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Transparency copying with DSLR(positives and negatives)

Taliety
Posted 11/12/2006 - 13:31 Link
I do have Nikon Coolscan IV, but find it quite slow to use. I guess a faster PC, which will have to wait till next year) may speed it a little, but most of the time is in the scanning, especially if using the ICE option (I suppose this is also processor bound).

Before I got the film scanner, I did try copying my slides onto print film, but found the contrast was generally too high, and I either lost the shadows or the highlights.

I do still have a slide copier (Ohnar or Jessops, can't remember). : Has anybody tried using a digital camera for this? : Especially as I have a K10D on order, thought it might be faster to try it this way. The other problem will be removing the negative orange colour cast, can't recall if there is a standard filter for this in PhotoShop (Elements).
Cheers

Malcolm

Life? Don't talk to me about life!
Mongoose
Posted 11/12/2006 - 13:53 Link
I am also very interested in this since my Dad and I have recently started using an old 120 roll camera for astro photography, but my film scanner is 35mm only.

I would have thought you could remove the colour cast using White Balance, though I havn't tried it. Try shooting in RAW and adjusting the WB before you convert to JPEG/TIFF for editing.
johnriley
Posted 11/12/2006 - 15:54 Link
I've copied lots of slides and negatives using a digital SLR and very good results can be obtained. But it isn't quick. You need a good, evenly illuminated lightbox. A totally dark room to avoid reflections. Every slide etc should be firmly fixed down to be flat. The rest of the lightbox should be blacked out to prevent flare. The camera must be tripod mounted and absolutely parallel to the slide. The focusing must be perfect.

After that, just use a white balance appropriate to the light source (lightbox) and use Photoshop to correct the negatives.

Probably as easy if not easier to use the slide/neg scanner.
Best regards, John
Taliety
Posted 11/12/2006 - 16:02 Link
Mmm.. Just a thought.

The scanner also removes the dust and scratches, given sufficient time.

I did find the copier was quite quick, once set up. I've never really examined the quality, though. It's certainly good enough for a 6"x 5" print.
Cheers

Malcolm

Life? Don't talk to me about life!
Arthur Dent
Posted 13/12/2006 - 11:01 Link
The side copier method is quick and dirty; it works if you need fast results. I sold off my slide copier on ebay, now I use a scanner.

But if you don't have the $750USD for the Epson V750, the slide copier method is pretty useful.
42 Comment Image
fatspider
Posted 13/12/2006 - 22:57 Link
Errr?

I tried copying slides with my 35mm Ohnar and my istD, I couldnt get all the slide in because of the increase in focal length!
My Names Alan, and I'm a lensaholic.
My PPG link
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LiamD
Posted 13/12/2006 - 23:42 Link
Hi Spider,

50mm (SMC-M 1:2) + 2x converter gets the correct coverage with my DL.
An example..

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A bit of work, but I ran 200+ slides in a morning, including levels, sharpening etc., shot RAW and converted afterwards. Taken using a home-made lightbox.. I'll show how to build one in my next "handy hint".. 'cos I needed a subject, and now I have one. (30year old slide, taken by someone else, and I'm not not the model.. I hasten to add.. )

Cheers

Liam
Liam


"Make your hands respond to what your mind demands." Jesse James

Best wide-angle lens? Two steps backward. Look for the 'ah-ha'. Ernst Haas
Kim C
Posted 15/12/2006 - 09:53 Link
Before the days of digital and I was still in my youth, I tried several of the slide copiers to duplicate slides and the results were all generally poor. However, I could get very reasonable copies using a bellows setup ideally with a macro lens but still OK with a standard 50. (the 1.7s are better than the 1.4s due to flat field performance). this would also get round the problem of the crop factor.

Kim
Don
Posted 08/04/2007 - 22:29 Link
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
pierovitch
Posted 09/04/2007 - 01:33 Link
I have used a macro setup for old kodachromes and black and white negatives, the limiting factor is the quality of the macro setup. Quality macro or enlarging lenses give great results using an bright even light source and a stable macro stand. I have also have used epson and nikon scanning for comparison. The noise in the shadows and visible grain is far less with a digital SLR if the light is bright and lowers the exposure to levels where chip noise is not a problem. RAW seems to allow enough dynamic range for most slides and negatives althogh it needs a lot of work in curves on photoshop. Two exposures can be used to do extended dynamic range processing in photoshop if more is needed for over processed B+W negatives. After all that an epson flatbed will be cheaper faster and easier to use.

Cheers Pierre

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