Scanning with a digital camera

Couple of things to note.. if you are scanning 35mm using the ES-2 (which I recommend), you can do it anytime of the day . If you are scanning 120, you have to do it in a dim room so that you do not get stray light reflections on the film. You want the only source of light to be from the light pad.
 
Thanks, Huss. My room can get really dark even in the middle of the day so my 120 scanning shouldn't be too big of an issue. I arranged a return of my XAs with Amazon which will cover the cost of just about everything I need. I'm picking up the 60mm f2.8d, ES-2, light source all as per your recommendation. I'm picking up the Lomo 120 holder as well which should be cool. I'm so excited to get it all!
 
Slide film is awesome cuz you can just toss it onto a light pad and gaze at it lovingly...

Fuji TX-2, 45mm lens, Kodak E100, fingers by moi, iphone 'scan', film still in its plastic wrapper.

 
Massive thank you to Huss for helping me get started with camera scanning! Here's some of my first results. Scanned with a Nikon D750 and 60mm f2.8d







48407764222_73e69f2bea_z.jpg
 
Huss, you've mentioned the issues you've had with The Darkroom in California.... I think I'll join you in avoiding them. Two rolls of E-6 Provia 100 processed or scanned very badly.

Just one example: Out of twelve exposures, eleven of them were badly out of focus. Somehow, the twelfth one was absolutely sharp, but scanned to a different size than the others. What is up with that? Besides that, most shots on the roll were peppered with dust.

So on a whim I scanned it with my DSLR.... MUCH sharper now! This was from my Komaflex, by the way. A quickie DSLR scan.



A5mk99.jpg
 
Intriguing information.

With the recent death of a beautiful lady who was very important to my life forty years ago, I've been digging through old film and slides for photos of her. In the process I kept coming upon images of various people and subjects I had forgotten about over the years--B&W negatives, color slides, 35mm, 6x4.5, 6x6 and 4x5. Some very good photography, some very important memories for me. Getting these images digitized has become a priority for me with the ultimate purpose of making prints size 6x9 inches to 12x18 inches.

I have a Plustek scanner on order but the methods described here are appealing, especially since they can be used for the various formats I've used and the Plustek is only for 35mm.

In putting together a camera scanner (or "digitizer" if that's a better term) what do you think about this arrangement? A Nikon D800 camera body, Micro Nikkor 60mm 2.8G ED lens and the Nikon ES-2 for 35mm negatives and slides. Same camera and lens combination and a color balanced lightbox with homemade masks for various formats over 35mm. Everything attached to a sturdy Gitzo Studex tripod.

I would then use Lightroom 6 for converting and post processing.

I have some of this on hand, other items will need to be purchased (used).

Does this sound like an acceptable setup?
 
Dogman said:
Intriguing information.

With the recent death of a beautiful lady who was very important to my life forty years ago, I've been digging through old film and slides for photos of her. In the process I kept coming upon images of various people and subjects I had forgotten about over the years--B&W negatives, color slides, 35mm, 6x4.5, 6x6 and 4x5. Some very good photography, some very important memories for me. Getting these images digitized has become a priority for me with the ultimate purpose of making prints size 6x9 inches to 12x18 inches.

I have a Plustek scanner on order but the methods described here are appealing, especially since they can be used for the various formats I've used and the Plustek is only for 35mm.

In putting together a camera scanner (or "digitizer" if that's a better term) what do you think about this arrangement? A Nikon D800 camera body, Micro Nikkor 60mm 2.8G ED lens and the Nikon ES-2 for 35mm negatives and slides. Same camera and lens combination and a color balanced lightbox with homemade masks for various formats over 35mm. Everything attached to a sturdy Gitzo Studex tripod.

I would then use Lightroom 6 for converting and post processing.

I have some of this on hand, other items will need to be purchased (used).

Does this sound like an acceptable setup?
Click to expand...


The majority of what you are going to use is perfect. The threads above this one on this page have detailed what else you need. A $20 lightpad from Amazon. A $150 copy stand from ebay (much better than a tripod). negativelabpro.com plug in to convert your images using LR.
 
css9450 said:
Huss, you've mentioned the issues you've had with The Darkroom in California.... I think I'll join you in avoiding them. Two rolls of E-6 Provia 100 processed or scanned very badly.

Just one example: Out of twelve exposures, eleven of them were badly out of focus. Somehow, the twelfth one was absolutely sharp, but scanned to a different size than the others. What is up with that? Besides that, most shots on the roll were peppered with dust.

So on a whim I scanned it with my DSLR.... MUCH sharper now! This was from my Komaflex, by the way. A quickie DSLR scan.



A5mk99.jpg
Click to expand...

Excellent tesult! Yes The Darkroom is awful.
 
Dogman said:
In putting together a camera scanner (or "digitizer" if that's a better term) what do you think about this arrangement? A Nikon D800 camera body, Micro Nikkor 60mm 2.8G ED lens and the Nikon ES-2 for 35mm negatives and slides. Same camera and lens combination and a color balanced lightbox with homemade masks for various formats over 35mm. Everything attached to a sturdy Gitzo Studex tripod.

I would then use Lightroom 6 for converting and post processing.
Click to expand...

Backlight:

Inexpensive light pads have low enough quality of light to compromise things when shooting color negatives. Kaiser panel is good quality light, but you'll be shooting at 1/4sec.

Brighter lights of excellent light quality: Solux 4700°K MR-16 bulb, SORAA 4K Vivid MR-16 bulb. Most movie lights probably pretty good. Search for CN-T96 on eBay or elsewhere for a bargain with excellent light quality.

Software: Negative Lab Pro if you are doing color negatives and OK to work in Lightroom.
 
Huss said:
Noblex 135 Sport, Kodak ProImage 100, Z7 scan, negativelabpro.com

Click to expand...

Huss, is that a single frame capture using the Z7's native aspect ratio, cropped down in post? Or multiple image stitch in post? I'm sure the Z7 has plenty of resolution for cropping, just curious how you handle digitizing panoramic film formats.

I'm using an old 12 megapixel APS-C digital camera for my scans. Since 12MP isn't particularly high resolution, I've been filling the frame as much as possible for panoramic film formats, and then stitching multiple frames in post.
 
It's just a single shot of the image, then I cropped out the top and bottom that was dead space.
It's why I use a Z7 to scan, 47mp comes in real handy for stuff like this.
 
Huss said:
It's just a single shot of the image, then I cropped out the top and bottom that was dead space.
It's why I use a Z7 to scan, 47mp comes in real handy for stuff like this.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Huss. I've been tempted to upgrade to a higher resolution digital camera, but since I use film 99% of the time, I can't really justify the cost for myself. As it is, my digital camera only gets used for digitizing film.
 
Huss & Col. Moran, thanks for the input.

I don't have many color negatives. From the beginning I shot almost all 35mm slides and transparencies for medium and large format. I guess I could probably do without the software. Also I already have a Bretford portable lightbox that I used for sorting and editing slides and negatives although it might need new tubes. But it might also be a bit scratched up from use...I'll check it before using it.

Come to think of it, I think I still have the copy arm for the old Leitz Valoy enlarger up in my attic. I may have everything I need.

The scanner I ordered is supposed to come today but I think I'll return it and go this route.

Thanks, guys.
 
Dogman said:
I guess I could probably do without the software.
Click to expand...

I cannot emphasize enough how key negativelabpro.com is IF if you are processing colour negative film. Before I used it, I had create my own profiles in LR etc and still I had to keep fiddling to get 'ok' results.
nlp has changed this to a 2 click process that gives fantastic colour. It is the single most important tool in processing colour negative film.

Either way, they have a free trial that lets you use it for 10 images.
 
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