Scanning with a digital camera

[f16sunshine]

That's a really sweet image Huss.
All three of you will enjoy having that one for years to come 🙂

I would love to know more about your technique.
Which focal length, stitching etc....?
Currently I'm doing the deep dive with the Rolleiflex (again).
Other than occasionally lacking inspiration, Scanning seems to be the weak link in my "workflow".
Maybe Scanning with the A7 is the solution ?

Cheers!

 

[Huss]

@Huss, that's great. Good skin, good sat color. How much manual effort to get the color right?

Thank you!

I first created a profile a while back using the eye drop tool in LR in the orange cast to set white balance, adjusted tone curves etc. Saved it for future use (such as w/ this image). That gets me in the ball park.
I apply the profile to the image, export it to NikFx Colour Pro and essentially use two filters there - pro contrast and colour balance (I think it's called that).
Then save and re-edit in LR. Now everything is zeroed (so essentially you can start fresh) and moves the correct way as you are no longer dealing with the negative but the positive. Here I add final tweaks, the way you would do with any image in LR.
The whole editing shebang takes a couple of minutes. Pretty much the same as if I was playing with a pure digital image.

I really really want to try the film inversion mode on the D850, just to see what it does. This is just a software feature so it seems that any mfg can add something like this to their cameras, even as a firmware update.

 

[Huss]

That's a really sweet image Huss.
All three of you will enjoy having that one for years to come 🙂

I would love to know more about your technique.
Which focal length, stitching etc....?
Currently I'm doing the deep dive with the Rolleiflex (again).
Other than occasionally lacking inspiration, Scanning seems to be the weak link in my "workflow".
Maybe Scanning with the A7 is the solution ?

Cheers!

Thanks!
It was shot with a Rolleiflex 3.5 EVS, so 75/80mm lens? (I forget what the focal length is, on the 2.8 it is 80).
Pro 160 film, waaay expired (2000). Exposed at 1/125 f11 which is what I do at this light value even if this was fresh film.
No stiching, not sure why that would be necessary? Just the negative scanned with the D750. I use a cheap copy stand for mf, and an led light pad with a negative film holder from an enlarger. I think this was covered at the beginning of this thread.
The A7 has the same resolution as the D750, so should work just as well.

Here's the thing, you already have the A7 so why not use it?

 

[f16sunshine]

Thanks

It’s the scanning technique I’m curious about.
Which focal length do you use for 6x6 on the d750.

It seems like there is more than one way to capture the images when scanning film with a digital camera.
I’m still gathering methods before trying some.
Will look at the earlier posts.....Arriving in the thread late. 😱

 

[Huss]

I use the same lens as for 'scanning' 35mm - my Micro Nikkor 60 2.8 AF-S.
Attach it to the copy stand, adjust the height so, while viewing in LiveView, the image fills the frame as much as possible. I've put pencil marks on the copy stand neck to show the settings for 6x6/6x9 and 6x4.5.
This camera/lens combo AFs in Live View, which makes things much quicker than manual focusing. I highly recommend using AF if possible.

 

[f16sunshine]

Alright!
I'm going to convert one of my old Bessler 67's to a copy stand.
There are not any AF lenses in my Sony or Canon kits but I do have a Zeiss Macro Planar 60mm.... should do the job.
I'm Scanning B+W so we'll see how that goes as far as focusing manually.
Thanks again

 

[Huss]

There are not any AF lenses in my Sony or Canon kits but I do have a Zeiss Macro Planar 60mm.... should do the job.
I'm Scanning B+W so we'll see how that goes as far as focusing manually.
Thanks again

It'll work fine. I actually started by focusing manually in LiveView, before I realized that the lens could AF in LiveView! (I hardly ever used that camera).

 

[Ronald M]

I found it difficult to focus the negative accurately, and now use a dedicated scanner.

Use live view and magnify.

A macro lens made for close work will make a sharper image in close range
and have a flatter field than lenses made for distance.

 

[css9450]

Leica CL/Jupiter-8 50mm + Ilford Delta 100 + Nikon D7000/Micro-Nikkor 60mm/f2.8 AF.

 

[Huss]

Leica M7, 7Artisans 50 1.1, Fuji C200

D750 Scan.
BunnyZPedroBellS-1 by desmolicious, on Flickr

 

[edge100]

Use live view and magnify.

A macro lens made for close work will make a sharper image in close range
and have a flatter field than lenses made for distance.

Or simply use an autofocus macro.

 

[Huss]

Or simply use an autofocus macro.

I found that with my D750, the AF was only accurate in LiveView when taking pics of the film.

 

[edge100]

I found that with my D750, the AF was only accurate in LiveView when taking pics of the film.

What else would you be taking pics of, besides the film?

 

[Huss]

What else would you be taking pics of, besides the film?

Sometimes I actually use it for its intended purpose. To take pics of stuff that is not a flat film like surface at 1:1 reproduction rate.
Not often, but sometimes.

😉

 

[DrMcCoy]

Rolleiflex MX 3.5 EVS, Fuji NPS 160 Pro.
D750 scan.
LeoZs-1 by desmolicious, on Flickr

That Boyle Heights shirt is badass and the processing is great.

What's your light source?
What're you using to hold the film?
Finally, is this a composite or a single shot?

 

[Huss]

That Boyle Heights shirt is badass and the processing is great.

What's your light source?
What're you using to hold the film?
Finally, is this a composite or a single shot?

1. Low setting sun.
b. An old film holder from a Besseler enlarger that I placed on my Logan led light pad
iii. Single shot - they are holding the umbrella, looking into the sun.

 

[DrMcCoy]

1. Low setting sun.
b. An old film holder from a Besseler enlarger that I placed on my Logan led light pad
iii. Single shot - they are holding the umbrella, looking into the sun.

To clarify, I meant the source for the scan (you ended up answering that) - and, since it's medium format, if you took multiple shots of the neg and then stitched together a composite from that.

 

[Huss]

Ahh I see. No, just one shot of the negative filling the frame as much as I could. Obviously as the image was square, I had some unused real estate on either side of it on my cameras's sensor. Doing this the image was about 4000 by 4000 pixels.

 

[f16sunshine]

This thread is contributing to someones retirement.
The BEOON I put a bid on landed at $560 😱

 

[mcfingon]

I use an old enlarger as a copy stand. Cost near zero.