To my surprise the duration of the flashlight on these older studioflashes was quite long. I began with 1/125 sec and was forced near f22.
This led to diffraction unsharpnes.
I found that 1/800 sec allowed me to go to the sweet spot of f8.
Michael.
To my surprise the duration of the flashlight on these older studioflashes was quite long. I began with 1/125 sec and was forced near f22.But the exposure is made at the brief duration of the flash, not by shutter speed.
Thanks. I might still mess it up by kicking the tripod or something else.I think this is pretty genius. I'm not sure I have the native coordination to use a setup like this without tripping on it
I was thinking a white surface or mirror at a 45 degree angle to redirect the light up through the film holder - have you tried that? The box would need to be much thicker (taller). I was thinking of angling the reflector 45* one way for the flash, then rotating it to 45* the other way for the focusing light. Make sense?
To my surprise the duration of the flashlight on these older studioflashes was quite long. I began with 1/125 sec and was forced near f22.
This led to diffraction unsharpnes.
I found that 1/800 sec allowed me to go to the sweet spot of f8.
Michael.
but with NO hotspots.
Dropping flash power to some fractional output shortens the duration and intensity of the light burst, allowing somewhat larger aperture to be used, thus avoiding diffraction.To my surprise the duration of the flashlight on these older studioflashes was quite long. I began with 1/125 sec and was forced near f22.
This led to diffraction unsharpnes.
I found that 1/800 sec allowed me to go to the sweet spot of f8.
Michael.
Thanks for posting. I think I have the same lens (?) - or similar; mine is f/4.0.This is my current DSLR rig with Nikon D810, SB-28, PB-5 & PS-4 and APO Rodagon D 4.5/75. Six or more years ago when I started this journey I used Rosco LED panel. Focusing and framing light is 6 heads strip of LED. Even 3 heads will be just fine.
The best solution for one flash to provide even coverage and without added bulk is distance.
View attachment 284406
Very interesting! Thanks for posting that! Similar to what I had in mind, but yours has some additional intriguing details. It never would have occurred to me to use both paper and clear glass for the reflector. Is there some rationale behind that? Did you test it, paper-only vs. glass only?View attachment 291064
In response to the opening post:
When I have digitized film at home, I used a flash setup. It was just a test setup to see how well it worked, so it was fairly make-shift and unstable, but it certainly proved that it could work successfully if I took the time to develop it further. I include a diagram above to give you a rough idea of the setup.
A basic description:-
Kaiser copy stand with Canon 5DS R and Sigma 105mm OS macro lens and hood.
The camera was connected to a laptop using a USB cable to enable live view and camera control via Canon Utilities software.
The film was held with enlarger negative carriers of various types, supported on a sheet of glass, with white perspex diffuser underneath. The glass was used to provide a more stable support than the perspex.
Beneath these, I used some white card with glass from a small picture frame resting on it, both at 45 degree angle.
The flash was on a stand/tripod pointing horizontally at the 45 degree glass. The distance was varied somewhat to control exposure (it was an old flash with rudimentary power control), but it was never less than around 40cm from the glass.
The continuous light source was an angle-poise lamp with a daylight-balanced fluorescent tube. This was positioned on the table in such a way that it could be moved into the light path easily at any point for focusing.
The room was a garage with very low light levels.
Resting on the film holder, I used a piece of card with a rectangular aperture in the centre. This blocked stray light from around the film holder, as well as shading the lens from a direct view of the flash.
How well did it work?
In terms of getting even illumination for the images, it worked extremely well. Almost no variation across the frame on all formats (I tested carefully) up to 6x7cm. No reflections or stray light of any significance.
The continuous light setup worked 'well enough'. Moving it in and out of position was a minor inconvenience. It was 'bright enough', but more light would have been better.
In terms of colour accuracy of the flash light, the jury is out. I had some concerns that I was getting some colour distortions in the images. I think that these were more likely due to the camera profiles used in raw conversion, but I can't be sure.
Overall, my actual setup was far from perfect, but by far the biggest problems were with keeping the film in focus across the frame, because nothing was 'locked down' properly, plus the (fairly minor) colour issues I mentioned. Evenness of illumination was, as far as I was concerned, fully resolved.
Hope that is of some use to the OP. Happy to answer any questions about it.
Very interesting! Thanks for posting that! Similar to what I had in mind, but yours has some additional intriguing details. It never would have occurred to me to use both paper and clear glass for the reflector. Is there some rationale behind that? Did you test it, paper-only vs. glass only?
One question, in the Front View, what is that parallel-dog-leg-looking object that seems to be acting as stage for holding the film?
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