Bowens Illumitran for digitizing slides and negatives with a DSLR

I set up my Bowens Illumitran with my Sony 10MP DSLR and scanned some 35mm slides and 6x7 negatives. I got pretty good results without much manipulation in Photoshop. Because the Illumitran flash sync voltage is too high for a DSLR to handle, I set the camera on 1 second and manually triggered the flash during the exposure. A Wein Safe Sync would remedy my problem with the flash sync voltage. Here are sample digitized slides and negatives. The first image is a 6x7 negative, the next 3 are 35mm slides and the last picture is my Illumitran with a 10MP Sony DSLR and a Bogen 60mm W.A. enlarger lens attached to the bellows.

Interesting! The quality of your 'scans' is quite good, especially the large negatives.

I've looked at the Bowen Illumitran, but don't have one. For speed/efficiency, I have digitized slides using a porta-trace (light source) on a copy stand and a Panasonic GH2 with 60mm macro lens. I created a mask out of foam core, so that only the center of the slide (film) is illuminated and there is no stray light from the porta-trace. This works very well if the aim is simply to copy slides for viewing on the computer or internet. Its very fast (eg., 36 35mm slides in a few minutes). It is drastically faster than using a film scanner.

I have literally thousands of 35mm slides from the 1980's and 90's and my wife complains that she never see's our pictures. So using the above approach, I can "digitize" (scan) slides very rapidly and put them on Smugmug for the family. The few that are truly special are scanned on a Plustek Opticfilm 120. Maybe someday I'll even print some analog.

Hi Dismalhiker, I basically use the Illumitran to digitize photos for the internet. I originally bought the machine to copy slides. I used to be a SCUBA instructor and taught an underwater photography class. So I shot alot of slide film. I used the Illumitran to duplicate the slides and use the copies for showing in classes and keep the originals stored away someplace safe. Your setup does exactly what the Illumitran does. The only advantage with the Illumitran is that it holds my camera in the correct copying position automatically. Which is fast and convenient.

Nice job, Highlandpete! I used to dupe slides on a Pentax Repronar, but now I'm digitizing on a flatbed. I still own the Pentax, and I'll be trying it out shortly. Thanks for posting this!

resummerfield said:

Nice job, Highlandpete! I used to dupe slides on a Pentax Repronar, but now I'm digitizing on a flatbed. I still own the Pentax, and I'll be trying it out shortly. Thanks for posting this!

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Hi Eric, you should be able to still use the Repronar with a digital SLR. You would just need to get an adapter to convert the camera mount on your Repronar to what ever digital camera you are using. My Illumitran had a Minolta MD mount on it, so I had to buy a Minolta MD to Minolta Maxxum (Sony Alpha) adapter in order to mount my Sony DSLR to the Illumitran. It's so much faster than a scanner. I tossed my scanner years ago.

I digitized some 4x5 negatives today with my Bowens Illumitran using the 4x5 adapter and my 10MP Sony DSLR. I used a Maxxum 35-70 F:4.0 macro zoom lens. The Illumitran flash was too powerful so I put a variable polarizing filter on the lens which worked like an adjustable neutral density filter.

Is the UW stuff from Cozumel?

eric rose said:

Is the UW stuff from Cozumel?

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Hi Eric, the underwater pics are from Cayman Brac.