Minolta Maxxum 600si, A 35-70mm f4, Ektar 100
I’ve been rescanning the last of my lost archives lately, down to about 25 rolls left. I’ll be glad when that 2.5 year epic project is done (and now with proper backups). It’s gone a lot quicker with the Scan Dual IV than my old, dying SDIII could do, mostly because VueScan is not crashing every strip or two. This has also afforded me the opportunity to tweak my scanning workflow a fair bit and experiment with things like 64bit HDRi output and RAW DNG scans. I’ve managed to nail down some persistent problems with colour and exposure that I’d been having, but I decided that as nifty as getting RAW DNG’s is, I’d stick to 48bit TIFF as my output format for now. It’s just less hassle for a given level of IQ now that I’ve mostly fixed the colour and exposure issues I’d been having.
It also brings home the realization that as much as I love digital technology and new toys, I’m still fundamentally a film photographer. I like the output I get and the process which achieves it, even if the immediacy of digital does have its attractions. While I’m still thinning down the camera collection, what remains will be my primary kit, especially the Bessa and the Maxxum’s.
