olifaunt
Well-known
What drum scanner is that?
Lax Jought
Well-known
brbo
Well-known
Howtek 4500.
olifaunt
Well-known
Wow, just curious how that was cheaper than $600?
Out to Lunch
Ventor
Priced not to sell.
zuiko85
Veteran
I have a table saw and drill and a few basic wood working skills. For a few dollars I can build a setup to do the same thing.
WJJ3
Well-known
Thanks, yeah it’s doing the job.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
These copier jigs do seem rather expensive and I worry about stability with the vertical arrangement. My Novoflex copy stand, flat panel light box, and home-made mask/film holder arrangement is cheaper, smaller, and more rigid; probably sets up faster (about 5 minutes). It also allows exposures at about ISO 200 @ f/8 @ 1/50 to 1/100 sec for most negatives, which helps ensure stability.
Nice to see someone building dedicated equipment for this endeavor, regardless.
G
Nice to see someone building dedicated equipment for this endeavor, regardless.
G
Huss
Veteran
Never had any stability issues using my cheapo $150 new copy stand. I copy at iso 64/f11 which is about 1/2 sec. Everything is always pin sharp. I make sure to use the exposure delay mode on my camera so that the shutter fires about 3 secs after I push the button to let things settle down.
When I used a DSLR to scan film, I first had to use the Mirror Up functionality before the shutter delay. Now using mirrorless - no mirror so one less thing to deal with.
I wonder why some company just doesn't provide a film copying bundle so it's a one stop shop for users instead of re-inventing the wheel? In the bundle there would be the copy stand, light pad and a few film holders. Done.
The Digitiliza film holders are very good and the 35mm one allows for 35mm and pano, while the 120 one allows for 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9.
albireo
Established
"These days everyone has a digital camera with high resolution and excellent dynamic range."
WRONG. I don't anymore. And many people in my age group don't either (a good modern phone is all we need for digital photography).
I'm quite happy with my Plustek 7500i for 35mm and with my Epson V550 for my medium format scanning, to be quite honest. When you master the hardware and the software, the results can be amazing.
Don't even get me started on the form factor of this 'solution' above. I imagine whoever wrote the blog does not have a wife?
Archlich
Well-known
Cue the Chinese:
I haven't got to play with one in real life, but the whole bundle (with light source and film holders) cost around $90.
Looks like these guys aren't aware of the international market yet.
Huss
Veteran
Cue the Chinese:
I haven't got to play with one in real life, but the whole bundle (with light source and film holders) cost around $90.
Looks like these guys aren't aware of the international market yet.
Hmm, that looks like something the French would have built..
Dogman
Veteran
I'm using the Nikon ES-2 digitizer with a Micro-Nikkor lens and a Nikon D800. And, honestly, when copying 35mm slides or negatives, I just take the rig outside on a sunny day, set the ISO and WB to automatic, the lens to f/8 and aim for a blank area of the sky. I might have to make minor color adjustments to the slides in Lightroom but the results look great to me and it's a lot less setup and expense than these contraptions.
Huss
Veteran
I used to use AWB, but the results were variable as the camera often does not know how to get a WB from the orange film base. While I was pondering why sometimes my scans took more work to correct the colour, I realized just to set WB to sunny.
Then the results were completely consistent, simple and accurate as a baseline was set before conversion with negativelabpro.com
css9450
Veteran
I searched around in the basement and found the remnants of a box of 1/4-20 hex nuts and used four of them underneath the Omega negative holders I use to hold my films. The nuts raise the negative high enough that not only are there no pixels visible, but any specs of dust remaining on the lightpad disappear too (within reason of course).
If I was more organized I'd attach the nuts to the bottom of each of my negative holders; 35mm. 120 and 127, like with contact cement or something.
Chris101
summicronia
Their device looks well made, and easy to use, but it's kinda pricey. I just bought a Nikon ES-2. It screws onto the business end of the 60mm micro lens I already have. The film carrier holds the film flat, and it takes about a second per scan, once you load the film into the holder. It costs all of $139.
Chris101
summicronia
About the ES-2, continued ...
I previously used a Coolscan 5000, but a problem I had with it was "grain aliasing", that is, the scanner could not make out individual grains, so images has a pronounced grain look, caused by clumps of grains that were not fully resolved.
With this setup, the resolution of the scan is about 6000 dots per inch, which does resolve the grains. The result it a smoother grain even with a grainy film such as HIE. So here is a sample of the output of my setup. Only it's actually a lot bigger - about 45 megapixels.
Here is a 100% crop showing the showing the (barely) resolved grain at full size:
I previously used a Coolscan 5000, but a problem I had with it was "grain aliasing", that is, the scanner could not make out individual grains, so images has a pronounced grain look, caused by clumps of grains that were not fully resolved.
With this setup, the resolution of the scan is about 6000 dots per inch, which does resolve the grains. The result it a smoother grain even with a grainy film such as HIE. So here is a sample of the output of my setup. Only it's actually a lot bigger - about 45 megapixels.
Here is a 100% crop showing the showing the (barely) resolved grain at full size:
Huss
Veteran
yep yep, here is my ES-2 use with a Z7 + 60 2.8G
Full image:
1:1 crop from the end of the sentence:
Full image:
1:1 crop from the end of the sentence:
Bille
Well-known
Takkun
Ian M.
Wow, $500 dollars would buy a lot of T-slot extrusions. That's pricey for what you get.
one of these days I'll show my rig, but it's all made from leftover foam core and matte board from framing. Two sheets of hinged matte board for a film carrier, with masking tape "guide rails" for ease of sliding into place. That's on top of a square foam core box, open on top and a cutout on one side, with several sheets of mylar drawing film as diffusers. Sunpak 544 in the cutout. Camera on a tripod with inverted head. Its working handily for MF.
Chris—interesting you mention that. I've had a lot of problems with shadow detail and grain with my LS-4000, especially with T-grain films. I've been assuming I still haven't gotten a good Vuescan workflow, but aliasing would explain some of my results. It's still far less tedious to batch scan with it, and go back and DSLR-scan something to enlarge.
one of these days I'll show my rig, but it's all made from leftover foam core and matte board from framing. Two sheets of hinged matte board for a film carrier, with masking tape "guide rails" for ease of sliding into place. That's on top of a square foam core box, open on top and a cutout on one side, with several sheets of mylar drawing film as diffusers. Sunpak 544 in the cutout. Camera on a tripod with inverted head. Its working handily for MF.
Chris—interesting you mention that. I've had a lot of problems with shadow detail and grain with my LS-4000, especially with T-grain films. I've been assuming I still haven't gotten a good Vuescan workflow, but aliasing would explain some of my results. It's still far less tedious to batch scan with it, and go back and DSLR-scan something to enlarge.