Canon slide copying set-up

[M.Chapman]

8 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

P.S. Just in case there is an electronics expert reading this, it would be great if they could be modified inside to simply produce 1/16th of their rated power. A much smaller capacitor would be a start but I bet it's not as simple as that.

 

Looking at basic flash circuits, I'd say it stands a good chance of being that simple. Make sure the replacement/smaller capacitor is appropriately rated though with respect to voltage and discharge rate.

 

Mark

[Harry Harrison]

1 minute ago, M.Chapman said:

Looking at basic flash circuits, I'd say it stands a good chance of being that simple. Make sure the replacement/smaller capacitor is appropriately rated though with respect to voltage and discharge rate.

Thanks Mark, pretty sure I've got the circuit diagram somewhere, maybe I could ask ChatGTP what it all means? Actually there is a Low/High power rocker switch, I might just be able to decipher what that does and how it does it, there is only the single flash tube.

[M.Chapman]

Might be a similar circuit to this?

https://www.bristolwatch.com/ele/index.htm

 

Mark

[Harry Harrison]

26 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

Might be a similar circuit to this?

https://www.bristolwatch.com/ele/index.htm

 

Thanks, that looks like a great primer

[Cal]

I forgot to check this thread and went on a buying spree earlier, after spending all last night and this morning researching.

 

I already have the tripod and a camera, so I picked up a cheap Sigma 50mm macro, a Kaiser lightpad (very well regarded and with high CRI) and the "essential film holder" which is a custom rig that a bloke in his house makes to order (no joke) and gets rave reviews.

 

If it all works it'll be money well spent; I worked out that at typical lab scanning prices I'll break even after about 20 rolls, which I will surpass easily especially considering I will use this to also digitise old stock I shot as a kid. 

 

[MDM]

The 

1 hour ago, Cal said:

 

 

I already have the tripod and a camera, so I picked up a cheap Sigma 50mm macro, a Kaiser lightpad (very well regarded and with high CRI) and the "essential film holder" which is a custom rig that a bloke in his house makes to order (no joke) and gets rave reviews.

 

 

 

The biggest challenge is getting perfect alignment which is essential and takes some work using a tripod and holder as some people back in the thread discovered. That is where the ES-1 and 2 come into their own as it attaches to the lens and there is no alignment issue. Also bending over a tripod for any length of time can be painful on the back and neck. It is much easier to work horizontally. 

 

[sb photos]

11 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

Might be a similar circuit to this?

https://www.bristolwatch.com/ele/index.htm

 

Mark

 

Reminds me of a reasonably powerful strobe I built when I was around 16. It used a unijunction transistor oscillator to vary the flash rate and made a loud crack at every discharge. I remember attracting likely every moth in the neighbourhood when I activated it at night from my bedroom window. It was sometimes used on stage for a friends band, but soon lost popularity due to danger to epileptics.

Edited February 22, 2023 by sb photos

[M.Chapman]

10 hours ago, MDM said:

That is where the ES-1 and 2 come into their own as it attaches to the lens and there is no alignment issue. Also bending over a tripod for any length of time can be painful on the back and neck. It is much easier to work horizontally. 

+1

 

Also importantly, the ES-1 and 2 also reduce effect of vibration. But, if you decide to go with manual alignment (no ES-1/2 slide holder) then a small mirror can help with alignment.

e.g. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293046317730

 

Also a test slide can be very useful to check both alignment and freedom from vibration.

https://www.pixl-latr.com/product/vlads-test-target/

 

If you are using a tripod without ES1/2 slide-holder and can invert the tripod centre column, then it's possible to create pretty rigid setup.

 

Note the camera should be rotated so it contacts against one of the tripod legs (not shown in photo) as this further increases rigidity. This basic arrangement works for me with an iPad + diffuser as light source, but only because I'm happy to use AF for focusing and have a 3 pin mount to register 35mm slide location. If I was manually focusing and positioning each slide, my back and neck would take a beating. I would have used ES-1 or 2, but I needed a setup that I can also use to copy medium format.

 

Mark

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Inchiquin]

On 21/02/2023 at 09:38, Harry Harrison said:

 

Spacecadet and I are both fans of the Illumitran

 

 

As indeed am I. A few comments on some of your other points:

 

As I mentioned in an earlier thread somewhere, I have now dispensed with the bellows and mounted my DSLR direct to the Illumitran vertical strut by drilling a hole at the right height and using the tripod mounting socket with a threaded screw through an 18mm MDF spacer to position the body at the right distance from the strut. This enables me to use a macro lens on the DSLR - in my case an old FD 50mm via an adapter. This needs a bit of refinement yet, in particular something to stop the camera body rotating on the screw (even when screwed very tight) away from the horizontal. Also I may at some point enlarge the hole through the strut into a vertical slot to allow the camera to be raised and lowered.

 

I don't seem to have suffered from focus shift with this setup, though I try not to focus at full aperture anyway. My trannies range from well exposed to slightly underexposed so I use either one or two layers of ND gel. I haven't started scanning in volume yet - when I do I will try to do all the 1-layer ones first so I only need to change the gels once.

 

I'm primarily doing 6x6 and this setup is ideal for that. I don't need it for 35mm as I have a Coolscan 5000.

 

Before removing the bellows I did find that a 5D2 could just be used. It was a very tight fit and quite possibly left marks on the bottom of the camera, but it was possible.

 

Alan

[Harry Harrison]

47 minutes ago, Inchiquin said:

As indeed am I. A few comments on some of your other points:

It shows that it's also a good platform for improvisation! It's particularly well matched for mirrorless, I didn't particularly enjoy using it with the Canon 5D Mk2 although the camera was above the bellows rather than persuaded to fit on to them, the Canon always felt a little too heavy for it. My Fuji X-T2 is more or less the same size and weight as the cameras it was originally designed for and also the flip screen on my X-T2 makes it much easier and more comfortable to see the focus and framing. Focus is easily checked and zoomed at the working aperture but then you can do that with Live View on the Canon as well. I'm also very attached to the manual shutter speed dial, it's very like a film camera, but that's deliberate of course.

 

I found that even for 35mm you had to be careful to keep the flash below the half-way mark otherwise the illumination is uneven, this is more relevant for medium format of course and the red dot is there specifically for MF so that you don't raise the platform too high. In practice a bit of vignetting doesn't show for transparencies but for colour negative it's not good at all as the boost in contrast when converting accentuates it and vignetting turns to pale corners which is not a good look. I think I will eventually fit the CS-Lite inside but like Mark C I have another setup that is easier for medium format so I tend to use that at the moment.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[Cal]

On 22/02/2023 at 07:47, M.Chapman said:

+1

 

Also importantly, the ES-1 and 2 also reduce effect of vibration. But, if you decide to go with manual alignment (no ES-1/2 slide holder) then a small mirror can help with alignment.

e.g. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293046317730

 

Also a test slide can be very useful to check both alignment and freedom from vibration.

https://www.pixl-latr.com/product/vlads-test-target/

 

If you are using a tripod without ES1/2 slide-holder and can invert the tripod centre column, then it's possible to create pretty rigid setup.

 

If I was manually focusing and positioning each slide, my back and neck would take a beating.

 

 

Could you not sit at the desk, and tilt the screen of the camera upwards?

[M.Chapman]

2 hours ago, Cal said:

 

Could you not sit at the desk, and tilt the screen of the camera upwards?

 

Good idea - If the camera display doesn't hit the other tripod leg - I'll try it next time. The camera display information will still be upside down, but it should make it easier if I need to manual focus or selectively position each frame - which I don't normally. (I just set it up once, using a small mirror, and then swap slides whilst relying on AF + AE and my 3 pin slide location mounts to do the rest. I can copy slides at a rate of about one to two a minute including blowing/brushing dust off each slide). 

 

Mark

Edited February 23, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Martin L]

I use a Canon and they have good tethering software so everything on the camera can be controlled from the PC. Makes it a lot easier.

[sooth]

.

Edited October 19, 2023 by sooth

[Martin L]

5 minutes ago, sooth said:

 

also the app for remote shooting via wifi which includes zoom/magnifying the image by double tapping the live view. 

..... WiFi! On my 10 year old 7d. I wish

[sooth]

.

Edited October 19, 2023 by sooth

[Cal]

16 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Good idea - If the camera display doesn't hit the other tripod leg - I'll try it next time. The camera display information will still be upside down, but it should make it easier if I need to manual focus or selectively position each frame - which I don't normally. (I just set it up once, using a small mirror, and then swap slides whilst relying on AF + AE and my 3 pin slide location mounts to do the rest. I can copy slides at a rate of about one to two a minute including blowing/brushing dust off each slide). 

 

Mark

 

I am surprised when you tilt the screen upwards in such a way the display does not rotate. That camera looks newer than My ancient Sony DSLTs which thankfully do that.

 

I tried out my setup last night, as I now have all the bits except the EFH. Camera and tripod on the desk above lightpad, like your setup. Lens set to MF, camera tethered to computer. Negative on the lightpad, the rest of the light blocked out with whatever materials I could find at the time. Level the lens using live view zoom, focus on the film grain. Set exposure (I have found depending on how the negative was exposed depends how I should set the camera to expose, for best results it's not always the same as other negs). Then I can take the photo, import into LR, turn the neg into a positive with Negative Lab Pro, remove all the dust, done. It can all be done sitting and once I get the EFH, which both isolates single frames and blocks stray light, as well as acts as a loader, I should be able to rattle through entire rolls in half an hour or so, including initial setup and tuning.

Obviously dealing with slides is easier as there is no neg to pos conversion (I will find out when I run my roll of Ektachrome), but it's been nice to see some of the photos I took as a kid to come back to life again - just a shame the PnS I was using had an awful soft lens. The dust removal takes longest, but I don't mind it as unlike digital they are sharp points and very easy to see.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Cal
bit optimistic on the time taken

[Allan Bell]

I have prepared a setup after obtaining a cheap but quality and functional enlarger column with hight adjustment unit still attached, but no enlarger head, off eBay.

Had to build a baseboard with holder to fix the column in vertical position, front to back and side to side.

Then made up an adapter to affix a tripod head to the vertical adjuster with the tripod head platform in the vertical position so the camera body, when attached, points down to the baseboard.

 

To set the lens square to the baseboard I will first make sure the baseboard is level front to back and side to side. I have a spirit level which attaches to the camera flash mount and using the movements in the tripod head set camera body and hence lens square to the baseboard.

 

I have an LED Light panel for viewing slides and recently acquired an EFH (Essential Film Holder) with various mask sizes so I can start seriously digitising strip film negatives and mounted slides.

 

A lot of work I hear you say.  Yes but as I am an engineer with time to spare it was fun AND a lot cheaper than some other methods.

 

Allan

 

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, Cal said:

 

I am surprised when you tilt the screen upwards in such a way the display does not rotate. That camera looks newer than My ancient Sony DSLTs which thankfully do that.

The image on the screen does flip, but only when the display is rotated beyond about 120 degs. At which point the camera decides I'm trying to take a selfie. So when the lens is pointing downwards and I rotate the display by over 120 it's angled downwards by about 30 degrees. Maybe I shoud try wi-fi to my phone or tablet instead (there is an app for that).

 

Update - thethered shooting via wi-fi works.🙂

 

Mark

Edited February 24, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Cal]

3 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

I have an LED Light panel for viewing slides and recently acquired an EFH (Essential Film Holder) with various mask sizes so I can start seriously digitising strip film negatives and mounted slides.

 

 

 

Nice to see someone else using the EFH. I presume all is well with the film loading aspect, and it does its job at blocking out stray light? That's the biggest problem with DSLR scanning setups other than focus; if there is any stray light bouncing around it ruins contrast. How will you be converting negs? NLP or something else? I tried manual method in LR, I have two words, the second is "that".

[Harry Harrison]

39 minutes ago, Cal said:

I presume all is well with the film loading aspect, and it does its job at blocking out stray light?

I have read of people putting some kind of surround around it to prevent light getting out. I believe that Andrew Clifforth is also working on a way for it to work with short strips of film as it is designed to take whole rolls (or single transparencies) and it is seemingly excellent for that, unlike anything else I think, especially v3. Strips of film can be a bit difficult to load as they can stick on the far edge of the frame unless completely flat. He recommends cutting the film leader at an angle to counter this but of course that's not an option if the film has already been cut into strips.

[Allan Bell]

14 hours ago, Cal said:

 

Nice to see someone else using the EFH. I presume all is well with the film loading aspect, and it does its job at blocking out stray light? That's the biggest problem with DSLR scanning setups other than focus; if there is any stray light bouncing around it ruins contrast. How will you be converting negs? NLP or something else? I tried manual method in LR, I have two words, the second is "that".

 

I have some black foam board which will be fixed over the light panel with a small cutout the right size for the EFH.

 

Allan

 

[Harry Harrison]

6 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

I have some black foam board which will be fixed over the light panel with a small cutout the right size for the EFH.

I realise that I wasn't clear, the suggestion I read was that light bleeds out through the perspex at the side, you're absolutely right that the panel itself has to be masked off but it's surprising how many people show pictures of their setups where this hasn't been done.

[Allan Bell]

Just now, Harry Harrison said:

I realise that I wasn't clear, the suggestion I read was that light bleeds out through the perspex at the side, you're absolutely right that the panel itself has to be masked off but it's surprising how many people show pictures of their setups where this hasn't been done.

 

Thanks harry. If I see that happening I will invent a light blocking addition.

 

Allan

 

[Harry Harrison]

13 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

Thanks harry. If I see that happening I will invent a light blocking addition.

 

I can't imagine that much light gets out that way but I suppose there might be some circumstances when it could reflect off something.