Scanning film - the DSLR way!

I went this route when I wanted digital files of my Kodachrome images. It actually worked very well for me.

Used a Canon 1D Mark IV with a Canon 100mm macro lens (1:1) on a tripod. It was all pretty ghetto other than that -- taped my slide to a window on an overcast day, with a white wall in the background.

Once I got my colour balance and settings tweaked (slightly lower contrast in the menu files, for starters) and exposure worked out (easy with the camera's built in histograms)....I started shooting.

The files needed very little work in Photoshop -- just bringing the sliders to highlight and shadow on the Histogram and minor colour correction, plus a slight Unsharp Mask...easy peasy.
 
i have a light table, i found that the Canon 100mm F2.8 L Macro lens on a 5D Mk II I had when at the right height above the negative shooting the negative while on the light table yielded better / sharper results than the V700.
 
JSU said:
I did an A : B comparison of a neg duped with a D700 with a Nikon bellows and a 50/2.8 Micro Nikkor (@ f-8.0) with the Nikon slide copying attachment shooting on a tripod into a north facing window into a blank sky with and without a piece of waxed paper over the window. With the Micro Nikkor and the Bellows a 1:1 dupe (no crop) was possible. This compared to a scan done with my CoolScan V.

No matter what, I could not get the quality from the slide copier that I got with the scanner.

Anyone want to buy a really clean Nikon bellows and slide duplicating rig?
Click to expand...

I bet that nikon bellows rig will be working long after your coolscan has gone tits up. If nikon were still making scanners people wouldn't be looking for alternatives.
 
I had a problem using the PB-6 and my D70 (beyond just the unwanted cropping). I copied the Tri-X frames emulsion side toward the camera but only a few were good enough for just uploading to the gallery here on RFF. None were good enough to produce a satisfying print However, I went and bought a V700. When I think of it, we have more than 20,000 frames on color and B&W in the files that will not likely ever be digitized. With less and less interest in film as time goes on, I wonder whether scanning technology will advance much more that today.

David
 
I was going to do a test with my digital MF, but then i discovered that not many people have this option, so i ignored to do it.
 
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