K3 for scanning B&W film

I started "scanning" my B&W negatives last year with my K200D instead of my Epson V500 as I found it produced much higher resolution scans. Now I've got a K3 and it's even better for this purpose - the far superior AF makes things easier but the biggest difference is the K3's user modes. I set up the U3 mode to shoot in M mode at ISO 100, RAW, with a negative image in B&W. This way the jpeg straight from the camera gives me a much better idea of how the photo will come out. Especially with exposure as judging correct exposure by seeing a negative image is tough.

With a little cropping or more careful framing I could even use the straight-out-of-camera jpegs. It's a great step forward for using a DSLR for this purpose.

Here are my first few results - I used Agfa APX 100 film in a P30N while I was on holiday in Germany last summer.


IMGP0881a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr


IMGP0885a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr


IMGP0884a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr


IMGP0887a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr


IMGP0893a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr

Great results.

Have you by any chance tried this with colour negs and/or slides?

Thanks.

Colour slides should be easy, though I don't have any to try. Colour negative is hard because of the extra orange layer, this means that the colours are way off when you invert them. I've tried to compensate for this both in-camera and with software but I've never been successful. I still use my V500 for colour.

This is interesting, I like the quality you have achieved. I've got hundreds, thousands even, colour slides languishing in drawers. What's the set up you use, do you use a slide/negative copier attached to the camera?
David
PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

There are some good tutorials on Youtube.

This one's very good, mainly because it shows you how to use an extension tube on a Pentax bellows to get over the crop sensor problem.
i.e. the bellows are made for FF copying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh8vJCvsZtY&list=TLMR76YN0Pw3Y

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I use the DA 35mm macro for these. I'd take a lot longer with extension tubes and a manual lens.

The strip of negative goes into a Lomo Digitaliza to keep it (fairly) flat, that goes into a shoe-box I cut up to hold the digitaliza. Camera goes on one side on a tripod and on the other are several layers of translucent plastic to diffuse the light from the flash on the other side. The flash is triggered wirelessly with a cheap transmitter. That setup allows me to use ISO 100, 1/160s and f/11ish.

Here are a couple more from the same roll.


IMGP0921a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr


IMGP0919a by Jonathan_in_Madrid, on Flickr

Copying colour negative film with a digital camera is easy. First of all take shot that includes the unexposed orange film base. In your photo software adjust the white balance so that the orange base shows as white.
Then simply apply the same setting for each negative copied and once turned into positives the colours will come out correctly. This correction will vary for different makes of film. For maximum effect I find this works best if you shoot the copies in raw.

Did you flip the colors in RAW processing or is it possible to set up in camera? Just wondering.
I've seen that option in RAW develop settings in camera but not as a shooting setting.

Got rid of all my slides and projector so have that much space to fill. Kept the screen as this is sometimes borrowed by thelocal W.I.

The K3 allows the colours to be flipped but only in jpeg, the RAW remains the same, as RAW always does.

I am using K3 for film "scanning" as well, and with good results too!

Here's my "homemade" setup:



Film is backlit by my mobile phone!

Takes me 'bout 10 mins to setup everything and ca. 20 to "scan" a 36-exposures roll. Then I move to my puter and use LR to invert tonalities and cut. That's all.

Works well with B&W and colour films too. Havent tried with slides.

Couple of examples, scanned by K3 + Tamron 90.

B&W also developed in house:


Pointing towards the Cathedral by ۞ Marco ۞, en Flickr


Plaza de Santo Domingo by ۞ Marco ۞, en Flickr

And colour too:


Basílica del Pilar by ۞ Marco ۞, en Flickr

These are very nice indeed but I wonder whether it might be just as effective to convert the K3's files using Photoshop, sort of cutting out the middle-man.

Very nice results. Care to share how you process the colour shots to get the colour right?

I did a thread on this recently:
www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/converting-35mm-slides-54306
I tried using the computer monitor for back-light but the pixels were too obvious, the light tablet I bought is much better