Take the 50mm lens off your F3, put it on the D40 and go to it. A fifty has less pincushion distortion than the cheap zooms. If your D40 has the optional grid lines in the viewfinder that will help you get it squared up.
Take the 50mm lens off your F3, put it on the D40 and go to it. A fifty has less pincushion distortion than the cheap zooms. If your D40 has the optional grid lines in the viewfinder that will help you get it squared up.
Try the 50mm first. You're not near the macro range with that size subject. It will be plenty good. The keys are alignment and lighting.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Like others I think a D40 and a 50 will be great.
If you have white ceilings, I find I have better lighting by bouncing my lights of the ceiling. I use 2 strobes, but anything can be made to work. Nothing is moving...
Then open the file in PS and try 'auto color' Try that first, then try other things. Also shoot in color not B&W.
Tin Can
Hi Will,
If you have two lights and can control the ambient light in the room, set the lights to a 45 degree angle to the artwork and adjust for even illumination. You should have polarizing filters over the lights and the lens to eliminate all glare. As others have said, the 50mm on the D40 should be a good combination to record your images.
In my studio I have two Eversmart Pro II scanners that can scan HUGE prints and negatives. HOWEVER...for making a quick'n'dirty copy of a large print you should do exactly what Randy Moe suggested above. It's usually what I do. I have 9-foot flat white ceilings in my studio and I take my two Speedo head and bounce them way back so I get very even illumination on the copy work. If there's any *very slight* falloff from top to bottom, it is easily corrected with a graduated filter in Lightroom. I also like to shoot the copywork with a color and greyscale chart so I can get an idea of light temperature and scale.
Here's an example of a 4x10 and a 12x20. The 4x10 is a pt/pd print and the 12x20 is a salted paper print. I use this method all the time and I get wonderful results.
Indeed! Several 50mm Nikkors scattered about, so grabbed the first one that flew by and sure enough! It worked! I had been under the impression that older lenses would not work on the D40, but I set it to manual and it's like a new toy to play with! I'm still hunt and peck on the exposure, but I do have meters. My only concern here is that 50mm seems a bit long for the D40's miniature sensor. But this is a big step forward. I'll sandbag the little Nikon down on a heavy studio tripod. I have a couple of vacuum easels that should help with this. And I've got a small Speedotron kit now for lighting.
Thanks to all of you who responded! This aspect of ULF had bugged me for a while. I had been afraid that I would have to invest money in scanners on the brink of extinction, drivers and image processing software that I don't want to have to pay for and have little use for otherwise. Great to be able to use the small bits that I already have on hand.
So much work to be done!...
Watch out for some Pre AI Nikkors on some newer Nikon cameras.
Read this and don't break any Nikon bodies. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm
Tin Can
Thanks Randy. The lens I grabbed this morning is an old Non-AI 50mm, f/2. I figured I'd lose metering even before I determined that it was Non-AI. But that's OK. I could find the correct setting by guessing, then hunting and pecking until it looked good. But I'll be careful; don't want to break anything!!
Be careful with newer than D40 cameras.
I had one f 1.2 converted by http://www.aiconversions.com/
Great honest guy. He actually told me not to convert a lens as it was collector quality.
Tin Can
Does everything said here so far pre-suppose that the image to be copied is a print?
I don't have a darkroom for printing, just film developing in a Jobo; I plan on shooting 14x17 in the next year, but doubtful that I'd be able to have a darkroom for contact printing.
If anyone else here goes only as far as a negative, what do you do to have it digitally printed? Or is it scanned/photographed to share on the web?
Thanks
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