Canon slide copying set-up

[MDM]

On 07/02/2020 at 15:48, Klinger said:

  

 

Can you explain tunnel effect please. Do you mean when adding to the front of the lens, instead of tubes to the back of the lens? I have the 58mm version the old 100mm macro Canon.

 

 

 

Deleted

 

According to Harry's post, that lens will work with a step down ring and extenders in front of the lens. I have a Tamron 90 macro lens with 58mm thread which I will be checking out. At the moment it won't focus close enough. I will know a lot more when the boat arrives from China with the extenders that go in front of the lens and will report here.

Edited February 19, 2020 by MDM

[KevinS]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

 

I will probably buy the Canon 100mm L lens next week and make a start with tripod/lightbox and see how I get on with that.

 

I am the very last person you want to be any sort of pioneer for this sort of thing! But will happily post back on the results of the above. I have the slide holder from my Minolta Dimage scanner and, if necessary, will figure out some system using card to place the slide in the same position beneath the camera/lens. And if that doesn't work out it looks like a lens that it will be very interesting to have anyway. 

I skimmed this long thread and don't see a mention of the Canon 50mm f/2.5 Macro. It takes 52mm filters, so the Nikon ES-1 threads right on, eliminating the alignment problem (which I agree is a big plus for ES-1). I don't have the "Life size converter" that is available for this lens. Instead, I use a 25mm extension tube between the camera & lens. With that a slide nearly fills the frame, which is consistent with the fact that ES-1 is designed for a slightly longer lens. Haven't done any work with this yet. Should I find some time, I'll post the results here. I think the Canon lens is very close to the 55 Micro-Nikkor. I do have that lens also and hope to compare them sometime.  

[MDM]

9 minutes ago, KevinS said:

I skimmed this long thread and don't see a mention of the Canon 50mm f/2.5 Macro. It takes 52mm filters, so the Nikon ES-1 threads right on, eliminating the alignment problem (which I agree is a big plus for ES-1). I don't have the "Life size converter" that is available for this lens. Instead, I use a 25mm extension tube between the camera & lens. With that a slide nearly fills the frame, which is consistent with the fact that ES-1 is designed for a slightly longer lens. Haven't done any work with this yet. Should I find some time, I'll post the results here. I think the Canon lens is very close to the 55 Micro-Nikkor. I do have that lens also and hope to compare them sometime.  

 

Yes that was mentioned by John Richmond way back somewhere (Page 4 in fact) and would definitely be the best way to go for a Canon user. Using a telephoto is a fudge really. You are the first person to actually confirm it works. The only drawback is that Canon don't seem to make that lens any more but there are secondhand ones available. That can now be the official recommendation for Canon users.

Edited February 7, 2020 by MDM

[Harry Harrison]

31 minutes ago, KevinS said:

I think the Canon lens is very close to the 55 Micro-Nikkor. I do have that lens also and hope to compare them sometime.  

Great information, it will be very interesting to hear about your comparisons between the Canon 50mm f2.5 & the Micro-Nikkor 55mm.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[KevinS]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

Yes that was mentioned by John Richmond way back somewhere (Page 4 in fact) and would definitely be the best way to go for a Canon user. Using a telephoto is a fudge really. You are the first person to actually confirm it works. The only drawback is that Canon don't seem to make that lens any more but there are secondhand ones available. That can now be the official recommendation for Canon users.

Sorry, must have skimmed too fast! Got mine 2nd hand for little money. The life size converter costs as much as the lens, but probably worth it as I think there are optical elements in it, and may be an improvement over extension tube.

1 hour ago, Harry Harrison said:

Great information, it will be very interesting to hear about your comparisons between the Canon 50mm f2.5 & the Micro-Nikkor 55mm.

Winter is the time I dabble in these type of projects, but slowly. Hope to spend some time on this soon. The two lenses look similar, and both produce sharp photos in normal use. If the ES-1 allows a good result, I'll forgo the numerous bellows, etc., that I've accumulated 

 

edit; ordered life size converter, will test next week

Edited February 7, 2020 by KevinS

[NYCat]

I just have to comment that I really admire you guys. I think you are all guys. I hope I'm not being sexist but it seems to me one of those admirable guy things that you enjoy the technical talk and trying things, helping each other. Bravo.

 

Paulette

[MDM]

55 minutes ago, NYCat said:

I just have to comment that I really admire you guys. I think you are all guys. I hope I'm not being sexist but it seems to me one of those admirable guy things that you enjoy the technical talk and trying things, helping each other. Bravo.

 

Paulette

 

Thanks for that lovely comment Paulette. I am very much inclined to agree although it is very important before treading on dangerous ground to point out that that is a generalisation and there are lots of women who like techie stuff and lots of guys who don't. And there are variations. My mind works well on cameras, computers and all that stuff but when it comes to mechanical things like cars then forget it. 

[Betty LaRue]

I don’t do mechanical or tech. But I can bake (and cook) well, do artistic things, paint watercolor, take photos and refinish furniture or do home projects, and from what I’m told, I’m good at interior decorating.

Funny thing, like Paulette, I’ve been following this thread with interest but probably not like Paulette, I’m not understanding any of it.  I’d like to do something with the slides I have, but I’m somewhat like Ian. The want-to is there, the how-to is beyond me.

Betty

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

I don’t do mechanical or tech. But I can bake (and cook) well, do artistic things, paint watercolor, take photos and refinish furniture or do home projects, and from what I’m told, I’m good at interior decorating.

Funny thing, like Paulette, I’ve been following this thread with interest but probably not like Paulette, I’m not understanding any of it.  I’d like to do something with the slides I have, but I’m somewhat like Ian. The want-to is there, the how-to is beyond me.

Betty

 

Actually Betty it is a really simple process for anyone with a Nikon camera, preferably full frame and with at least 24MP.  You then need an  ES-1 and ES-2 copier - these are small devices that screw into the front of the lens and hold slides or film strips (ES-2 only). You also need a standard macro lens - Nikon have 3 lenses (55mm and two 60mm lenses) that are compatible. Lighting can be daylight, flash or continuous LED or the like. There are other bits that might be needed depending on which lens you have but ignore that for now. The key point is that it is a relatively inexpensive kit if you have a suitable camera and lens. I did, as well as a lot of old slides and negs that I have been meaning to get around to digitising properly for years, hence my interest.

 

The complexity in this thread arose from Ian wanting to use a Canon instead of Nikon and then falling in the love with the idea of buying a Canon 100mm L lens which makes things a lot more difficult, hence the huge thread. However, we have been suggesting a Canon 50mm macro  lens instead which makes life a lot simpler but we were not sure it would work until this evening when Kevin confirmed that it does.That's about it.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by MDM

[sooth]

.

Edited October 19, 2023 by sooth
filter size of es-1

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Actually Betty it is a really simple process for anyone with a Nikon camera, preferably full frame and with at least 24MP.  You then need an  ES-1 and ES-2 copier - these are small devices that screw into the front of the lens and hold slides or film strips (ES-2 only). You also need a standard macro lens - Nikon have 3 lenses (55mm and two 60mm lenses) that are compatible. Lighting can be daylight, flash or continuous LED or the like. There are other bits that might be needed depending on which lens you have but ignore that for now. The key point is that it is a relatively inexpensive kit if you have a suitable camera and lens. I did, as well as a lot of old slides and negs that I have been meaning to get around to digitising properly for years, hence my interest.

 

The complexity in this thread arose from Ian wanting to use a Canon instead of Nikon and then falling in the love with the idea of buying a Canon 100mm L lens which makes things a lot more difficult, hence the huge thread. However, we have been suggesting a Canon 50mm macro  lens instead which makes life a lot simpler but we were not sure it would work until this evening when Kevin confirmed that it does.That's about it.

 

 

Thanks, MDM. I no longer have Nikon and won’t spend to get it.  But I do have a 24mp Fuji X-T2, a pricy sharp-as-a-tack 80mm 1:1 macro, and a light table. And I found the link below. Not sure if one of my tripods will work, but I think so. I remember shooting straight down at the light table when I was using it to shoot a few stems of plants.  That went on when I was caregiving and pretty stressed, so it’s a bit foggy in my mind. I had to fight hard to get a minute to even try something new.

Seems like the tripod was wanting to sag off of where I put it, though. I still have my husband’s tripods, 2 or 3, that I haven’t tried yet.

This link is very simplistic, but hey, I understand it! 

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/tutorials/digitizing-slides-and-prints-using-a-dslr-or-mirrorless-camera

 

Betty

[geogphotos]

4 hours ago, sooth said:

tunnel effect=possibility of vignetting.

 

i have the 100mm 2.8L macro and to get it to work with the ES-1 will require a stepdown ring from 67mm to 62mm and enough extension to get to minimum focus (1:1 copy ratio is available at minimum focus) which is 11.5inches from the subject to the focal plane, or ~5.5inches from the subject to the front of the lens. however, using a stepdown ring can lead to vignetting. i tried this with a toilet paper tube (45mm diameter) and there was some slight vignetting. 

 

the ES-1 is sized to fit a 62mm filter thread,  it's not a problem if you use the canon 100mm f/2.8 non L as it's filter size is smaller (58mm), but the L version is 67mm and that can cause problems.  you also have to factor in light falloff at the edge of the frame will be much more than in the center, so one will have to adjust this using software

 

the other problem is that this macro lens has a razor thin depth of field, even less at minimum focus, so have to get the slide copy absolutely flat for it to work

 

 

 

 

That's very interesting and useful.

 

Have you used this lens for slide copying using a tripod - camera pointing down to slide illuminated below by lightbox?

[geogphotos]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

This link is very simplistic, but hey, I understand it! 

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/tutorials/digitizing-slides-and-prints-using-a-dslr-or-mirrorless-camera

 

Betty

 

 

Great link Betty. Just what I am thinking of doing.

[MDM]

4 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Thanks, MDM. I no longer have Nikon and won’t spend to get it.  But I do have a 24mp Fuji X-T2, a pricy sharp-as-a-tack 80mm 1:1 macro, and a light table. And I found the link below. Not sure if one of my tripods will work, but I think so. I remember shooting straight down at the light table when I was using it to shoot a few stems of plants.  That went on when I was caregiving and pretty stressed, so it’s a bit foggy in my mind. I had to fight hard to get a minute to even try something new.

Seems like the tripod was wanting to sag off of where I put it, though. I still have my husband’s tripods, 2 or 3, that I haven’t tried yet.

This link is very simplistic, but hey, I understand it! 

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/tutorials/digitizing-slides-and-prints-using-a-dslr-or-mirrorless-camera

 

Betty

 

The problem with copying slides with that setup is getting the slide and lens perfectly aligned because the slide is so tiny and the depth of field so small.  Copying prints like that should be fine but slides and negs are different  Of course it is possible but it is not the optimal method, as getting the alignment right every shot is likely to be time consuming. The Nikon copiers are great for this reason as would be the rail  method suggested by Phil Crean on page 1. 

[Harry Harrison]

4 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Seems like the tripod was wanting to sag off of where I put it, though.

That could be a problem then. In fact although those pictures of cameras dangling off tripods to point at a slide on a light table look so straightforward they hide a multitude of potential problems, which is partly why this thread has gone on for as long as it has. Doing one or two that way to see if it works is OK, but doing it repeatedly for many slides probably needs a different solution.

 

Photographing a slide seems like such an innocent requirement but to do it properly, with maximum resolution, is in fact an extreme test for the equipment used and for the technique:

 

The slide has to be precisely square to the axis of the lens.

Depth of field is tiny, focus has to be spot on and may possibly needs to accomodate some unevenness in the film itself.

The light sourceshould be full spectrum (high CRI) and even across the frame.

There should be no potential for flare, so the light source needs to be masked off.

The camera has to be mounted rigidly so that it cannot move in relation to the slide.

The lens has to be optimised for a flat field at the required magnification, roughly 0.7:1 for APS-C.

 

A copy stand is much better than a tripod for this type of work, a a macro-focusing stage on a copy stand is even better. Flash is a good light source but LED can be also.

 

However, every complex problem is looking for a simple solution and the Nikon ES-1 (or ES-2) combined with the well tried and tested stellar quality of the Nikon 55m or 60mm Micro-Nikkor is that solution, on a Nikon at least. However it can be adapted to use on other cameras with different degrees of ingenuity, I use the 55mm Micro-Nikkor on a Canon for example but I don't use the ES-1, however it would go straight on if I had one, no problem at all. It wouldn't even know it was on a Canon but I would need to stop the lens down manually.

 

This thread gives information about using the ES-1 on a Fuji, it looks very simple, just add 21mm of extension tubes.

 

Thread

 

Edit:

I actually think that the main reason that it was Nikon who market this accessory is just because of the 55mm or 60mm Micro-Nikkor. They know the quality for this application will be excellent, other manufacturers may not be so sure.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Harry Harrison said:

That could be a problem then. In fact although those pictures of cameras dangling off tripods to point at a slide on a light table look so straightforward they hide a multitude of potential problems, which is partly why this thread has gone on for as long as it has. Doing one or two that way to see if it works is OK, but doing it repeatedly for many slides probably needs a different solution.

 

Photographing a slide seems like such an innocent requirement but to do it properly, with maximum resolution, is in fact an extreme test for the equipment used and for the technique:

 

The slide has to be precisely square to the axis of the lens.

Depth of field is tiny, focus has to be spot on and may possibly needs to accomodate some unevenness in the film itself.

The light sourceshould be full spectrum (high CRI) and even across the frame.

There should be no potential for flare, so the light source needs to be masked off.

The camera has to be mounted rigidly so that it cannot move in relation to the slide.

The lens has to be optimised for a flat field at the required magnification, roughly 0.7:1 for APS-C.

 

A copy stand is much better than a tripod for this type of work, a a macro-focusing stage on a copy stand is even better. Flash is a good light source but LED can be also.

 

However, every complex problem is looking for a simple solution and the Nikon ES-1 (or ES-2) combined with the well tried and tested stellar quality of the Nikon 55m or 60mm Micro-Nikkor is that solution, on a Nikon at least. However it can be adapted to use on other cameras with different degrees of ingenuity, I use the 55mm Micro-Nikkor on a Canon for example but I don't use the ES-1, however it would go straight on if I had one, no problem at all. It wouldn't even know it was on a Canon but I would need to stop the lens down manually.

 

This thread gives information about using the ES-1 on a Fuji, it looks very simple, just add 21mm of extension tubes.

 

Thread

 

Edit:

I actually think that the main reason that it was Nikon who market this accessory is just because of the 55mm or 60mm Micro-Nikkor. They know the quality for this application will be excellent, other manufacturers may not be so sure.

 

 

 

 

An excellent summary Harry. Two points: 

 

1. I would suggest that it is better to use a high CRI LED rather than flash as that makes focusing easier and anything that makes focusing easier is a big plus. 

 

2. Rather than messing about with adapters, extenders and wondering if the ES-1 or ES-2 will work on your Fuji, Canon etc, the method suggested by Phil on page 1 makes life a lot simpler for non-Nikon users and has the advantage that it will work on medium format as well as 35mm. Cost for the copier and focus rack is around £300 it seems from Speedgraphic, the authorised supplier of Novoflex equipment in the UK. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by MDM

[M.Chapman]

Grain reduction

 

As promised I did some multi-exposure tests and compared with Gaussian smooth. Here are three 200% crops.

 

 

On the right is a single exposure from my slide.

In the middle - the result of a 0.3 radius Gaussian blur

On the left the result of taking 10 shots and averaging in PS.

 

The 10 shot average does reduce the "harshness" of the grain, and looses a little less sharpness than the Gaussian blur.

 

Here are direct links to the 3 crops. If you download and then load all three as a layer stack in PS and toggle between them at 200% it's easier to spot the differences. I included the dust deliberately as it's the sharpest thing in the frame 🙂

 

500 x500 crops of these images can be found here.

 

NB. These are 200% crops from 24MP images that have not been downsized for Alamy. If I was submitting they would be downsized to 6MP at which size they look much better.

 

Mark

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by M.Chapman

[Harry Harrison]

30 minutes ago, MDM said:

1. I would suggest that it is better to use a high CRI LED rather than flash as that makes focusing easier and anything that makes focusing easier is a big plus. 

Thanks, personally because I'm set up for it I prefer flash but if you can source a bright enough LED with a specified high CRI it should give fast enough shutter speeds to avoid any risk of vibration affecting sharpness, which is always a factor. I haven't mentioned mirror lock-up with DSLRs but obviously that is sensible, as is using a 2 sec delay.

 

30 minutes ago, MDM said:

Rather than messing about with adapters, extenders and wondering if the ES-1 or ES-2 will work on your Fuji, Canon etc, the method suggested by Phil on page 1 makes life a lot simpler for non-Nikon users and has the advantage that it will work on medium format as well as 35mm. Cost for the copier and focus rack is around £300 it seems from Speedgraphic, the authorised supplier of Novoflex equipment in the UK. 

Phil's method looks good but it is only for Canon and involves buying a rather expensive 100mm f2.8L Macro lens and the Novoflex rig, though the much cheaper non-L version is probably as good for this. However the 55mm or 60mm Micro-Nikkors are tried and tested and the ES-1 is designed to fit on them. It's not a question of whether it will work on a Canon, or Sony or a Fuji for that matter, it will give exactly the same quality as it will on your Nikon (unless perhaps your Nikon applies any lens-specific corrections). The user will have to forego automatic stop-down on exposure but that's no big deal.

 

Basically you still have the sensor at one end and the slide at the other, some extension tubes and a Micro-Nikkor in between, a closed system so the camera used hardly matters. I suppose the Fuji is slightly different in that it is an APS-C sensor and so the magnification required will actually be less, I suspect it will be fine.

Edited February 8, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[MDM]

11 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

Grain reduction

 

A

 

On the right is a single exposure from my slide.

In the middle - the result of a 0.3 radius Gaussian blur

On the left the result of taking 10 shots and averaging in PS.

 

The 10 shot average does reduce the grain, and looses a little less sharpness than the Gaussian blur.

 

Here are direct links to the 3 crops. If you download and load as a layer stack in PS and toggle between them at 200% it's easier to spot the differences.

I included the dust deliberately as it's the sharpest thing in the frame 🙂

 

 

Left image

Middle image

Right image

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

Can you explain what averaging in Photoshop is? It does seem like a lot of effort for not a lot of gain but I am not understanding the technique. I tend to use a stronger Gaussian blur  (1.5) although still fairly weak, either by selecting the sky or blurring a second layer and using layer masking to 

 

 

The ads on that photo hosting site you use are a bit off-putting - sexy Russian women indeed 😀. Any reason you don't use Dropbox?

[MDM]

16 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Thanks, personally because I'm set up for it I prefer flash but if you can source a bright enough LED with a specified high CRI it should give fast enough shutter speeds to avoid any risk of vibration affecting sharpness, which is always a factor. I haven't mentioned mirror lock-up with DSLRs but obviously that is sensible, as is using a 2 sec delay.

 

Phil's method looks good but it is only for Canon and involves buying a rather expensive 100mm f2.8L Macro lens and the Novoflex rig, though the much cheaper non-L version is probably as good for this. However the 50mm or 60mm Micro-Nikkors are tried and tested and the ES-1 is designed to fit on them. It's not a question of whether it will work on a Canon, or Sony or a Fuji for that matter, it will give exactly the same quality as it will on your Nikon (unless perhaps your Nikon applies any lens-specific corrections). The user will have to forego automatic stop-down on exposure but that's no big deal.

 

Basically you still have the sensor at one end and the slide at the other, some extension tubes and a Micro-Nikkor in between, a closed system so the camera used hardly matters. I suppose the Fuji is slightly different in that it is an APS-C sensor and so the magnification required will actually be less, I suspect it will be fine.

 

Yes but  you still need to use a bright light for accurate focus. I do use mirror-up and give it a few seconds to settle with a manual cable release. What I haven't done yet is use the electronic 1st curtain setting on the D810. I must try that.

 

In relation to cost, I meant for people who already have a 1:1 macro lens but I was aiming for simplicity of explanation. A lot of people want an out of the box solution and the Novoflex setup seems ideal for those with existing non-Nikon gear. For those without a macro lens, what you suggest is interesting but requires adapters , further explanation and bespoke solutions for each camera. I can see them falling asleep already

 

I agree that the micro-Nikkor 55 is an unbelievable lens as well and can easily be used as you describe (with extension ring). Exact same image quality and camera used is very arguable though, as dynamic range is vitally important. For dynamic range, the FF Nikons and the Sonys are still well out in front it would seem - but that is another story. 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by MDM

[Harry Harrison]

1 minute ago, MDM said:

Exact same image quality

Yes, I was thinking in terms of sharpness. Comparing the dynamic range of Sony, Canon, Nikon & Fuji would have to be another thread. Not!

[Harry Harrison]

4 minutes ago, MDM said:

Novoflex setup seems ideal for those with existing non-Nikon gear

Even though I don't have one I can see how good the ES-1 is, how it deals so simply with many of the potential problems I described. I think it's probably at least worth considering for anyone and it's probably best suited to a Micro-Nikkor. That said I'm very interested to learn how Kevin gets on with his comparisons.

 

Yes, many will prefer an off-the-shelf solution, but copying slides is not necessarily top of the list when designing even a high-end Macro lens. The Micro-Nikkor just works.

[M.Chapman]

43 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

 

Can you explain what averaging in Photoshop is? It does seem like a lot of effort for not a lot of gain but I am not understanding the technique. I tend to use a stronger Gaussian blur  (1.5) although still fairly weak, either by selecting the sky or blurring a second layer and using layer masking to 

 

 

The ads on that photo hosting site you use are a bit off-putting - sexy Russian women indeed 😀. Any reason you don't use Dropbox?

 

Take 10 shots

Import into LR

Make all tonal adjustments (except crop) on 1st image

Synchronise adjustments and export 10 images as 16 bit TIFF or PSD

Load all 10 images into stack with auto align enabled. (there's a single command for this)

Then set layer opacities to (bottom to top) 100%, 50%, 33%, 25%, 20%, 17%, 15%, 13%, 11%, 10% (sequence is 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc.

Then flatten image

Dust spot in PS (not easy in LR if images weren't precisely aligned)

Then crop to remove any edge problems caused by image realignment.

Done.

 

Only worth the hassle if you have a really valuable slide to salvage I would suggest.

 

Ads - Oh... I don't see any Ads at all, it must be my ad-blocker saving me. I never realised that. I'll go back and alter the links. Terribly sorry.

 

Update ... turned off my Adblocker and I still don't see any Ads on the links I used. That's weird... Maybe cookies are involved and it knows I posted the images, so doesn't show me the Ads?? I've edited my earlier posting to use direct image links, which hopefully has stopped the Ads?

 

I'll investigate using Dropbox too.

 

Mark

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by M.Chapman

[Harry Harrison]

15 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

Update ... turned off my Adblocker and I still don't see any Ads on the links I used

Would logging in with a private window allow you to see them?

 

They've always been there for me, strangely they all live in Wargrave, who'd have thought it. That's where Google seems to think I live also, which is handy.

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Harry Harrison said:

 

 

They've always been there for me, strangely they all live in Wargrave, who'd have thought it. That's where Google seems to think I live also, which is handy.

 

Mine all live in Cambridgeshire funny enough. These Russian ladies do get around it seems. 

 

 

1 hour ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Take 10 shots

Import into LR

Make all tonal adjustments (except crop) on 1st image

Synchronise adjustments and export 10 images as 16 bit TIFF or PSD

Load all 10 images into stack with auto align enabled. (there's a single command for this)

Then set layer opacities to (bottom to top) 100%, 50%, 33%, 25%, 20%, 17%, 15%, 13%, 11%, 10% (sequence is 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc.

Then flatten image

Dust spot in PS (not easy in LR if images weren't precisely aligned)

Then crop to remove any edge problems caused by image realignment.

Done.

 

Only worth the hassle if you have a really valuable slide to salvage I would suggest.

 

Ads - Oh... I don't see any Ads at all, it must be my ad-blocker saving me. I never realised that. I'll go back and alter the links. Terribly sorry.

 

Update ... turned off my Adblocker and I still don't see any Ads on the links I used. That's weird... Maybe cookies are involved and it knows I posted the images, so doesn't show me the Ads?? I've edited my earlier posting to use direct image links, which hopefully has stopped the Ads?

 

I'll investigate using Dropbox too.

 

Mark

 

 

 

Thanks for posting that Mark. It would probably be possible to set up an action to do a lot of it but it still seems like an awful lot of work. 

 

I worry a bit about downloading images from a site that carries ads for dubious services. My Russian ladies all live in Cambridgeshire. I do recommend Dropbox as there are no ads as far as I know and you can post raw images as well which is a big advantage. It is free up to 2GB I think. It was wim who pointed me there as an image sharing site. 

 

Anyway if anyone is interested I have just uploaded some pics to Dropbox which illustrate a few things related to grain and noise. All on Nikon D810 with 55mm Micro-Nikkor, extension ring, ES-1, tripod and Rotolight Neo 2 LED as light source. 

 

The pictures of the little boy (my son about 17-18 years ago) were taken on Ilford XP-2 I think (chromogenic BW negative film). I was using that for a while in the early 2000s as it was easy to get developed and I would then scan the negs on my LS4000.

 

Kid1 is just a straightforward shot, converted to BW in LR to remove a pink-purple cast and inverted to a positive in PS. I have cleaned and adjusted it a bit but no extra noise reduction in PS as the grain this is real film grain and I think it suits the picture.

 

KidTDN1 is the same picture processed from the raw in Topaz DeNoise. At first it looks really clean and almost free of grain or noise but closer inspection makes it look like the mad retoucher has been at work - the skin looks like plastic. And there are some weird noise artifacts. I should say I have only used Topaz DeNoise a few times and it might be possible to get better results as there are a few settings to play with.

 

Sollipulli922DS is a typical example of what I have been doing with my old slides. This is probably Velvia 50 (I would have to break the slide mount to check). Most of the processing, including sharpening and noise reduction, was done in Lightroom and then opened into Photoshop. I selected the sky and applied a gaussian blur of 1.5 followed by cleaning of spots. My slides are remarkably clean as they have lived mostly in the Fuji boxes in plastic bags for years so I don't touch them apart from a little blow with a jumbo blower. I then downsized to its present size to sharpen and decrease noise. I think this would have no problem with Alamy QC.

 

Sollipulli922TDNDS is the same slide processed from the raw in Topaz DeNoise (coffee time) and then some adjustments made on the resulting DNG file in Lightroom before opening and cleaning in PS. The sky is very clean but there is a very noticeable artifact on the boundary between the rocks and the sky which ruins the picture. I could have worked on this more but I don't think it is worth the effort as Sollipulli922DS is fine as it is.

 

Stromboli921DS and Stromboli921TDNDS have had similar treatment except I didn't apply any gaussian blurs in Photoshop. Stromboli921DS is noisy whereas Stromboli921TDNDS is very clean and there are no artifacts that I can see from running it through Topaz DeNoise so that one wins here I think. 

 

Finally Sollipulli923 is an example of the amazing dynamic range obtainable with the system I am using. I was able to restore detail in the snow as well as in black areas on the glacier. Most of the work was done on the raw nef in Lightroom apart from blurring the sky as above and spotting in Photoshop.

 

Please feel free to download, examine and comment.