Camera-Scan Basic Questions - Ask & Answer!

[analoged]

Well, I ended up with a V600 for $100 off craigslist! It was a much cheaper option to scan MF for me in the end. So for now a Minolta Dimage III for 35 and V600 for 120, all for less than $250 with Vuescan Pro which I purchased about 10 years ago. I will continue to follow this thread as well as others using this technique.

 

[madNbad]

A question for the crowd, where to set exposure when scanning? If I set the exposure at 0 EV which gives a nicely centered histogram and according to all rational knowledge should give me a good image to work with. When I import the image and invert it, it's greatly overexposed and takes some manipulation to give a properly exposed image. Lately, I've tried overexposing the negative during the capture to +1.7 or even +2.0 EV. When I import those images, after inverting they are almost spot on. I may move a slider a bit to adjust for overall brightness but not nearly the amount of changes from what would be considered properly exposed. The current setup is a Sony A7II with a 55 2.8 Micro-Nikkor Ai-S, copy stand, Skier Copybox II and the post processing is with RAW Power.
The film is TMax 100 developed in Rollei R09, the capture exposure was f8 at 1/25 ISO 100. This image is straight from the camera with inversion as the only change:

Flying Feet

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

... where to set exposure when scanning? If I set the exposure at 0 EV which gives a nicely centered histogram and according to all rational knowledge should give me a good image to work with. When I import the image and invert it, it's greatly overexposed ...

I'm different. Camera-scan of color negatives, I am looking for ETTR that doesn't clip in RAW. Examining files with RAW Digger, I find +0.5EV gets green close, other channels safe. That's my usual exposure.

I will often adjust the "Exposure" slider in LR to center the histogram before converting.

With conversion in NLP, I do not have the "overexposed" result you mention.

 

[webOSUser]

Best Way to Invert Black and White Camera Scans?

Best Way to Invert Black and White Camera Scans?

Most of the film scanning that I do is 35mm and 120 black and white. Color is scanned by the lab.

I want to switch from V600 scanning to camera scanning. The one thing that I haven't figured out is how to invert the NEF images taken by my D750.

I have seen people writing about inverting in Lightroom, Photoshop, and Negative Lab Pro.

Is there any agreement which is the best way to invert black and white?

Thanks.

 

[madNbad]

Most of the film scanning that I do is 35mm and 120 black and white. Color is scanned by the lab.

I want to switch from V600 scanning to camera scanning. The one thing that I haven't figured out is how to invert the NEF images taken by my D750.

I have seen people writing about inverting in Lightroom, Photoshop, and Negative Lab Pro.

Is there any agreement which is the best way to invert black and white?

Thanks.

Just like any other photographic tool, how much are you willing to spend? If you look through the various camera scanning threads you will see that since the introduction of the Negative Lab Pro plug in for Lightroom those users have noted a much faster workflow and better quality scans due in large part to software design specifically for converting negatives. It comes at a price. Lightroom is about ten US dollars a month for subscription and the NLP plug in is another hundred. If you shoot a lot of film, have a large backlog of negatives to digitize or have clients paying for your film work, then it's worth it. Nothing is faster to use or produces better camera scans.
Both Lightroom and Photoshop will give good results but with more work. If you have either there are plenty of tutorials out there for assistance.
On to the others like myself. I expose three or four rolls of B&W a month on average. I can't justify the cost of Lightroom and have tried a lot of the freeware. Darktable, GIMP and a couple of others. As a long time Apple user Im using RAW Power from Gentlemen Coders. They were the group Apple used for Aperture before discontinuing in in favor of Photos. I paid about forty dollars for the stand alone version but mostly it's used as a Photos plug in and offers plenty of options. I like it because it's non-destructive, has a Invert and B&W setting in the menu.
If you are using the Nikon software, Richard Haw has a tutorial from a few years ago. Here's the link:https://richardhaw.com/2017/10/13/negative-digitization-with-a-nikon-dslr/
There is no definitive answer. Find what works for you and practice.

 

[webOSUser]

Just like any other photographic tool, how much are you willing to spend? If you look through the various camera scanning threads you will see that since the introduction of the Negative Lab Pro plug in for Lightroom those users have noted a much faster workflow and better quality scans due in large part to software design specifically for converting negatives. It comes at a price. Lightroom is about ten US dollars a month for subscription and the NLP plug in is another hundred. If you shoot a lot of film, have a large backlog of negatives to digitize or have clients paying for your film work, then it's worth it. Nothing is faster to use or produces better camera scans.
Both Lightroom and Photoshop will give good results but with more work. If you have either there are plenty of tutorials out there for assistance.
On to the others like myself. I expose three or four rolls of B&W a month on average. I can't justify the cost of Lightroom and have tried a lot of the freeware. Darktable, GIMP and a couple of others. As a long time Apple user Im using RAW Power from Gentlemen Coders. They were the group Apple used for Aperture before discontinuing in in favor of Photos. I paid about forty dollars for the stand alone version but mostly it's used as a Photos plug in and offers plenty of options. I like it because it's non-destructive, has a Invert and B&W setting in the menu.
If you are using the Nikon software, Richard Haw has a tutorial from a few years ago. Here's the link:https://richardhaw.com/2017/10/13/negative-digitization-with-a-nikon-dslr/
There is no definitive answer. Find what works for you and practice.

I've tried NegativeLabPro and will go that route. I tried inverting using PhotoShop and it did not work well for me. With NLP everything stays in LightRoom and just takes a few clicks. Saves a lot of time.



Thank you for reply and information.



Steve W

 

[joe bosak]

Camera-Scan Basic Questions - Ask & Answer!

*post deleted - solved my own problem *

 

[Doddle]

I used to use a D600 on an old eastern European copy stand with the 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor until the stand fell apart.

That lens is one that I've had somewhat of an obsession with, I've owned every version right up to AI. The silver-nosed ones are the best for close focus work, the later ones were all optimized as a sort of 'hybrid do-it-all' lens rather than pure macro work.


Another sleeper 50mm macro is the Macro-Takumar early preset version, it does 1:1 natively. It has better contrast than the Nikkor, corners and sharpness are about the same.. but no need for tubes is a big plus and it can be had cheap because it doesn't really have a following. (55 nikkors are climbing in price now.)


Right now I don't own a digital camera at all and I'm thinking about getting an A6000 or FF (A7ii?) this black friday. Judging on what they went for last year, they're just above current selling prices on eBay so you might as well buy one new.
The stand is the tricky part, I don't have a lot of space to work with so a BEOON looks like a great option. Kaiser does make a fold down stand with a 60cm arm, which I hope would be long enough.

For those looking for a holder, there is another contender out there since 2020 - the essential film holder. From what I've seen in reviews this may be the best solution for under $100. I've got one on the way already. Lights is another factor you can totally geek out on. If you talk to experts, nothing in LED beats a good tungsten bulb setup but this requires space and custom hardware to deal with heat output etc. A good 'nuff small LED panel would be the Aputure Almaran AL-MX.


I'lll post my findings back here in the coming months, as I slowly get the gear together.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Right now I don't own a digital camera at all and I'm thinking about getting an A6000 or FF (A7ii?) this black friday. Judging on what they went for last year, they're just above current selling prices on eBay so you might as well buy one new.

... snip ...

For those looking for a holder, there is another contender out there since 2020 - the essential film holder. From what I've seen in reviews this may be the best solution for under $100. I've got one on the way already. Lights is another factor you can totally geek out on. If you talk to experts, nothing in LED beats a good tungsten bulb setup but this requires space and custom hardware to deal with heat output etc. A good 'nuff small LED panel would be the Aputure Almaran AL-MX.

Thanks, good comments. I'll add:

I'm very happy with the Sony bodies for camera-scan. A6000 may be a sweet spot for camera-scanning: nice price these days, you don't need to go to 1x so less demanding of the lens, Focus Magnification and Focus Peaking work very well for focusing, adapters readily available. Works well with the 55 f/3.5 Micro Nikkor.

And... With good macro lens at 1x, stitch for more pixels.

For lights, I find no problem with LED's, I've tried a number of small LED video lights. Set to daylight, works great, and reasonably fast exposures. Essential Film Holder is very good. Skier Copy Box is a light & holders in one package.

Good luck with your cam-scanning. Let us know what you learn.

 

[keytarjunkie]

Can someone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? I am getting significant color shifts on many, but not all, of my images. I'm pretty sure this is an artifact of the light source. Could it be anything else?

Camera: Sony A7RII (mechanical shutter on)
Lens: Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 from the mid 60s and M2 extension
Light: Kaiser Slimlight Plano small
Holder: Kaiser FilmCopy Vario

I just got the holder, and previously I was just holding the negatives against the lightbox. There were some color shifts, but not nearly as bad. I thought the holder would reduce this problem but instead it's seemed to exaggerate it 😱

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Can someone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? I am getting significant color shifts on many, but not all, of my images.

This looks like non-image light reaching the lens and sensor.

Kaiser Slimlight Plano... You're probably shooting at ~1/3 sec. Most likely room light, reflecting off the negative. Try darkening the room completely.

If that's it, then either use a brighter light source or rig a huge hood.

 

[keytarjunkie]

This looks like non-image light reaching the lens and sensor.

Kaiser Slimlight Plano... You're probably shooting at ~1/3 sec. Most likely room light, reflecting off the negative. Try darkening the room completely.

If that's it, then either use a brighter light source or rig a huge hood.

Ah yeah, you might be right there. I have a pretty slow shutter speed and I didn't think about external light. I will try it again in the dark!

 

[titrisol]

Stray light from the room or environment is your enemy.
You can also make a cardboard tube or pyramid to isolate the space between negative and lens.

 

[Doddle]

My advice to anyone looking for a BEOON is, get an incomplete one and just source the tubes/holders on eBay.. you'll save yourself 300-400 bucks. Mine was basically free as it came with absolutely nothing included in a Leica parts bin.


I just put it together tonight and I'm getting a bit under 1:1 with a EL-Nikkor 50/2.8 but its close enough, 20mp on my 24mp crop Sony I reckon.

I'm happy that it works well with the Essential Film Holder, I also have a Negatrans but that doesn't seem to hold film quite as flat.