I have color slides my father took in Rome Italy in late 1945. I have been using some 6 inch pvc plumbing pipe as a support, setting the slide on a light table with a mask surrounding the slide and using my digital camera to take pictures of the slide and then crop out the cardboard frame. My device is a little more complex than that but it works and is very quick and very high quality compared to scanners. Cost less than $5. I am glad I can now clean the slides with Isopro. I worried about removing the dyes and just blew off the dust. I also have some shots he took in New Guinea in '46. I too am amazed at the survival of those images. Waikiki beach with NO HOTELS.
Love the ingenuity I see and hear about with some camera scanning setups. I was recently digitizing some of my grandpa's slides from the '70s in Waikiki and even then it was still so underdeveloped compared to today.
My grandfather gave me his entire slide collection from years of shooting and ive been slowly scanning them for him, as someone who has shot a lot of film even till today, Kodachrome slides still suprise the hell out of me. No other film resists aging like kodachrome you can take a 50 year old slide like some ive scanned and it looks as good today as the day it was taken.
You nailed it. The beauty of Kodachrome is absolutely the connection between the composition, exposure and the film processing. Photograers intentionally pursued scenes with the colours that they knew would pop on Kodachrome. Like a Coka Cola sign or a street scene with signs or the famously photographed Golden Gate Exposition in 1939 - 1940.
Really enjoyed your perspective, Adrian! I totally agree that the Kodachrome slides are so beautiful and hold up on their own. After removing dust and digitizing, I tend to avoid any color adjustments once I have the photos in Lightroom. But I do try to pull out detail in the shadows/highlights by pulling them up/down, because it seems as though most scanning setups can't seem to grasp the same dynamic range of film without doing so. I will add that when I get around to the Ektachrome slides where all the cyan has faded away which result in that nasty red cast, color correction is a must.
I shot a lot of Kodachrome and Ektachrome back in the '80's. So, I have some boxes in storage in Canada for 20 years and I worried about how they faired over the years. 3 years ago, I was there and had a quick look, they were perfectly preserved! Now I want to get back there again and retrieve and scan them, I just have to get back there after Covid. (I live in Japan now). Amazing how well K-chrome holds up!
I really enjoyed watching your video. Maybe think. I’ve was looking for something about the physical restoration but you made me think about a lot more
I’m about to embark on the same project with 16 carousels and several random boxes full of my Dad’s slides from the 50’s through 70’s. Some of them are a wee bit grimy, so I’ll give it a go with some ISO. Thanks for the video and the inspiration.
Don't use cottonballs and alcohol. Use Pec pads and PEC12. Take the film out of the cardboard and clean it. Don't rub the shiny side. Just clean the emulsion side. Your film will thank you. Also if you don't want to spend days color balancing and fixing scratches, buy a Pacific Image Primefilm scanner and Silverfast Software HDR. It has a special color setting built in for Kodachromes and removing dirt and scratches. Around Christmas, Silverfast usually has sales on their software. The scanner runs USD$500 and maybe $300-$400 USD for the software.
Yeah I’ve been undergoing a Kodachrome project myself with a bit over 500 slides and it is quite interesting to see someone else’s live from 50+ years ago through a physical picture, I’ve also begun to start archiving old film mostly Kodachrome and if you’d like I’d love to archive them and digitize them at a very high resolution thank you for the content I really love the sentiment
Wow 500 slides, I can really relate to your comment about seeing someone's life through the picture ( I feel its the magic of photography) Thanks so much for the comment
Adrian Heffernan yeah it truly is a project more people should do because old slides are being thrown away daily and I just want to preserve all that history
@@technol-bismol3778 Im still shooting new slides today, Ektachrome is a great film pretty close to kodachrome just not as saturated but all my vacations are shot on film because I know that in 50 years it can be scanned and will be good but digital files can be lost. Most digital images are literally put onto film to preserve them in the long run because its still cheaper to archive on film than digital and it wont degrade as bad.
@@pilsplease7561 How sad! Still try saving them by giving a try at cleaning a few to see if they can be saved. It's okay if the cardboard frame has to be tossed.
Speaking as a photog of the era your Dad was shooting in, the choice of film was a part of the process. You wanted deeply saturated colors on the warm side you used Kodachrome, assuming you had the light necessary to shoot it. It had a fairly low ASA and so was not really suited to artificial lighting. It loved full sunlight. Nicely done!
Fujichrome ASA 100 and 400 easily, easily rivalled Kodachrome, and with a Skylight Filter on the lens water and sky scenes were super clear and bright.
I inherited my dad's old paparazzo slides from nyc in the 70s. They were pristine, I stupidly flew down to my house in PR with out protecting them properly, & I guess going through the airport ruined the images they're all spotted now. I was so upset with myself. They were perfect for decades before I got them
At the end Adrian says his father maybe took the photos bearing in mind the limited bandwidth of the medium. I don't think this would have been the case. They do fade with age. I have some from the 1960s and I remember them being super bright and colourful back then, now they have faded somewhat.
I see that someone commented that the ISO removes a lacquer finish on the slides. I have my doubts about this because I tried removing some lacquer from another project with ISO and it didn't effect the finish at all. Is there anyone who can confirm the report that the ISO damages the slides?
Slides from the 60s had a varnish on them. It will remove it. Best option is using Pec pads and PEC12. This will not scratch or damage the film and will clean it better. Do not use cottonballs. They leave fine scratches all over.
Perhaps you could give us more detail regarding the back story to this. What were you wearing when you found the pictures.. What had you eaten recently? Your weight at the time you found these? Your marital status at the time?
My late Grandfather had a bunch of Kodachrome slides from the 50s and 60s that lasted perfectly preserved in his hall closet for decades. I got a hold of them and decided to keep them in a fireproof safe for extra peace of mind as well as safe keeping - Biggest mistake of my life... They got completely moldy and are close to being ruined now. Any suggestions guys?
It depends on how deep the mold has taken root. Kodachrome is pretty resistent to mold, so if you use a professional cleaner, and a lot of rubbing (on the non-shiny side only) you should be able to clean the mold. It will take some work, but it does clean up nicely. Alcohol will not do the job, but PEC12 will clean them. Make sure you do not scrub the shiny side, just the emulsion side. A few drops of PEC12 on the film and the pad will be enough. Wipe it for 10-15 seconds with the pad. If the shiny side also has mold, use more care, and wipe it down, but do not apply pressure. You don't want to cause scratches. You can use pressure to clean the emulsion side. Experiment on a throwaway slide first. I had a 1000 slides that were very moldy. The Kodachrome slides survived and cleaned up the best. There is very little evidence of mold on them now. Pure alcohol does little to clean mold. It will remove fingerprints but not much else.
Hello quick question, where do I get those slides? I’ve been searching the internet for hours now and I can’t find anything on the slides itself. Is there a specific camera that needs to be used for those slides?
nah any film camera would work, but slide silms need to be correctly exposed and there arent many made right now.(kodak ektachrome and fuji velvia and provia are the only oens being made, fuji huge doubt because covid and are winding down film) also they are developed using e6 process which is different to c41 colour negative and not many labs do that
Very useful video. Are surgical spirits isopropyl alcohol? I’m working to organize my late father’s collection of about 5000 slides. Many are Kodakchrome, but many are Ectachrome. I don’t know the chemistry of cleaning slides. Do you have any experience with cleaning Ectachrome slide using the cleaners you employed?
Hi ya, Yes surgical spirits isopropyl alcohol are the same, I've no other experience this was my first attempt, I'd suggest taking a sample slide and testing with that - Maybe grab one that is not a prize winner ;-)
Using 99% alcohol is ok. But using PEC12 and their pads is much better. It will remove more dirt and grime faster than alcohol and won't damage the film. Cottonballs should not be used as they will introduce scratches into the film. You won't see them but they will show up.
Did the surgical spirits work out ok for you? Have the exact same bottle of stuff (also in Ireland) and was afraid what sort of additives could be in it. Did you notice any residues?
Kodachrome, supposedly the most resilient slide film as regards deterioration. Oddly though, the Kodachrome slides I have (and am currently scanning etc) from around 1979/80 are the ones that seem to have suffered the most. Quite a bit of grime on some of them similar to the landscape one you show but also mould, small specks that have grown outwards into the emulsion in a fine series of spidery 'crazed' lines pattern. They also seem to have faded and colour shifted more than other brands from the same period.
Sorry for the late reply - I'm surprised it deteriorated, how was it stored? Some of the slides I had a lot of dust and it took many soft attempts to clean.
Good video! But how about shooting Kodachrome now? Can you scan it like any other 35mm film...? Straight from camera? I've got the possibility to get my hands on a bunch of these, but I know it's no longer developed, apart from B&W and that seems like a shame. So I'm researching about scanning them and getting that colour out :)
Hello Adrian, Great Video. I am currently working my way through my Uncle Tom's Kodak slides taken between circa 1950 and 1975 the year he died. They include walking and mountaineering trips to Slovenia, Iceland, Spain and the former Yugoslavia etc There is about 300 slides, some are grubby but many I am sure like your father's are wonderful. So thanks for the cleaning tips.
Nine and a half minutes invested in trying to find out how to repair a dirty/spotty slide. Meager payoff. Less than 10 seconds showing isopropyl alcohol and Q tips. No process. Gaaaaahhhh.
