Quick bridge method

[Thomas V]

Still without a suitable scanner but wanting to share my various film photos I'll try taking a digital pic with my iPhone at a projected enlargement. I estimate I'll have 8-10 deg. off perfect square, but with the help of my Lightroom/PhotoShop package all will good.

 

[JBPhotog]

Do you own a digital camera? That could work as your scanner using your neg holders to hold them relatively flat, back light them with a flash and use the digital file for means of sharing.

 

[Thomas V]

Do you own a digital camera? That could work as your scanner using your neg holders to hold them relatively flat, back light them with a flash and use the digital file for means of sharing.

My initial try was with my iPhone because it was quick to see if I could be happy with results I get. They were fine for casual sharing but next time my Nikon D3500 will be the tool with my tripod attached. This really is my first time blending the digital/film medias together. A newbie lol.

 

[JBPhotog]

Give it a go, many are doing it this way in favour of a dedicated scanner, myself included.

 

[Thomas V]

Thank you JBPhotog for the tips and inspiration to give this a second run!

The nitty gritty-

Nikon F5
Tamron SP 24-135mm zoom
Ilford HP5 400 B&W
Saunders/LPL enlarger
Nikon D3500 equipped with a Nikon zoom
Manfrotto 3030 tripod
Lightroom digital processing

About a 15 minute digital section this morning brought me this beauty!

 

[JBPhotog]

Thank you JBPhotog for the tips and inspiration to give this a second run!

The nitty gritty-

Nikon F5
Tamron SP 24-135mm zoom
Ilford HP5 400 B&W
Saunders/LPL enlarger
Nikon D3500 equipped with a Nikon zoom
Manfrotto 3030 tripod
Lightroom digital processing

About a 15 minute digital section this morning brought me this beauty!

That is one way but if you have a micro/macro lens, actually shooting the negative rather than a projected image on your easel will give you better results.

Clamp your neg holder with a light behind the negative and shoot the neg with your camera. Square everything up so you don't have to skew it in post. There are plenty of camera scanning setup options on the Google.

 

[JoolsW]

Agree, it's well worth setting up to use your digital camera to scan negs and trannies.
My D90, using macro zoom plus close up tube does the trick well. My A4 light panel is excellent and was very cheap.
I made the camera holder, by adapting an old enlarger-type stand.
It's encouraged me not only to digitise lots of old film/neg stuff, but also to shoot new film, because now I don't have to pay for scanning.

 

[Thomas V]

Yes, you two are exactly right. Although not a true macro lens, I have toyed with the idea of using the lens flipped around. When buying cameras on auction it was normally a group of various lenses with one or two being what I really wanted. The remaining lenses went to my odd's and end's box. There was three in the group that have potential.

 

[JBPhotog]

The benefit of a dedicated micro/macro lens is its flat field focusing. A normal lens will have a focusing plane that is curved meaning if you focus using the centre of the lens, the edges will be OOF. Used ones can be picked up for a bit of cash and the money you would save on scanning would pay for it quite quickly.

 

[Thomas V]

I know now what's on my birthday wish list. A dependable flat focus plain.

 

[davev]

When I did this with my dad's 2 ¼ x2 ¼ slides, I used a light panel/box, a cardboard box, and the camera on a tripod.
My light board, if I laid the slides right on it, had banding. By placing a card board box over it, with a hole cut in to let
the light shine onto the slide, the foot or so space between the light board and the hole would defuse the light, so
banding was no longer a problem.
I used a Sony a7III with a Canon 50mm f2.8 macro lens.
On the box, I taped a couple of stops so swapping slides was a piece a cake.
I think I took something like 550 photos in about 3 hours.
Of course then the processing had to happen.

The processing wasn't all that tough, for the most part.
I'd press the auto button in camera raw, and then a little bit of moving sliders.
Once in photoshop, I had a ton of dust to remove from the photos.
If you do this, have a puffer, or a can of air to clean you slides/negatives.
It will save you a bunch of time later on.
Of all those shots, I only processed around 35 of them, but I do have them all on digital now.
I wish I would have taken a photo of the lay out, but I didn't.

A pre processed and post processed photo.

 

[JBPhotog]

When I did this with my dad's 2 ¼ x2 ¼ slides, I used a light panel/box, a cardboard box, and the camera on a tripod.
My light board, if I laid the slides right on it, had banding. By placing a card board box over it, with a hole cut in to let
the light shine onto the slide, the foot or so space between the light board and the hole would defuse the light, so
banding was no longer a problem.
I used a Sony a7III with a Canon 50mm f2.8 macro lens.
On the box, I taped a couple of stops so swapping slides was a piece a cake.
I think I took something like 550 photos in about 3 hours.
Of course then the processing had to happen.

The processing wasn't all that tough, for the most part.
I'd press the auto button in camera raw, and then a little bit of moving sliders.
Once in photoshop, I had a ton of dust to remove from the photos.
If you do this, have a puffer, or a can of air to clean you slides/negatives.
It will save you a bunch of time later on.
Of all those shots, I only processed around 35 of them, but I do have them all on digital now.
I wish I would have taken a photo of the lay out, but I didn't.

A pre processed and post processed photo.

Well done and I like your McGiver approach to solving the problems. There are many ways to tackle this and as long as one is satisfied with the results it doesn't matter how the set up is assembled.

 

[cgw]

Mysteriously, true macro don't get much credit as copy lenses. They're near-perfect for camera scanning. Doubtful? Check my recent thread:

"Gone Shootin" Postscript: The Case for DSLR Scans​

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