??? Opteka HD² Slide Copier

for Olympus EVOLT E-500 E-330 E-300

Has anyone used this attachment and/or have any thoughts on it??? I have a lot of old slides that I would like to convert and am wondering about this process.

"It attaches onto your 58mm or 52mm Olympus Lens and detachable +10 macro is included!

The new Opteka High Definition² Digital Duplicator screws into the filter thread of your existing Olympus lens. This means it can be connected to most Olympus digital SLRs. The built-in high definition² close-up optics allow you to transfer slides into Olympus digital SLRs easily with no loss in quality, and it will actually enhance your pictures!"

Thank you in advance!

--
Gary Hebert
E-500, 11-22, 14-54, 50-200, FL-36,
Pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/turnstyle

Interesting. As you know I built a home made copy stand and use my c3020z with excellent results for both 35mm and 2-1/4 sq,

It is a fact that what you use for a copy light has a big influence on the result. What do you plan to use?

Some of my copies plus a picture of my home made copy stand are at http://www.pbase.com/paulm2/old_slides_copies

Paul

Gary,

Opteka isn't in my view the quality manufacturer that I would place my trust in. Failing anyone here with direct positive input I would be very leary.

As far as thier claim to improve your images it just makes me all the more suspicious.

I recall that Artshot Sue had some experiance but not with this "Marvelous" image enhancing device.

I think she didn't have much luck with copiers and found a different route to digitizing older stuff. I sorta recall she shot images of prints or something of the kind.

Paul's rig looks quite viable and his results seem to show quite well. He might even be persuaded to divulge his preference for the light source, LOL!

If it were me I would rig a way to attach the cam to a machinest's height gauge and go from there. These can be bought second hand very cheaply these days owing to advances in QA technology in that industry.

Let me know if you would like one, I'm sure I have a spare, and I still have your ADDY.

Best Regards,

--
John,

'Lord help me to be the man my labrador thought I was'

PaulM2 said:

Interesting. As you know I built a home made copy stand and use my
c3020z with excellent results for both 35mm and 2-1/4 sq,

It is a fact that what you use for a copy light has a big influence
on the result. What do you plan to use?

Some of my copies plus a picture of my home made copy stand are at
http://www.pbase.com/paulm2/old_slides_copies

Paul

Click to expand...

Checked out the copier. I probably wouldn't have used a lunch box you could have sold for $25 on eBay

You do have to realize I really regret painting my Roy Rogers lunch box when I hit the third grade because there was a GIRL on it too I never would have guessed it's value would have increased in 53 years.

Jeff

Gary Hebert said:

for Olympus EVOLT E-500 E-330 E-300> > Has anyone used this attachment and/or have any thoughts on it??? I> have a lot of old slides that I would like to convert and am> wondering about this process.> > "It attaches onto your 58mm or 52mm Olympus Lens and detachable +10> macro is included!> The new Opteka High Definition² Digital Duplicator screws into the> filter thread of your existing Olympus lens. This means it can be> connected to most Olympus digital SLRs.

Click to expand...

This device may be marketed for Olympus DSLRs and will indeed work with DSLRs, but it's just blurb. Why on earth would you bother to use one?

There is likely to be nothing wrong with it. If the description is the lens is half true, there is no reason to doubt that it will work just fine. It is nonetheless hardly warranted for such a camera. All that is needed is a $5 extension tube and a film holder, possibly like that shown below.

PaulM2's device is far more appropriate and even more versatile, not to mention cheaper. He is using a light box, which may have a flash inside. I suspect that any incandescent light will do for digital but I submit that flash or diffuse daylight is the obvious way to go, just like it always was.

My old "Blondie" lunch box has been in the loft of the garage for years and years. It was in the loft of my old house and I moved it here 20 yrs. ago. I guess that it is 40 or better years old.

This is not a very high tech. rig at all. All I did was cut a hole large enough to cover the film area on a 2-1/4 slide. Then I found a piece of frosted glass (sandblasted glass) to cover the hole in the lid. This is epoxy to the lid on the outside. About the only real care in alignment was to make certain this glass was parallel to the camera. Another high tech device I use, is a 25c very small bubble level or a string level. This is laid on the glass and the box shimmed to level. After the camera is mounted the level of both the camera (level across the lcd) and the glass is rechecked.

For a light source there are two 40w daylight bulbs that only allow 40-50 pictures until the thing gets so hot you can burn stuff on it. The inside of the box is lined with alum. foil and has no fan. Hmm, I just thought of my old computer junk box. It has some fans in it. Maybe I could hack something up.

The camera is set for "tungsten" white balance and this has worked for me. After I download the pictures into PSE2 the first thing I do is straighten and crop. Then levels and that is about it for a reasonable good to start with slide. Discolored slides have to be fooled with more.

I use "P" mode with ISO 100. This has worked quite well for the slides I have copied (best guess close to 2000) as far as exposure. After all I do not copy really poor slides generally and a few that I have, I brought them back somewhat with PSE2.

I am using a c3020z camera with a little known trick. ( no macro on a c3020z and this was my only camera at that time) It seems that if you preset your camera to about 2-1/4 inches from the subject, with the zoom all the way towards tele. (3x), then bump the zoom lever 4 times toward wide. Then I use an old upright focus rail to get the final focus. (just a tweak usually) Found this trick on the PSE2 Jay Arraich's site.

So a modern camera that can focus down to include coverage for your slides, maybe a Tupperware type box with a reinforced cover and a small strobe for a light source inside should make a very nice setup.

As John Hilmer has suggested maybe an old machinist height gauge for the upright or one of the macro stages could be used.

Good luck.

Paul

I am not that handy for building and creating. I would probably be better off with a commercial slide scanner. Really liked your results.

--
Gary Hebert
E-500, 11-22, 14-54, 50-200, FL-36,
Pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/turnstyle

I am all thumbs and not handy at all. Will probably be better off with a slide scanner which I will now go research.

--
Gary Hebert
E-500, 11-22, 14-54, 50-200, FL-36,
Pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/turnstyle