badly shifted. The grey dropper also did not work. On the Photrio forum, experienced Photoshop users said the best way to correct a faded slide was to use the curves tool manually. I moved the curve to the extents of the color data and adjusted the amplitude. The example above is or the blue channel. I am far from a sophisticated Photoshop user but did the best I could in CS5. The result is slightly different than the Silverfast "Portrait" scan, neither better or worse. 

Summary:  There is some recoverable color data in old faded Ektachrome slides. And a conversion to monochrome can look surprisingly good. Maybe future software will be more sophisticated, but I have not seen many (or any?) new scanners in the last decade. But we can always hope for software development.

Mississippi Doors

End of Year Note

Dear Readers, this is the end of 2022. Thank you for reading and please add comments if something interests you. If you are looking for a certain topic, type a key word in the search box to the right. Most of my articles have been indexed by location or camera type, but the search tool will look for that word even within the text.

Doors

Some decades ago, I did a study of Greek doors. That was not too innovative because there were already tourist picture books on Greek doors for sale in bookstores and at the Athens airport gift shops. But still, Greece does have interesting doors, especially in the rural villages. When I make time, I will look over some of my old Greek slides for a revival here in Urban Decay. 

Some of you long term readers may remember the Doors of Nepal (click the link). 

Let us look at doors again, but here in Mississippi. We will take a semi-random tour around the state looking at unusual or interesting doors - portals to another world.

Jackson Southwest Hotel, 2648 US 80, west Jackson (Panatomic-X film, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Arlington mansion, Natchez (Tri-X Prof. film, 135mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar-S II lens, yellow-green filter)

Doorway to pleasure, Eagle Lake (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 80mm Planar-CB lens). The outhouse is no longer extant, but I did use it while it stood.

Store in Hermanville (Rolleiflex 3.5E, Schneider 75mm Xenotar lens, Panatomic-X film)

Club next to former Jo-Anna Motel, North Washington Street, Vicksburg

Former corner store, 1620 Main Street, Vicksburg (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera)

Former store, Hwy 28, Union Church (Fuji Acros film, Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens)

Burks Gro., Burk Road, Utica (GAF Versapan film, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens)

Slightly unused store, 2201 Simpson Highway, D'Lo (Tri-X 400 film, 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens)

Shed, Mississippi Basin Model, Buddy Butts Park, Jackson (TMax 100 film, Olympus Trip 35 camera)

What lies beyond these doors. Is there anything interesting? Just junk? A snake or two?

Thank you for following along. Standby for more Mississippi doors soon.

Hasselblad XPan Panoramic Camera: How to Handle the Film? (XPan 03)

Hasselblad XPan camera with 30mm, 45mm, and 90mm lenses

XPan with 30mm ƒ/5.6 lens and special viewfinder

Center filter on 30mm ƒ/5.6 lens

The amazing hardware

A friend in town generously loaned me his fabulous Hasselblad XPan camera with its three unique lenses. The Hasselblad XPan (and the identical Fuji TX-1) were innovative cameras that used regular 35mm film to create a negative that was 24×65 mm in size rather than the usual 24×36 mm frame common in most 35mm cameras. 

For me, the wide frame was a revelation. Through the viewfinder, I could see topics that I might have skipped with a normal camera or would have found boring without the wide frame to show the context of the scene. The wide frame provides a narrative to the main topic. I will post a series of XPan articles in the next few months. 

A recent guest author on Casual Photophile also wrote about how the wide view gave him a new way of viewing his world. An author on 35MMC found his XPan to be his favorite travel camera. But Hamish Gill of 35MMC found that the XPan just did not suit his type of photography enough to keep the valuable camera. It is a specialist tool to be sure.

However, this camera's wide frames require different handling than normal 35mm negatives. I did not see much on the internet about how people process or scan this unusual 24×65 mm frame. This article will describe my procedure.*

XPan negatives (converted to positive). Oh, oh, what to do with the odd shape?

Optical enlarging

If you print in a darkroom optically, any medium format or 4×5" enlarger like a Beseler would be suitable for the XPan negatives. I was surprised to see that Beseler still sells an XPan film holder. It is rather expensive at B&H, but at least is available. 

Years ago, some commercial labs developed XPan negatives and printed 4×12 inch machine prints. Nice. I have some albums with pages just for this size.

4×12 inch prints in plastic album. Lake Union, Seattle, Washington

Some companies made plastic print booklets specifically for the 4×12 prints.

Scanning options

Most people today probably scan the negatives and then post the results on the web or make ink jet prints. But how to scan these odd-size negatives? Some options:

1. Use a digital camera with macro lens and a copy stand to take a picture of the negative, and then reverse with software. My friend who owns the XPan uses this technique. 
2. Scan the negatives on a medium format scanner. My Minolta Scan Multi will fit the 65mm length, but I would need to cut a 24×65 mm mask. Minolta may have once sold a frame and mask in this size, but I doubt I could ever find one. Nikon's medium format scanners could be used for Xpan negatives. They used to sell a glass negative carrier that came with a mask for the Xpan format. It worked but was clumsy and very slow. 
3. Scan left and right frames of 24×36 mm in a regular 35mm film scanner and then combine them with software. I used this method with my Plustek 7600i scanner and then merge the two pieces with Photoshop CS6 (details below). 
4. Commercial scanning. Some laboratories may offer this service via the Imacon Flextight scanner (alas, no longer available new and staggeringly expensive)

Digital camera scanning

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona. © Bill Stripling

Acueducto de Segovia, Segovia, Spain. © Bill Stripling

French Pyrenees. © Bill Stripling

This is Method 1 above. These are all scans made with a Nikon Z7 camera and reversed in Lightroom with Negative Lab Pro software. To my eye, these results look fantastic. If you have a high-resolution digital camera, this is an excellent technique. The quality of the light source is important if you are scanning color negatives. For LED sources, the spectrum needs to be as smooth as possible. Gaps or spikes in the spectrum can cause color shifts. 

Merging 24×36 mm scans

Plustek 7600i scanner with 35mm negative holder. Note how one XPan frame overlaps into the second opening.

I use Method 3, where I scan left and right sections of the XPan negative sequentially. For the two frames to blend properly, there must be some overlap (possibly 10-20%). You need to set the exposure and color balance for one of the frames and then be sure to not change those settings for the second frame. What I do:

1. Preview the left or right section in a 24×36 mm frame (i.e., the full size for this scanner).
2. Adjust color, gain, and contrast as needed.
3. Make a final scan at 3600 dpi and save as a 16-bit (full color) TIFF file.
4. Remove the film holder, pull the XPan frame so that the other side is in the 24×36 opening.
5. Reinsert the holder in the scanner but leave gain and color unchanged. This means I cannot preview this second piece.
6. Make a final TIFF scan of this second section.
7. If needed, clean scratches and chemical blobs with the heal tool in Photoshop.

Assembly

It sounds confusing but is relatively simple. Then I use the >Automate>Photomerge tool in Photoshop CS5 or CS6 to combine the two sections. Make a final check if the wide frame needs some cropping and you are done. It is a bit time-consuming but works well. 

Below is an example from the rail line south of the Amtrak Station in Jackson, Mississippi and one from a junk yard in Edwards.

Pascagoula Street overpass left frame

Pascagoula Street overpass right frame

Final panorama from Pascagoula Street overpass (Kodak Portra 160 film)

I-20 junk yard left frame

Junk yard right frame

Final panorama, I-20 North Frontage Road, Edwards (Portra 160 film, 45mm ƒ/4 lens at ƒ/5.6½)

Despite the work, this Xpan is a lot of fun and an amazing creative tool. Standby for more examples. Thank you, Bill, for letting me use your camera.

* I am not going to use the term "workflow." That is a cliche on photography web pages, especially the infamous DPreview. "I returned from my weekend in Paris and did my special workflow to my 15,000 shots." Bleech.

Rainy Days in Astoria (Oregon)

Columbia River from the Astoria Column (Gold 200 film, Kodak Retina IIa camera, 1/250 ƒ/8 - click to see more detail)

Astoria is a historic sea and trading port on the Oregon shore at the mouth of the Columbia River. It is a wet city because weather patterns from the North Pacific thunder in most of the winter (and often in the summer). 

The mighty Columbia is the largest volume river to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. The average flow at the mouth (meaning near Astoria) is about 265,000 cubic feet/second. As an example of scale, the Mississippi River during the flood of 2011 had a flow in excess of 2 million cu ft/sec, while a large tidal inlet on the Gulf of Mexico coast (Destin, Florida) has a discharge of about 100,000 cu ft/sec. From Astoria, the estuary looks immense.

Dusk on the Columbia (Moto G5 phone file)

Freighters at anchor, Columbia River, Astoria (Gold 200 film)

Great blue heron, Columbia River (Gold 200 film, 1/50 ƒ/4)

Yes, the river dominates everything. 

Riverwalk, Astoria (1/50 ƒ/4)

The Riverwalk extends along the entire waterfront. It is a nice walk or bike ride, but a bit damp in the rain. Many of the tourist restaurants are situated on the wharf or in warehouses.

On the Riverwalk (the door is fake)

Chow time, fish and chips, Astoria Brewing Company (Moto G5 phone photo)

What do you do after a wet day walking the docks? Well, eat fish 'n chips and drink craft beer at the Astoria Brewing Company. These were some of the best fish 'n chips I have ever eaten. 

Room with a view, Astoria (Moto G5 phone file)

Road with a view (Moto G5 phone file)

Astoria has plenty of hotels and even some old-fashioned motor courts. We stayed in the heart of the city, within walking distance of coffee shops, a bakery, and restaurants.

West Marine Drive, Astoria

Kick Ass Koffee - what could be better than that?

Former cannery east of Astoria

Wouldn't you know it? The day we left, the weather cleared. So it goes. I would love to explore the old cannery, but the pier was tightly secured. At one time, thousands of workers packed fish at this and other canneries.

Most of these photographs are from Kodak Gold 200 film, taken with my Kodak Retina IIa camera with its Retina-Xenon 50mm ƒ/2 lens. This is a fully coated 6-element Gauss-type lens. I had just bought this little camera and was very pleased with its performance. 

In the Olympic Peninsula (Washington)

Olympic Peninsula, Washington (courtesy ontheworldmap.com)

The Olympic Peninsula is a fabulous terrain of mountains, temperate rain forest, lakes, and lonely beaches. The Olympic Mountains dominate the core of the peninsula. In a previous life, I hiked in the Olympics, climbed Mount Olympus, and camped along the rugged Pacific shore. I revisited in early 2022 but only had time for casual day trips. 

Rain forest near Lake Quinault

First of all is the incredible rain forest. It overwhelms with giant trees, moss, ferns, and lushness. These lush forests are among the limited remaining primeval temperate rain forest in the lower 48 states. Rainfall ranges from 140 to 167 inches per year (in contrast, Vicksburg, Mississippi, receives around 57 inches and Athens, Greece, receives only 14.9 inches). We saw the unusual American dipper in one of these ponds. This little bird bobs up and down and walks along the bottom of ponds. 

Kestner-Higley Homestead, Lake Quinault, Olympic Peninsula (Gold 200 film, Kodak Retina IIa camera, 50mm ƒ/2 Xenon lens)

Chevrolet truck, Kestner-Higley Homestead

Chevrolet truck

Chevrolet truck taken on Fuji Acros film, Leica M2, 35mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens 

The Kestner-Higley Homestead is at the northeast corner of Lake Quinault. The short circle trail is an easy and fun walk.

Pottery studio, Hoquiam (Gold 200 film, 1/100 ƒ/8)

This little 1930s grocery store is now a pottery studio. It is on East Hoquiam Road seemingly a long way from any towns.

Lincoln Street Grocery, Hoquiam (Gold 200 film, 1/100 ƒ/8)

Heading south on US 101, you reach Hoquiam. This former lumber town is on the north shore of Greys Harbor. The town is a bit rough and will offer some interesting photo subjects in the future.

Seat with a view, 121 Park Avenue, Aberdeen (Gold 200 film, 1/100 ƒ/5.6½)

Wishkah River at junction with Chehalis River, Aberdeen (1/100 ƒ/5.6)

Aberdeen is more than a bit rough. I need to return and look around for more photo opportunities. The city is at the mouth of the Chehalis River where it debouches into Greys Harbor. The city thrived as a lumber port during the early 20th century because Greys Harbor was ice-free. The lumber could be shipped south along the Pacific coast to markets in California and Asia. But most of the mills closed in the 1970s and 1980s, and the town went through rough times. 

We ate at Duffy's Restaurant and had excellent smelts. Smelts are little salt water fish that are usually fried. In a previous life, the famous Durgin Park Restaurant in Boston served smelts. But once they dropped smelts (and mackerel!) from the menu, I knew the end was coming. 

This ends our all-to-short tour of the Olympics. Most of the photographs are from Kodak Gold 200 film that I exposed in my little Kodak Retina IIa camera. I scanned the film with a Plustek 7600i film scanner.