digitising film

[Frank Fremerey]

I will see. Have to collect the FM-2 from customs office NOW or it will hibernate there for the weekend...

it is rainy. My wife has the car and the office is on the other side of town. 30 Minutes to the place ... 30 minutes
from the place ... and my intensties are really in party mode currently.

Another adventure of Superfrank on his Superbike going 40km/h

Irony is: I have been there yesterday and could have collected it if I had only known

snail mail came today...

[richardHaw]

I will see. Have to collect the FM-2 from customs office NOW or it will hibernate there for the weekend...

it is rainy. My wife has the car and the office is on the other side of town. 30 Minutes to the place ... 30 minutes
from the place ... and my intensties are really in party mode currently.

Another adventure of Superfrank on his Superbike going 40km/h

Irony is: I have been there yesterday and could have collected it if I had only known

snail mail came today...

Hello, Frank. I hope that you got the package safely. I am going to hunt for a used PS-4 in the junk shops

[Frank Fremerey]

Yep. Camera is there. Wonderful condition. Waiting for the diopter.

I guess I will use a tripod first. Nearly forgot how to shoot at 100 ISO and 400 ISO...

[the solitaire]

I just learned something new today. Kristina showed me a way that makes the use of the ES-1 slide copy attachment to create NEF's of color negatives a lot more user friendly. In particular the processing of the files to a usable color positive digital image.

I tried this method a few times and did a little write-up to explain the steps required.

processing of color negative NEF's (PDF)

[pluton]

I have read, but not yet tested myself, that switching LR/ACR to Process 2010 greatly helps in the color adjusting phase of the operation using curves.  Something about the hidden, pictorially-oriented processing in 2012 that the simpler, more primitive 2010 process does not have.

[Danulon]

I just learned something new today. Kristina showed me a way that makes the use of the ES-1 slide copy attachment to create NEF's of color negatives a lot more user friendly. In particular the processing of the files to a usable color positive digital image.

I tried this method a few times and did a little write-up to explain the steps required.

processing of color negative NEF's (PDF)

Thank you, 'Buddy'!
Actually I pondered for quite some time whether to purchase a scanner and the mentioned quality issues deterred me so far.


I'll look for the 55mm 3.5 Micro + PK-13 + ES-1.
Anything to consider with this choice of "hardware" components?


P.S. As an afterthought: Would the PK-13 + ES-1 combination work with the Zeiss 50 Makro Planar 2.0?

Cheers,
Günther

[Bjørn Rørslett]

You need to get the magnification as close to 1:1 as possible provided you are using an FX camera. For a DX camera, 1:2 will suffice. In the latter case, the slide film adapter might not provide enough working distance. Thus the FX approach is the easiest.

The pdf document contains sensible suggestions. However, I wondered why the TIF towards the end had to be 8-bit? Photoshop handles 16-bit files.

[Danulon]

You need to get the magnification as close to 1:1 as possible provided you are using an FX camera. For a DX camera, 1:2 will suffice. In the latter case, the slide film adapter might not provide enough working distance. Thus the FX approach is the easiest.

The pdf document contains sensible suggestions. However, I wondered why the TIF towards the end had to be 8-bit? Photoshop handles 16-bit files.

Thanks for the elaboration! Yes, only FX cams here, so it would have to be 1:1, the Zeiss unable to reach 1:1 without "help". Just wondering whether the PK-13 would be suitable for that lens.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The PK-13 adds 27.5 mm of extension thus a Micro-Nikkor 55 mm gets precisely to 1:1.

As your Zeiss is a shorter focal length, you should be able to reach 1:1 with ease.

[pluton]

I just tried the ES-1+ZF50Makro+PK-13 combo, utilizing a 67mm to 52mm step-down ring between the ZF 50 and the ES-1.  While the ZF 50/2 plus PK-13 works fine in normal use, apparently because of the deep nose cone of the 50/2 Makro, the ES-1 combo can't quite get to 1:1 on the slide, even with the sliding extension of the ES-1 fully collapsed.
 Quick hand-held test of the D800/PK-13/ZF50Makro/ES-1 and a 35mm Ektachrome, reproduced full frame, no cropping, then a shot of a ruler at the lens extension used for the slide, but with the ES-1 removed:

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The 'thin' lens equation assumes internodal space = 0. Obviously its  predictions will be inaccurate otherwise.

Can you add a PK-11a or PK-12 to the PK-13?.

[aerobat]

This is a very interesting thread. If I may ask a relaed question:

I've got an AF-S 60mm F/2.8 Micro on the D750 and would like to scan monochrome negatives.
What would be required as a Film Holder and Adapter to the lens?

I was also thinking of using a small light table instead of flash.

[the solitaire]

You need to get the magnification as close to 1:1 as possible provided you are using an FX camera. For a DX camera, 1:2 will suffice. In the latter case, the slide film adapter might not provide enough working distance. Thus the FX approach is the easiest.

The pdf document contains sensible suggestions. However, I wondered why the TIF towards the end had to be 8-bit? Photoshop handles 16-bit files.

Thank you for that advise. I was under the impression that Photoshop (still) handled imported files as 8 bit, which it did in the past. I'm still on Photoshop CS5, so the increased color depth might be an improvement in the newer versions of Photoshop (CS6 and CC). Either way, I added the note of caution because I noticed that as soon as I convert the file to a format Photoshop like sto deal with I lose a bit of the potential detail that could be raised from whites and blacks in a NEF file.

I'll look into the 8 bit vs. 16 bit thingy as soon as I digitize some more negatives. Have a stack here, so that should not take too long.

Pluton, the addition of a PK-11 should get you closer to 1:1 with that setup. Might be worth a try. I always try to leave a bit of the film frame visible to use that as reference to set the white balance, negating out the amber color ofthe carrier medium.

aerobat, the 60mm f2,8 AF-D micro Nikkor uses a 62mm filter thread. Just add a 62-52mm step down ring to mount the ES-1 as cheapest solution. Should run you around $30 for the ES-1 with step down ring.

With the ES-1 or bellows with slide reproduction unit you shouldn't have to worry too much about your light source. Since the negative does not move relative to the image sensor you will not experience motion blur even at long exposures. For the test shot I used 1/10th of a second at f5,6 (to minimize vignetting) and used the window as lightsource. The only criterium of interest is to keep the light temperature constant so your processing presets will need minimum tweaking between exposures. So really, any lightsource goes. 6000 Kelvin lightsources are easy to find and might be a good starting point.

[pluton]

Tried it with a PK-12 added to the PK-13, but the largest achievable size is identical with or without the added PK-12 lens extension.  So, I'm sticking with my theory of the front filter ring of the Zeiss 50/2 being too far from the lens to yield 1:1 with the ES-1.
What my D800/Zeiss 50/2+ES-1 setup would need, in order to get to 1:1 on the slide, is not more lens extension between the lens and the body, but less extension between the ES-1's slide stage and the front of the lens.  The 35mm color slide isn't close enough to the lens.  Unfortunately, the ES-1's telescoping body tubes are already collapsed as short as they can be.

I have...and recommend...and normally would use... a PB-4/PS-4 duping setup that works well, utilizing an Apo Rodagon D 75mm f/4.0 M1:1.

[charlie]

I was also thinking of using a small light table instead of flash.

Using a flash for film duping seems to me the best option because the short flash duration eliminates any potential motion blur of a longer exposure and in general has a tendency to make things look a little sharper. Depending on the light source in the light table there could also be a flicker effect at certain exposures as well. But sure, you can use a light table instead, just take care to eliminate any light/reflection on the top side of the slide. I've used white acrylic/plexiglass sheets with a flash underneath to dupe slides, which is essentially a light table.