MF to 35mm slide copier? With accessories?

[Ric Trexell]

I'm thinking of getting some slide film for my RB67 and since I have a 35mm (2X2 inch) slide projector, I was wondering if any of you copy MF to 35mm. I did a search on Google and the only one that seems to have made a device for this is the Pentaconn cameras made in W. Germany. There are plenty of 35mm to digital or 35mm copiers but not MF to 35. I also wonder if there is some sort of accessory option that allows you to say blur the sides or add features to improve the slide (such as diffusion). My 35mm is a Minolta X-700 and they don't have MLU so I wonder if a non MLU camera would even do justice to a nice sharp MF slide. Also, would these be good enough to use for stock photography or would a good digital file be the best way to go? I know digital slides can be made from film but if the main objective was to just use them for projection, this route would be a lot cheaper.

 

[DanielStone]

what about a 5000K light box camera on a tripod with cable release, pop your chromes on it, and copy away .

if you have a problem with keeping things flat, make a black mask out of black matt cardboard so its just bigger than the 6x7 frame. use a heavy matt board, with a black core.

and use a macro(flat field) lens. stop down to f5.6 or f/8 and use the reading your in-camera meter reading tells you to use. bracket in 1/2 stops(f-stops or shutter speed, depending on what your camera can do) to N(camera meter reading) to +1, and -1/2. should get you in the ballpark.

its worked for me for the limited amount of this I've done. only I had access to a copy stand which made things easier.

and use a neutral film(provia, e100g, astia(slightly warmer base))

if you can roll your own, even better . Make some copy negs too .

-Dan

 

[Sirius Glass]

Try hybridphoto.com. For alternative processes I would suggest a flat bed photo scanner, like the refurbished Epson 4490 Photoscanner for $100 and free scanner. It comes with the software.

Again the best place to look for scanning film is www.hybridphoto.com.

I do not have any suggestions for photocopying slides.

Steve

 

[John R.]

A great piece of equipment to use which will handle every aspect of what you wish to do and a lot more is a Beseler Dual Mode Duplicator. You can use many different 35mm bodies with it. Copy using built in incandescent or built in flash light source. There are film holders that fit 35mm up to 4x5. There is a dichro lamp house which allows you to dial in any color or tint, just like a color enlarger lamphouse. It has a rigid camera mount and very stout vertical column. It keeps everything flat and square at the copy and camera stages. It is a wonderful device to work with and you can get them at good prices these days. Just make sure it is a very clean unit and was well cared for. By far, a device like the Dual Mode is the way to go. I have used one for at least 20 years. I highly recommend it.

 

[Q.G.]

Try hybridphoto.com. [...]

Wow! You're strict on this hybrid thing... Not even intermingling two different film formats allowed?



I do the same thing as Dan: camera on a copy stand, slide on a light box.

The slide copier thingies (Bowens also made a good one: Illumatron?) make use of the same principal, but with filters to control colour, and perhaps a 'simultaneous pre'-flash unit to lower contrast.
I think that their main advantage over the light box-copy stand approach however is in their ease of use. So if only a small number of slides need to be copied, the lightbox approach might just be 'bearable', else the dedicated copier stand.

But why not put slide film in your 35 mm camera instead?
Copying will always have an effect on quality. And not a good one.
Copying to a smaller format even more so.
So if projection in a 35 mm projector is all the slides are meant for, i don't really understand why they should be made using a 6x7 camera.

 

[John Koehrer]

If you have a dichro enlarger head, invert it and put the slide to be duplicated on the light source. Then you can even change the filtration if somethings not making you happy.

 

[Ric Trexell]

Thanks and why I asked.

But why not put slide film in your 35 mm camera instead?
Copying will always have an effect on quality. And not a good one.
Copying to a smaller format even more so.
So if projection in a 35 mm projector is all the slides are meant for, i don't really understand why they should be made using a 6x7 camera.

First let me say thanks to those that replied to my post. As to why not just take a picture with a 35mm, I ask what if you are out shooting that perfect landscape shot and you have this 6X7 slide. You would like to project it so your choice is to buy a medium format projector,or copy it to a 35mm. Yes, I have a digital scanner (Epson 2450) but I might want to use the slide projector. I was just wondering if there would be a major loss in sharpness and color and all that good stuff. It is nice to have that big negative should you want an enlargement, but also a 35mm slide has advantages. Ok?

 

[Q.G.]

O.k. ...

I ask, because you are saying you are "thinking of getting some slide film for my RB67".

Because there will indeed be a loss in quality, if the main aim of the game is to project that perfect landscape shot using a 35 mm projector, you would do better getting some 35 mm film instead, and take that with you when you go out shooting.
Your 35 mm camera will do more justice to that landscape (even without mirror prerelease) than a 35 mm slide copy of a 6x7 slide.

But if you already have that perfect landscape on 6x7 slide film, and the only way to project it is using a 35 mm projector, do make a copy.