Kodak #Q-60K3 Color Calibration Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide (IT-8)

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

This target allowed me to properly calibrate my new Plustek scanner for Kodachrome film. It worked fine and I'm pleased with the colors on scans after calibration. You do need to find and download the data that goes with the Kodak target which I found on the Kodak web site. This does not come with the target but is free to download.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

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Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

This 35mm calibration target shows the standard IT8 target format reproduced on a Kodachrome cardboard-mount transparency. The numbers 1999:10 printed on the mount would appear to be the date of manufacture. The target was well packaged and was sealed in a plastic envelope. The Kodak catalog number printed on the cardboard envelope is 1575141.One would expect that the calibration data file would accompany the target but no such luck. It takes a fair bit of digging to find it on the Kodak website ([@]) This file is dated 2001-02-02. A technical bulletin, TI-2045 (located at [@]) provides some additional useful information.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

This slide does a terrific job of allowing the user to calibrate a slide scanner for kodachrome 35mm slide. It is irritating that the slide is not oriented correctly in the slide, requiring some adjustment by the user. I had to cut the slide to get Vuescan to read the slide with the calibration file. IMPORTANT: Calibration requires a file that does not come with this slide, but can be obtained at:[@]. This information is not available at the Kodak website. (Help me!) In short, this slide and the calibration file, along with some jiggling of the slide, is the route to a correctly color calibration for a slide scanner in scanning kodachrome 35mm slides.Bob Ackermann

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

I have Silverfast AI Sudio scanner software. When I tried to calibrate my Minolta Elite 5400 film scanner to this slide it said I needed a profile reference. Turns out, that's a text file with numbers the software needs to make this reference slide work. After much searching I found this from the Kodak site. [@]Click the one that ends in Q60. select all the text and copy it to a text editor (windows Notepad in my case)and then name it. When you calibrate your target and it asks for this file, navigate to it (or just copy and paste the file into the the folder your software keeps the profiles and then choose it). It recognized it and let the calibration work. This is what I did and it worked for me. Maybe it will work for you.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

This Target slide, used with profiling software (purchase separately) and your scanner will get you amazing improvement in the color quality of your scans. Scanners have a history of difficulty in capturing the visual color of Kodachrome. Profiling your scanner with an actual Kodachrome target will make sure the scanner sees the colors the way you do. Having an accurate transfer from slide to scan file saves a huge amount of time trying to get colors acceptable - you only have to work on variations like exposure or fading, not from a basically wrong scan.

Kodak hasn't produced Kodachrome target slides for some time, but B&H has a stock. Because of the long shelf life, these are still fine for profiling.

If you are planning to digitize a lot of old Kodachromes, it's worth it to get the target and the profiler software to bring out the best in your pictures.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

Scanning Kodachrome is not the easiest process. To get great scans you need to calibrate for the film. For deeper saturation without washing out the shadows, you need this target slide.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

The target came with a slight tilt, that had to be adjusted before usage.
Kodak never officially announced its availability,
this for reason. It's not as good as it should be.
Manual adjustements are still needed after scanning.

There are better Kodachrome targets on the market.
See David Brooks great article on Shutterbug (06/2009)

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

Often we dread scanning Kodachrome because of the overall blue cast that is seen in the shadows most prominently. Profiling based on this Q60 target will correct your scans to look like the slide did.

As someone else noted, for a $40+ slide, you think they could mount it straight! Mine had about a 1.5 degree tilt off horizontal. For a program such as Profile Mechanic Scanner 1.0 (which I have), this is not a problem, as it can adjust to tilts. The problem comes when using a scanning program such as VueScan Professional, which requires the slide to be straight and square in order for the profile generation to work properly. After a while, I just lined up a straightedge with the image, and used a scalpel to slice the cardmount. A few test scans confirmed that I had straightened the slide image.

An alternative is to shoot a Q-60 target at noontime on a bright sunny day, using Kodachrome film. This will correct the color for a daylight scene. You will not be trying to match the scan to the film itself, but to the scene itself. I've found Nikon's 105mm f/2.5 lens to be the ideal lens to shoot this reference slide, as it has no distortion.

Finally, Lasersoft now offers its own Kodachrome calibration slide, for about the same price as this one.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

I am preparing to scan a set of Kodachrome slides and was glad to see B&H still selling this discontinued calibration target. The film was mounted slightly tilted in the cardboard frame, making it necessary to load the frame in the scanner with the opposite tilt - a bit tricky. I also had to locate and download the companion data file from the Kodak website. But after I scanned the target, generated a profile, and applied it to my scans, the bluish color cast was gone. No fiddling with color curves, no guesswork, just accurate colors in one easy step.

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

target on my scanner for KodaChrome
Its made by Kodak
Its way to pricey

Comments about Kodak #Q-60K3 Target- 35mm Kodachrome Slide:

I purchased this slide to calibrate my scanners for using Kodachrome. This target satisfies this purpose, but it does not come with a digital (CD) calibration of the slide itself. You have to download from Kodak. Further, I was surprise to see the green tone to the supposedly gray scale at the bottom of the IT8 target. I have used it successfully, however. BTW, most of the X-rite products include other IT8 targets, but not for 35mm Kodachrome.