Super easy digital "contact sheet" of film

I like to use Adox clear film sleeves because making contact sheets in darkroom is pretty easy and I think the quality is totally fine - for a contact sheet.

However making contact sheet might sometimes be extra work and altough it is nice to hold the paper and keep nose on the paper looking at the sheet, the digital version is always tempting. Easy to zoom in, easy to crop, try some rough tonality changes etc.

Today I developed batch of film and was about to go to darkroom to do contact sheets. But then I just started to wonder what would a digital photograph of the contact sheets look. So I laid the sheet on light table and tookshots with just a kit lens (no macro, no multiple exposures, just handheld one shot) and went on computer to have a look. I used Fujifilm X-T30 and XF 18-55 "kit" lens.

I was amazed how good the quality was. Yes I was photographing 120 film but I will probably do this on 135 film also. Probably in a way to see which frames are worth scanning properly or making a work print. Should work for that purpose even on 135 film.

Maybe this is a no-brainer to others but I was just amazed how usable the shots were. More than expected and far more.

TL;DR: Take a digital photograph on film in clear negative sleeve on a light table and be amazed.

Here is a overall shot and one frame cropped from the same photo:

.. and also praise to TLR cameras; no need to rotate the contact sheet like a wheel of a rally driver

I've been trying to figure out a way to do this, but with my scanner. I have the 4990 so I can scan the entire film area. I just haven't put forth the effort yet. I'd rather scan one big frame and store it on a drive, than store every single frame.

I've been doing digital contacts of my negs with my scanner for years now. Quick and easy way to proof. And... save on paper.

Andrew O'Neill said:

I've been doing digital contacts of my negs with my scanner for years now. Quick and easy way to proof. And... save on paper.

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Care to expand on your method?

ChristopherCoy said:

Care to expand on your method?

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Sure there's nothing to it though. The negatives are laid down on the scanner...epson 750V... with A/N glass laid over top. Then I assess them in PS for future prints or not. The digital contact sheets are stored in a portable hard drive. Sorry, that wasn't very exciting LOL

As reflective or transparent?

I do this also, for many years with a 4990. I store them in printfile pages, so I just expose the whole sheet, on the glass, with a piece of glass or plexiglass to hold it down, as I would making a contact on an enlarger base. For 120 film, I use the Printfile pages that have 3 strips of 4 frames, so all images are rightside up in the page).
Go with transparent setting. The preview should be positive.
Make the best overall exposure you can, just like a darkroom contact sheet. I scan at 200% scale. Resolution based on how sharp you want it and how much disc space you want it to occupy. Grayscale.
You can do mostly what you can do with a paper contact (besides paper grade feedback), enlarging and evaluating in Pshop.
If you like a frame, you can select just that frame, and make curve adjustments, or whatever kind you want, but make them in an adjustment layer, with only that frame selected. You can do the same thing to multiple frames, each with their own adjustments, and own adjustment layer. So in 20 minutes, you have a good idea of what you want to do, in the time you would spend setting up for printing. For multiple rolls of film (works best with 2 1/4 film) you can save a lot of exploratory darkroom time.
I've never tried to relate these adjustments to printing, but at least you will know where the issues are, where you need to dodge, burn, etc. (and maybe which exposure have other issues, like focus, movement, etc) And if you print with a split filter approach, you might even have an indication for that strategy.

Would this work with the V600 since it has a narrow area to scan from?

Jarrett said:

Would this work with the V600 since it has a narrow area to scan from?

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I did test this year ago (?) and it works. However you cannot fit whole sheet of negs on one scan.

vedostuu said:

I did test this year ago (?) and it works. However you cannot fit whole sheet of negs on one scan.

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In the plastic holder it is too large to fit the V700 scan area



Out of the plastic holder and with enough overlap it could fit. I could've overlaped it up more.

Jarrett said:

Would this work with the V600 since it has a narrow area to scan from?

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I use a V600 and I can scan a full sheet if I use a letter-size light panel on top of the sheet and scan in the reflective mode. However I am more satisfied using the film mode and scanning the sheet in 3 sections, reassembling them in Photoshop. I am going to try a digital camera+copy stand+light table and see how that compares. I will just have to find some room to leave it set up so it would be convenient if that's the way I want to proceed in the future.

Pieter12 said:

am going to try a digital camera+copy stand+light table and see how that compares. I

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In terms of digital contact sheet it is totally fine in my opinion. Of course scanner based digital sheets are lightyears better in quality, but I have to underline we are talking about contact sheets and not about real scans.