Auto-detect scanned slides' black borders & crop them

[goddi]

Greetings,

I am thinking of renting a slide scanner that can scan slides from a Kodak carousel. I'll have thousands of images. But, the scanned images will all have the black borders around them. I have been searching everywhere on the net to see if I can find a program that will auto-detect the black borders and crop them out. I have not found any program that will do it to images that have already been scanned,.

Has anyone found such a program. I'd hate to have to crop them one-by-one.

Gary

[Barry Beckham]

Once you have the dimensions to crop to, won’t a photoshop action do it? Create an action for one, then apply that to a batch and do a whole folder of images while you make the coffee

[goddi]

Barry,

Yes, thanks for the suggestion. I just made one action for horizontal images and one for vertical images. They work.

However, if I digitize all of my slides, I will have 7,000 or 8,000 or more images. I haven't figure out yet how to do it as an action batch. I'll look into that. Yes, I could sort them by 'Dimensions' and apply the 'horizontal corp action' to the horizontal images and 'vertical crop action' to the vertical images. I'll see if I can figure that out.

However, I would like to find, if possible, a program that  will automatically detect the proper crop, whether horizontal or vertical. I have found one called BatchCrop.

https://www.batchcrop.com/download.php?a=dwin

Its auto-detect seems to still need some tweaking. But I haven't figured out how to use this program as a batch function yet. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has found something that auto detects and crops in an easier way and have been successful with it. I have sent a lot of time searching for something like that but nothing yet.

Thanks... Gary

 

[Barry Beckham]

I forgot the part about seperating landscape and portrait and temporarily is probably the easiest way. for the batch process, go to File>Scripts>Image Processor and you can add an action down at the bottom of the window.

By the time you source software to do this, learn how to use it, have a few false starts it may be easier to just create two actions, separate the images, run the actions and amalgamate them back together

[goddi]

Thanks, Barry. I will give it a try. It will be a while until I decide when/if to rent the digitizer. I'll get on to learning how to do the batch action in PS.

I noticed that the program I mentioned seems to reduce the resolution of the images it crops. PS action did not. Have to study it more.

https://services.ezphotoscan.com/home/

Thanks... Gary

[goddi]

On 4/3/2020 at 7:49 PM, Barry Beckham said:

I forgot the part about separating landscape and portrait and temporarily is probably the easiest way. for the batch process, go to File>Scripts>Image Processor and you can add an action down at the bottom of the window.

By the time you source software to do this, learn how to use it, have a few false starts it may be easier to just create two actions, separate the images, run the actions and amalgamate them back together

Barry,

I finally got back to learning how  to run my cropping Action as a Batch. But I did it a bit differently. If I use your suggestion of 'File>Scripts>Image Processor' method, the action does save the cropped image in the appropriate folder, but it also saves the original non-cropped image to  my Desktop. Perhaps that is just the way I created my Action. Not sure how to remove that step.

But I also tried the File>Automate>Batch process. I like this better because it  has the 'Override Action "Save As" Commands', which apparently will not save the original non-cropped image to my desktop.

Both methods seem to do the same thing, but it is nice to have the ability to be able to check the 'Override...'  I guess I could re-write the Action to avoid this step but it is nice to have learned both methods. Not  sure what  the difference is except for being able to do the 'Override...'. Your method, I see, also allows you to choose the 'Quality', which can be useful in other situations.

Thanks for the help. The batch cropping in PS will really help. Some will need the cropping to be fixed but that will be much easier to deal with.

Gary

 

[Barry Beckham]

Gary

The action must have a save to desktop command included with it. As far as I’m aware, it doesn’t do that as a default. Once you get into actions, it’s not a big deal to re-record one that you need, especially for a project like the one you described.

 

[goddi]

Barry... I guess it nice to have both possibilities in the same Action. Just need to check/uncheck the box. But good to know.

Gary

[JudyKay]

I have done a lot of scanning and found no consistent way around hand cropping. You get the best job that way.  Might depend how important good cropping is.  In my experience, nearly all photos need some post-scan processing anyway. Dust.  Color.  Fuzz on the edge of a slide. Fingerprints on film. Makes me grimace to think of it.  

[goddi]

Judy,

When I retired about 17 years ago, my main desire was to scan all of my slides...many thousands. I fooled around with my Nikon digitize but it did one at a time. Then I got a flat bed scanner, but it did about 9 or so at a time. So far I've digitized about a few dozen or so. Just can't get motivated to slog through is sloooooow process. Most of mine are still in Kodak carousels. I recently found that I can rent one where you can digitize from these carousels. That would make it so much easier. But I still get weak in the knees thinking still of all the work involved in post-scan processing. But being able to use PS to batch crop gives me a little hope that I can do it, eventually. I think it would be easier to just scan all the slides and then just pick out the ones I want for PTE shows for post processing.

Gary

 

[JudyKay]

I and two associates have approximately 40,000 (?? I think)  slides and negatives scanned with this (or a previous model):

https://www.amazon.com/2PX0321-Plustek-OpticFilm-8200i-Scanner/dp/B009724JZY

 

It's not perfect but with some experience is a good way to process 1000's.  One model is about worn out but still works.  The second new one is going strong.

[goddi]

Greetings Judy,

Thanks for the info. I took a look at the scanner you mentioned. The problem is that I have about 7,000 slides already in Kodak carousels. And a few thousand in sleeves and boxes. To take them out and run them though a scanner manually would be a tough job. I'm looking into a scanner that will scan using the carousels. And will let me use the Kodak Stack Loader for my loose slides. I'd appreciate your opinion on this type of scanner I found.

I found the SlideSnap Pro. It is expensive ($3,450) and I'd have to buy a 90mm macro lens to go with my Nikon7100 DSLR. I like it but really too expensive. But if last resort, I might convince myself that it would be the only way I'd get it done:

http://slidesnappro.com/product/slidesnap-pro/

But, I found a place that rents a similar setup, and includes the camera. So basically, ready to go. Three-days, $325; Five-days $450. Cheaper, relatively, but nothing additionally needed. Only thing is the pressure to get it done in the 3 or 5 days.

https://services.ezphotoscan.com/home/

I'd appreciate it if you can give an opinion on this method of scanning since you're an experienced scanner. About the same price as buying the Plustek but leaving all the slides in the carousels would be a less traumatic process. And once done, I wouldn't need the scanner anymore. Just not sure of the quality of the digitized slides.

Thanks... Gary

[RenéD]

Hallo Garry,

I am a 'newcomer' here. Just started a week ago with PTE AV Studio Pro. (Very nice program!) Some month ago I scanned all my slides (about 7000) too. I did that with Silverfast 8 and a Epson Perfection V750Pro. In the Silverfast program you are able to set the borders in a percentage of the total scanned size (and of course much more settings). And last but not least: Silverfast has developed a complete new job program (I was finished at that moment ...). The site of Silverfast: https://www.silverfast.com/   After finalizing the color and the final framing of the pictures with Capture One I am busy to put them in shows with PTE.

 

Greetings and success!

 

René

[jmG-06100]

Welcome here, René.

I am impressed by your scan of 7000 slides!  How long did it take you? Months?

[JudyKay]

On 4/8/2020 at 7:54 PM, goddi said:

Greetings Judy,

Thanks for the info. I took a look at the scanner you mentioned. The problem is that I have about 7,000 slides already in Kodak carousels. And a few thousand in sleeves and boxes. To take them out and run them though a scanner manually would be a tough job. I'm looking into a scanner that will scan using the carousels. And will let me use the Kodak Stack Loader for my loose slides. I'd appreciate your opinion on this type of scanner I found.

I found the SlideSnap Pro. It is expensive ($3,450) and I'd have to buy a 90mm macro lens to go with my Nikon7100 DSLR. I like it but really too expensive. But if last resort, I might convince myself that it would be the only way I'd get it done:

http://slidesnappro.com/product/slidesnap-pro/

But, I found a place that rents a similar setup, and includes the camera. So basically, ready to go. Three-days, $325; Five-days $450. Cheaper, relatively, but nothing additionally needed. Only thing is the pressure to get it done in the 3 or 5 days.

https://services.ezphotoscan.com/home/

I'd appreciate it if you can give an opinion on this method of scanning since you're an experienced scanner. About the same price as buying the Plustek but leaving all the slides in the carousels would be a less traumatic process. And once done, I wouldn't need the scanner anymore. Just not sure of the quality of the digitized slides.

Thanks... Gary

Your situation might be different than mine.  I had some loose slides, slides in older types of carousels and many of the slides in Kodak-type carousels were "sticky" warped with age, humidity or something.  I did not return slides to the carousels but did keep them in order and re-boxed and labeled. I would strongly consider the method you found if I had 1000's of slides in good condition in good carousels. 

The plustek software is very good as mentioned above and will save a lot of Lightroom / Photoshop (or whatever) work. There is sizable learning curve to get best results.  Not every slide has to be best.  Now and then you come across some incredible image that is worth a lot of labor and knowing how to capture it at is best is worth the work.