DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Film scanning with a digital camera.

Started Apr 20, 2019 | Discussions thread
Kulibertnelson New Member • Posts: 11
Re: cool setup for large format

Dear all:

For reproduction I am using my old Vivitar VI enlarger so that I can make use of the negative holder and the light source. I mounted my camera on a sturdy MDF board via a stable ball head and shoot tethered from the base plate into the enlarger. The Vivitar light source is quite bright such that at f/8 one still arrives at pretty short exposure times and even enables operation under daylight. The camera can be aligned to be perfectly parallel to the film plane (this would be a problem when using a tripod) by putting a small mirror in the negative plane (instead of the film holder) and adjusting the image of the front lens such that it appears centered (grid lines of the tethering software help). A permanent power supply to the camera is useful if operating the camera in life view (re-focusing via the software is just a click).

Using this setup I have already digitized about 200 rolls of 35mm film. The only thing I am afraid of is dust may more easily accumulate on the sensor due to the orientation of the camera (for a long time) and may become visible at f/8 in even regions of the image. But usually, it is no problem.

See also https://www.kuhlmann.at/technical

Best,
Hendrik

My setup with D800, 105mm Macro, Markins ball head and Vivitar VI enlarger (enlarger lens removed).

Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow