Canon slide copying set-up

[geogphotos]

I have a Canon 5D.

 

What exactly do I need to buy to be able to copy 35mm slides in the way that has been described here ( I think using a Nikon camera) using a slide holder illuminated by a light source behind

 

I am prepared to buy what is needed and would prefer to get properly set up.

 

lens?

 

adapter?

 

slide holder?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

[Phil Robinson]

(Described where?)

 

[MDM]

I don’t think there is a Canon equivalent to the Nikon adapter. My setup uses a Nikon 55mm macro lens with an extension ring and the ES1 copier.  I have read that it is only compatible with certain Nikon lenses due to varying focal distances. 

 

Your best bet might be to visit or call a knowledgeable company like Fixation (now owned by WEX) in London as they are specialist repairers for both Canon and Nikon and sell new and secondhand gear as well.

Edited January 26, 2020 by MDM

[Harry Harrison]

13 minutes ago, Phil Robinson said:

(Described where?)

Various threads but maybe search for Nikon ES-1 because that was concluded to be the easiest and cheapest entry point for quality results. There is one long quite detailed thread from last year, maybe called Slide Copying?

[Phil Robinson]

1 minute ago, Harry Harrison said:

Various threads but maybe search for Nikon ES-1 because that was concluded to be the easiest and cheapest entry point for quality results. There is one long quite detailed thread from last year, maybe called Slide Copying?

Ah, it was that title that confused me.

[Harry Harrison]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

What exactly do I need to buy to be able to copy 35mm slides in the way that has been described here

 

If you are happy to do everything on manual - i.e. aperture & focus - then there's no reason why you can't fit a 55mm f2.8 Micro-Nikkor to your Canon full-frame and fit the ES-1 to that. Nikon to Canon EOS adapters are readily available, I can recommend Fotodiox Pro but franky because infinity focus isn't an issue a cheap option is probably fine. Again, it will be entirely manual, no communication between lens and camera.

[Harry Harrison]

9 minutes ago, Phil Robinson said:

Ah, it was that title that confused me.

It was this thread that I was thinking of but there are others. The ES-1 simplifies the whole process of alignment and light source (i.e. it will be square and you can point the camera at any 'white light' source, continuous or flash. I don't use that because I already had a bellows, enlarger lens, copying stand and light box which is more flexible (I can do medium format for example in sections and photomerge) but these bits & bobs are expensive to source these days.

 

https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/10989-slide-copying/

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[geogphotos]

Thanks for the responses and suggestions.

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

Something on the ES-1:

https://www.scantips.com/es-1.html

 

This is on a Nikon of course, and it is easier with a Nikon mainly because you don't have to manually stop down the aperture after focusing. However once set up that is less of a problem than you might imagine.

 

Most camera manufacturers made slide copying attachments for their Auto Bellows in the film days. Canon adapted their FD Auto Bellows with a simple adapter, at least initially when EOS cameras first came out. Some of these macro bellows systems are very high quality,  Nikon & Olympus especially.

 

Simple 'macro' adapters (i.e. no lens to adjust for infinity focus) are easily available to go from these to Canon EOS but everything will be manual.

[geogphotos]

Thanks Harry. It'd probably going to be best that I phone one of the specialists suggested above because I just do not understand the technical stuff  - my brain just will not absorb it. 

 

Some of the alternative ideas at the bottom of that page you linked to are very enterprising! I have seen a Youtube video of somebody using their Mac computer as a light source and some sort of Heath-Robinson device to hold the slide in front of it.

 

All I want is a system that I can buy, set up, and use. 

[Harry Harrison]

It would be interesting to hear what they recommend, perhaps you could share it. Because of the tolerances involved anything will require pretty meticulous technique and a suitable light source. I can understand that you don't want to make anything but you will always need to provide a light source. There is always the Film Toaster I suppose but you still have to supply the camera and lens, and it's $1500 to $3000.

 

http://www.filmtoaster.photography/

 

In your position, given that you might not be happy using lenses on manual, I might be inclined to stick with the ES-1 and maybe get a used Nikon D800 and 55mm or 60mm macro lens to go with it. You can use a lightbox or flash, flash avoids any risk of camera shake but exposure is easier to control with continuous light.

[Klinger]

I would recommend not copying slides, because you will be disappointed as your digital images are so good. What I mean is, the slides will look out of focus, soft, faded colors. That's from going back to slides I took for 40 years with SLRs. To make copies I tried Nikon Coolscan scanners, other single slide scanners (no flatbeds) and a slide copier on my Canon. Your results may be better. 😉

 

Real simple, great looking slides may look like too soft images after you spend the time and money, trying to use a copier or scan. You might consider this. Take the best four slides to a professional, and pay to have them scanned, in high resolution. See what you think after that. For $2.00 a slide (a guess), you pay someone with the best equipment to make your test scans.

 

Now to the answer, of course there's a Canon slide copier. Who would think that only Nikon makes such a device? In fact, with a little bit of adapting, there are numerous slide duplicators. Pretty much nothing more than a bellows and a slide holder, with a frosted glass to diffuse the light. But there are also aftermarket which could be adapted. Do you use eBay? "slide duplicator"

 

This one was made in the days of FD, it mounts on the filter threads, which means any camera.

 

 

I just happened to have a 28-80 on it for zoom, you could use a prime or better zoom lens, to crop. Internal focusing lens would be much better.

 

The important part to be careful about when buying is the adapter ring. Without that, you have a duplicator and no way to attach a camera. Then you'll need step up rings to get to the right filter threading for your lens.

 

Advantage of a slide duplicator is, you get a nice high resolution image, from your own camera, whatever size and resolution that may be.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Klinger

[MDM]

22 minutes ago, Klinger said:

I would recommend not copying slides, because you will be disappointed as your digital images are so good. What I mean is, the slides will look out of focus, soft, faded colors. That's from going back to slides I took for 40 years with SLRs. To make copies I tried Nikon Coolscan scanners, other single slide scanners (no flatbeds) and a slide copier on my Canon. Your results may be better. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

This is not true if you use the right equipment such as a high quality macro lens and a good camera (in my case a D810 with 55mm Nikkor and extension ring) a good and consistent light source (flash or photographic quality LED), shoot raw and process the images carefully. I find the results are far superior than using a high end prosumer slide scanner (in my case the Nikon LS4000) and much quicker.

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

37 minutes ago, Klinger said:

I would recommend not copying slides, because you will be disappointed as your digital images are so good

With respect I'd have to disagree, as MDM says, very high quality results are possible, and I also have a professional high end scanner to compare the results with. Ian is scanning historically important slides I believe in any case, rather than his own. The ubiquitous slide duplicators from Ohnar, Makinon, Jessops etc. were never of good quality as they have poor quality glass inside, they were cheap and not to be compared with the results possible with high quality prime macro lenses.

 

This article says it "can't dispute that the flatbed scanner has the edge over the Ohnar duplicator", which says all one needs to know really.

 

https://www.eos-magazine.com/articles/viewfinder/slidecopying.html

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[geogphotos]

How about using a tripod with a Canon macro lens on my 5D mk3 shooting directly down over 35mm slide placed on light box ?

 

If so what Canon macros would be options?

[M.Chapman]

36 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

How about using a tripod with a Canon macro lens on my 5D mk3 shooting directly down over 35mm slide placed on light box ?

 

If so what Canon macros would be options?

 

That's pretty much the technique I use, but with Lumix G7 + 45mm macro lens. But... it's a pain to set up (getting everything aligned and level), and be careful about the lightbox colour balance and possible flicker. Also best done in a darkened room to reduce stray reflections on slide emulsion.

 

Mark

Edited January 29, 2020 by M.Chapman

[geogphotos]

1 minute ago, M.Chapman said:

 

That's pretty much the technique I use, but with Lumix G7 + 45mm macro lens. But... it's a pain to set up (getting everything aligned and level, and be careful about the lightbox colour balance and possible flicker. Also best done in a darkened room to reduce stray reflections on slide emulsion.

 

Mark

 

Thanks Mark

 

I tried it out using my 24-105 and the principle seems okay, just that with that lens the final image was much too small. But it looked alright otherwise. 

[Phil Crean]

39 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

How about using a tripod with a Canon macro lens on my 5D mk3 shooting directly down over 35mm slide placed on light box ?

 

If so what Canon macros would be options?

100mm f2.8 is superb. Remember to turn the IS off when on tripod!

I used it with a set up using a Novoflex Castel-cop-digi which mounts on two rails under the camera on a Castel -Q sliding rail then lit the slide with a flash placed about 150mm behind.

It worked with 35mm and 120 slides and also B&W negs. 

 

35mm Fuji100

120 Fuji100

120 Kodak TMax100

Phil

[geogphotos]

12 minutes ago, Phil Crean said:

100mm f2.8 is superb. Remember to turn the IS off when on tripod!

I used it with a set up using a Novoflex Castel-cop-digi which mounts on two rails under the camera on a Castel -Q sliding rail then lit the slide with a flash placed about 150mm behind.

It worked with 35mm and 120 slides and also B&W negs. 

 

35mm Fuji100

120 Fuji100

120 Kodak TMax100

Phil

 

 

Very impressive Phil. Those are fantastic.

 

And that set up - Novoflex Castel-cop-digi - is actually very affordable

 

https://www.novoflex.de/en/products-637/macro/extension-bellows/universal-bellows-balpro-1/castel-cop-digi.2439.html

Edited January 29, 2020 by geogphotos

[Inchiquin]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

 

How about using a tripod with a Canon macro lens on my 5D mk3 shooting directly down over 35mm slide placed on light box ?

 

Rather than that I would probably try bellows myself, with a slide holder mounted on the end. No need for a macro lens then, and it can also be done horizontally which makes it a little easier. In fact you could use a good enlarger lens with that setup. This is what the Illumitran does.

 

Alan

[geogphotos]

2 minutes ago, Inchiquin said:

Rather than that I would probably try bellows myself, with a slide holder mounted on the end. No need for a macro lens then, and it can also be done horizontally which makes it a little easier. In fact you could use a good enlarger lens with that setup. This is what the Illumitran does.

 

Alan

 

 

Thanks Alan and sorry to be so ignorant.

 

Could you please link or give the name of the bellows set up that you are thinking of - I just have no idea. Maybe an image or diagram?

 

And I could use the 24-105 lens? Sounds perfect.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by geogphotos

[geogphotos]

This sort of thing?

 

https://fotodioxpro.com/products/macro-bellows-eos

 

https://fotodioxpro.com/products/macro-bellows-eos

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by geogphotos

[M.Chapman]

26 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

And that set up - Novoflex Castel-cop-digi - is actually very affordable

 

https://www.novoflex.de/en/products-637/macro/extension-bellows/universal-bellows-balpro-1/castel-cop-digi.2439.html

 

Don't forget you need to buy the focusing rack too. That price is just the rods and slide-holder.

 

Mark

Edited January 29, 2020 by M.Chapman

[Harry Harrison]

The Canon lens that looks most suitable would seem to be the 100mm f2.8L Macro, there's a DxOLabs comparison here.

 

That said I wouldn't go down that route either and would also use bellows arrangement, with an enlarging lens as mentioned.

 

This is worth looking at though it is designed to take a Canon lens on 'Auto' so you're paying for that. I would instead try and get an adapter to take an enlarger lens and then perhaps the slide holder that Mark mentions.

 

This

 

 

[Inchiquin]

I'm not sure I can help there, Ian. I have a set of BPM bellows which I bought in the 1970s (and which have a slide holder included) but I've no idea what's on the market these days. Perhaps others can help. You can get Canon mount adaptors, though you won't get auto functions so focus and exposure will have to be done manually. The Illumitran I picked up for a fiver on eBay has the same bellows with a Rodenstock enlarger lens.

 

In theory you could use the 24-105 but because of its size I don't think you would be able to use the slide holder. I would never use my 24-105 in any vertical setup because of zoom creep.

 

I've never actually used my bellows with the 5D2 but if I can find a spare moment today I'll try to take a photo of the setup. The thing about the bellows is that because the lens is physically separate from the camera you can use virtually any lens that's ever been produced. So if you can pick up an old good quality lens cheaply you can leave the whole thing set up while you use your camera elsewhere.

 

Alan

Edited January 29, 2020 by Inchiquin