Scanner vs dSLR

[Masque-Obscura]

Hi everyone!

I have been scanning with a V700 for some time now, and while I'm perfectly happy scanning my 6x6 negs with it, I recently came across an article showing the difference between scanning with various scanners, and using a setup with a DSLR with macro lens to digitise negs. It peaked my interest, and I wanted to see if I would get similar results.

I used a lightscreen (to use for tracing drawings, or viewing transparencies), a Nikon D700 on a tripod and a 50mm f/1.8D with extention tubes, set to f/5.6.

The magnification ratio was a bit bigger than 1:1, so I needed to stitch two images together for one 35mm frame, resulting in a 16MP file.
afterwards, I scanned the neg, downsampled the file so I got the exact same resolution, and the comparison can start!

100% crop
top: Nikon D700
down Epson V700

Nikon D700

Epson V700

Links:

D700: http://i.imgur.com/gmt7rcO.jpg
V700: http://i.imgur.com/o3h95GM.jpg

Does anyone else have experiences to share?

I'm particularly interested in tricks for colour negatives, the colourcast of the filmbase is hard to get rid of in PS.

 

[L Gebhardt]

I'm particularly interested in tricks for colour negatives, the colourcast of the filmbase is hard to get rid of in PS.

Pickup an old 4x5 color enlarger head. You can then dial in the correct color to negate the orange mask. Include the border in the shot and just keep checking the histogram until all 3 color peaks are overlapping. You will be very close with just a simple inversion in Photoshop. That said, I haven't been 100% happy with the colors. Some negatives just seem a bit off. However color positives seem to work very well.

I wrote up my experiences scanning black and white film with the DSLR here Scanning 35mm Black and White Negatives with the D800E | Tripping Through The Dark

 

[RowanBloemhof]

Well. From what i know the V700 is suposed to be a good quality scanner. But from what ive seen and done personally. Ive had negatives scanned a couple of times at a local store. And i found tbh the scans ive made with my dslr alot better.

Ive been using a highly provisionally setup with my dslr. I basicly got my Canon 20d with a 50mm f1.8. I screwed on some close up lenses. And got in my opinion much better results then any local photostore could produce.

I took the head of my Meopta Opemus 5. And put it on the stand the other way arround. With the lens board facing upwards. Then i simply put my camera on a tripod, facing the lensboard w/o lens. Since i didnt manage to get a 1:1 magnification the resolution of the crops arent too high, and due to the closeup lenses not by far as sharp as a scan.

But i find in the sense of preserving tonality and exposure this works really well. When scanning b+w negatives, the only thing i really need to do is open camera raw. Press the auto settings button. And i'm for 90% done. Perhaps some slight modification in the white balance is needed to compensate for the color of the film base.

Take this foto for example. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7335/12258110374_e675e83270_o.jpg

Since a little while i have a Canon 50d. Which has a much higher pixel count then my 10 year old 20d. Soon i shall give it a try with that one. Otherwise the real big improvment on this should be an actual macro lens.

 

[RowanBloemhof]

But now that i think about it. If you were to scan negs with your dslr.

I know that normal camera lenses have a tendency to get blurry towards the edges. The lens of an enlarger however is designed to project a flat negative onto a flat piece of paper. I supose it could make sense to get a converter from m39(enlarger mount) to your dslr mount. This together with some ballows should make a very nice neg scanner.

But then again. Im not sure what the size of the image circle is on an enlarger lens. Nor do i know the ideal flange distance. I supose it should work, as a 35mm neg is certainly bigger then most dslr sensors.

 

[L Gebhardt]

Rowan, I've tried enlarger lenses and they work fairly well. But they are not optimized for 1:1 so there are better choices. One is the the Rodenstock 75mm f/4 Rodagon-D. Having been designed for slide duplication it is sharp across the frame and very high resolution. It's just about perfect for DSLR scanning of 35mm film. Regular enlarger lenses (if reversed) should work better for single shot capture of medium format film or larger.