Check my tutorial for scanning Kodachrome using a ccd type scanner
here:
http://www.historicphotoarchive.com/stuff/kodachrome2.html
Excellent page! I'm still poking around but I particularly liked:
http://www.historicphotoarchive.com/f1/ekcode.html
A couple of quick suggestions for the high quality section, if I may
(if you haven't covered it). Using anti-Newton mounts may cause
problems because the glass is "roughened up" and I didn't see any
reference to "pepper spots".
But, again, as someone who's been "tortured" by Kodachromes for a long
time ;o) I really appreciate the page!
Top issue with scanning Kodachrome is shadow detail.
I think that goes for all slides due to their wide dynamic range.
Having said that, though, Kodachrome is indeed very dense.
The top issue for Kodachrome IMHO is the blue cast! (At least on
Nikons.) The Kodachrome mode doesn't really go far enough and
additional image editing is essential to get the color balance right.
Second issue is
dust spotting, the digital ice does not work with most Kodachrome
because the film is opaque to the IR channel in the scanner, so the
scanner cannot see the dust.
Actually, Kodachrome has a silver residue (like conventional B&W
negative) and ICE confuses these silver particles (impenetrable to IR
light) with dust (also impenetrable to IR light).
That means if the Kodachrome is overexposed (very bright) where the
silver has all been washed out in development, ICE works perfectly.
For all other Kodachromes (i.e. normal exposure) ICE just doesn't work
if you're after high quality. Enlarging the image to about 300% shows
this clearly. This also seems to vary with Kodachrome age as there
isn't one single Kodachrome.
Vuescan has been modified in the latest version for scanning
Kodachrome, it has seperate gain controls for R G B and this helps with
the shadow detail.
As one of the people largely responsible for convincing the author to
implement separate RGB controls - in spite of his long term obstinate
reluctance - I must also add that even with this control, in my
experience, VueScan is just too buggy and unreliable to be used for
any serious scanning, although it may suffice for a quick-and-dirty
job if the quality threshold is low.
Don.