Copy Stands

[runswithsizzers]

You can see how the ALZO camera bracket works at <this link>. The silver bumps around the camera mounting bolt (at the 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock positions) are the ends of adjustment screws which push against the bottom of the camera. It takes a few minutes to remove the bracket, make adjustments, replace the bracket - then check alignment (and repeat if more adjustments are needed). The 12 and 6 o'clock screws can be used to compensate for front-to-back 'play' that would otherwise allow the camera to sag out of parallel alignment to the copy stand base. You also have to manually align the camera parallel in the left-to-right dimension by rotating the camera on the tripod bolt. I use a bulls eye spirit level placed on the back of my camera to help with alignment, but that only works if your negative holder is level as well. Another way is to use a mirror at the negative position, and eyeball the alignment through the camera viewfinder. Aligning the camera parallel with the negative is a little bit fussy, but workable.

 

[guangong]

I have an old version of the Leitz Reprovit that I rewired. Can handle just about any camera. Haven't used it for a long time, but sits in basement. If I ever get around to using it, will change bulbs to LEDs.

 

[cptrios]

You can see how the ALZO camera bracket works at <this link>. The silver bumps around the camera mounting bolt (at the 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock positions) are the ends of adjustment screws which push against the bottom of the camera. It takes a few minutes to remove the bracket, make adjustments, replace the bracket - then check alignment (and repeat if more adjustments are needed). The 12 and 6 o'clock screws can be used to compensate for front-to-back 'play' that would otherwise allow the camera to sag out of parallel alignment to the copy stand base. You also have to manually align the camera parallel in the left-to-right dimension by rotating the camera on the tripod bolt. I use a bulls eye spirit level placed on the back of my camera to help with alignment, but that only works if your negative holder is level as well. Another way is to use a mirror at the negative position, and eyeball the alignment through the camera viewfinder. Aligning the camera parallel with the negative is a little bit fussy, but workable.

Much appreciated! I'm not sure what you describe sounds like enough of an improvement over my current setup to merit a $150 outlay, though. I think for now I'll just replace the ballhead with a pan-tilt head and see how that goes.

 

[yurihuta]

For almost ten years I worked on a project that photographed small specimens that required near perfect alignment of the film plane with the specimen stage and for that we used a Beseler CS-21 (now called CS Digital/Photo-Video). The camera mounting assembly is quite robust and at work we would require weekly review of the alignment of film plane to specimen stage and I believe the large surface area and the twin extension arms of the CS-21 made adjustments quite rare. The camera was secured to a Arca Swiss style plate and this was affixed to a quick release clamp that was tightly secured to the large camera mounting platform. So for important alignment setup (keeping your negative/slide area parallel with your camera's film/sensor plane), I would recommend something with a large camera mounting platform and rigid extension arms. Our specimen stage was about the size of a 6x4.5 negative.

I purchased a Beseler CS-14 for home use and it employs the same twin arm extension and large camera mounting platform. They are expensive, but incredibly sturdy compared to some of the smaller copy stands (which we tried out, but found insufficient). Mind you the set up we used for work had me shooting five days a week for most of the work day. It held a Canon 5d Mark II and a Canon 100mm f2.8 L macro (camera had an AC adapter). We were also imaging with and without cross polarization, so there was a lot of mounting a circular polarizer (via magnetic filter mounts to eliminate the need for screwing and unscrewing the filter for each specimen) as well as sliding frames with polarizing film in and out of the path of the strobes lighting the specimen. Lots of movement, but the camera remained fixed in position.

My worry with the smaller copy stands are: main column and how it is attached to the copy stand; if you need extension arms, how rigid they are; the camera mounting platforms appear quite small.

Here is Beseler's modest line up of copy stands.

https://www.beselerphoto.com/photography-copy-stands/

 

[Required]

I found a Minolta Copy Stand II unused in original boxing for $20.
But I’ve not yet begun using it as I need to tidy up first.

 

[cayenne]

I just found this thread.
I recently found a copy stand I bought...I can't find any info on it really anywhere....seems the model is "Super Repro" and the brand is IFF?

I've found on searching that possibly towards the end of its life, Manfrotto may have bought them, as that I have seen Manfrotton Super Repro out there, but none that look quite like what I got.

I'm going to be balancing a GFX100 on this from pretty high up. I got the stand and all looks great, except the screw locking mechanism seems to be missing or broken and I can't find manuals or documentation on it.

I figure I'll try to use to use some clamps to hold the camera riser portion once in place.

Anyway, if anyone knows anything about this oddball copy stand, please let me know.

Thank you

cayenne