spacecadet Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 44 minutes ago, M.Chapman said: There is no light leakage from the rear of the LED lamp into the box. The only emitted light goes through the slide. It also runs pretty cool. The LED lamp I chose is really well designed, very even light over a large area (big enough for medium format), no light leakage, cast Aluminium housing to dissipate heat. Mark Sounds like a good retrofit for the Illumitran. No vignetting or bother about which DSLRs trigger the flash and which don't. If I had any film left to scan I'd think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 I've just taken a shot to check uniformity of illumination from this LED source. Here's the result. (I've added a rectangle to show 35mm film size). I noticed that it's a bit lighter around the edge (where the LEDs are), but I'm happy with the central area I'm using for 35mm slide copying. (NB. LR should have corrected any vignetting in my lens, but not in the light source). The diameter of the light source is 80mm, so 6 x 4.5 medium format would also fit. 6 x 6 would just fit too, but the corners would be a bit light. Massively boosting the contrast highlights the variation in illumination and reveals the textured surface of the light's diffuser, so it's best to mount the slide a short distance away so the diffuser is defocussed. It also reveals some feint dust bunnies on my camera sensor - rats! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Thanks for posting Mark, my film scanner recently died and this bargain basement solution may be the answer! I made a light box for my son years ago, before the days of LED lights, building a wooden box with a sheet of translucent perspex. I could perhaps re-configure it with that B&Q light source. Need to find an adapter for one of my enlarger lenses and a means of pointing the camera vertically down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 10 hours ago, Bryan said: Thanks for posting Mark, my film scanner recently died and this bargain basement solution may be the answer! I made a light box for my son years ago, before the days of LED lights, building a wooden box with a sheet of translucent perspex. I could perhaps re-configure it with that B&Q light source. Need to find an adapter for one of my enlarger lenses and a means of pointing the camera vertically down. The LED light I'm using is this one for £5. https://www.diy.com/departments/colours-white-led-fixed-recessed-downlight-6-ip20/3663602770725_BQ.prd There's also a larger version for £9.. https://www.diy.com/departments/colours-white-led-fixed-recessed-downlight-17-5-ip20/3663602770787_BQ.prd It should be noted that both are very bright and non-dimmable, so not suitable for use as a lightbox for general slide viewing with the naked eye or a loupe. But they would be OK for this if built into a larger box with additional translucent diffuser. I think the advantage of the bright light for slide copying is short exposure time (so less chance of vibration or mains induced flicker) and there should be less noise when opening up the shadows. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Hatton Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 On 2/16/2019 at 08:25, Bryan said: Thanks for posting Mark, my film scanner recently died and this bargain basement solution may be the answer! I made a light box for my son years ago, before the days of LED lights, building a wooden box with a sheet of translucent perspex. I could perhaps re-configure it with that B&Q light source. Need to find an adapter for one of my enlarger lenses and a means of pointing the camera vertically down. I have made a wonderful piece of kit for holding my Canon 100mm lens lens both square and vertical to the light box , it consists of a portion of a Pringles tube ( 140mm for my 100mm and full frame D5ii) that fits snugly over the filter thread and assuming it is cut nice and square it will hold the camera rock solid just use mirror lock up and 2 sec self timer, I would post photo on here if someone could tell me how to post personal photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Nick Hatton said: I have made a wonderful piece of kit for holding my Canon 100mm lens lens both square and vertical to the light box , it consists of a portion of a Pringles tube ( 140mm for my 100mm and full frame D5ii) that fits snugly over the filter thread and assuming it is cut nice and square it will hold the camera rock solid just use mirror lock up and 2 sec self timer, I would post photo on here if someone could tell me how to post personal photos! Nice bit of lateral thinking Nick, I was locked into using a tripod, but clearly there are alternatives.! I've just ordered a focusing helicoid and a 39 to 42 adapter in order to be able to use my enlarger lenses with my Sony camera and existing M42 adapter. When they arrive I'll start to experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 Update, inspired by the thread above I've assembled some low cost kit to do some copying. Not yet fully functional, need to buy one of those LED light sources, but well on the way. Written it up on my blog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 53 minutes ago, Bryan said: I've assembled some low cost kit to do some copying Interesting blog, I would definitely suggest that getting the target negative perfectly aligned is quite crucial given the limited depth of field but a mirror will do that perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 On 09/03/2019 at 13:06, Harry Harrison said: Interesting blog, I would definitely suggest that getting the target negative perfectly aligned is quite crucial given the limited depth of field but a mirror will do that perfectly. Thanks Harry. I've just looked up the mirror method, looks to be the way to go, hadn't thought of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Bryan said: I've just looked up the mirror method, looks to be the way to go, hadn't thought of that! Brian, I thought I'd mention it because I've seen a lot of blogs etc. go on about getting the camera and target level with spirit levels etc. (so two sources of error) when a mirror does it all in one, neither has to be level, they just have to be aligned. I use conveniently sized make-up mirrors but you can cut them, or get them cut to size if necessary. You will find that image of your lens in the mirror will be well out of focus however so you may need to increase the distance initially to align but then provided the relationship can't change then you're good to go. I'm using bellows so it's a bit easier because I can track the bellows back but your helical focussing stage looks good, didn't even know you could get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 ...of course you have to be sure that the mirror is placed so that it is precisely in the same plane as your transparency/negative. I use a metal Durst enlarger negative holder which conveniently is square on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Harry Harrison said: Brian, I thought I'd mention it because I've seen a lot of blogs etc. go on about getting the camera and target level with spirit levels etc. (so two sources of error) when a mirror does it all in one, neither has to be level, they just have to be aligned. I use conveniently sized make-up mirrors but you can cut them, or get them cut to size if necessary. You will find that image of your lens in the mirror will be well out of focus however so you may need to increase the distance initially to align but then provided the relationship can't change then you're good to go. I'm using bellows so it's a bit easier because I can track the bellows back but your helical focussing stage looks good, didn't even know you could get them. I use 2 Ikea tiles. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 Visited B&Q to follow up Mark's suggestion for a suitable LED light source. Just bought one of these a LED Mains Powered bulkhead wall light, costing £6. The diffuser surface has a very slight curvature, but I intend to mount the negatives above it.It provides a useful (approx) 7.5 cm square of light. (There is a much larger circular downlight available, but it costs £28 and I doubt it necessary.) This is a self contained mains powered unit with a short protruding two core cable, so easy to wire. Currently connected by a long flex to a 3 amp fused plug, I intend to buy an inline switch to make operation a bit easier. Successfully scanned an old B&W negative this evening, but the set up is still a tad Heath Robinsonish, so further work required, In essence to securely mount the negative/slide carrier above the light source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Taken this a bit further and found that all is not well. The camera is picking up a traversing black band from the light source, which makes focusing tricky and occasionally it appears on the scan. Further, my 20 mm extension tube, used with a 50 mm enlarger lens and focusing helicoid, is not allowing me to capture the full 35 mm negative image, I'm getting focus too near to the negative. The next smaller extension tube (11 mm) places the camera too far away so that I'm not able to use the full resolution of the sensor. Another focusing helicoid (15-26 mm) might hit the sweet spot. Would be much easier with a macro lens or a set of bellows! I've yet to experiment with my 75 mm lens. However I have successfully uploaded two 1970 archival images to Alamy using this kit, so all is not lost! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 10 hours ago, Bryan said: I've yet to experiment with my 75 mm lens. Bryan, that could be the key, hopefully that will work for you, but yes, bellows are, literally, more flexible! Surprised you have this black band but I'm not using an electronic viewfinder, hopefully there will be an optimum shutter speed that will prevent it appearing on the scan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 3 hours ago, Bryan said: The camera is picking up a traversing black band from the light source, which makes focusing tricky and occasionally it appears on the scan. That's why people have suggested a flicker-free light source, like one that's used for video. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 10 hours ago, Bryan said: The camera is picking up a traversing black band from the light source, which makes focusing tricky and occasionally it appears on the scan. A long enough shutter speed might fix it. But it points up the advantages of flash if you can pick up an Illumitran for £30, as I did. Worth it for any substantial number of images, in my case about 6000. But flash triggering can be chancy, I'll be going to a wireless trigger next time I have some negs to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Hopefully the 75mm lens will allow you to get the full frame but if you do decide to go for some bellows then the British made B.P.M. (Butterfield) bellows are pretty widely available in the UK and fairly cheap if you wait for an auction rather than 'buy it now', they were used on the Illumitran in fact. However the adapters for the lens and the camera body can be expensive if they don't come with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Thanks for the responses. 😊 I can't justify spending too much on this project, current stock prices being what they are. This is more a hobby interest with old family pictures of no resale value rather than many potential earners! If I use a slow shutter speed - in essence stopping down the lens sufficiently - the LED light doesn't appear to affect the shots, but the banding is irritating while focusing. However, using an old precision metal negative carrier from my enlarger I don't need to re-focus between shots, so I can live with that. I just need to make it clear that there are pitfalls with my budget approach, should anyone else be tempted to have a go. Edit - I've just tried the 75 mm lens and that gives a better correspondence between sensor and 35 mm original, while the banding is much reduced with the lens stopped down during focusing. This might be a workable solution! I've also tried the 75 mm Rokkor as a prime lens for distance work, it's pretty good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Hatton Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I have made a set up with the small £5 circular led light from B and Q all works well with no banding at all, it is mighty bright allowing f8 at around 1 /250 with iso 200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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