X or X/ Y Axis Manual Stages for stitching while camera scanning?

[joelio]

Hello all -

Anyone out there using a manual stage for shifting their negatives while using a digital camera scanning set up?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[roscoetuff-Skip Mersereau]

Thinking about it. Not sure where to find a geared table. Geared with servo motors - that would be the holy grail. Otherwise if you put the table on a couple of sliders and gave it the equivalent of a "hockey rink" in which you moved ONLY to the 4 corners, that might work.
More than that, it gets complicated and expensive. So not there in my case.

[joelio]

Thinking about it. Not sure where to find a geared table. Geared with servo motors - that would be the holy grail. Otherwise if you put the table on a couple of sliders and gave it the equivalent of a "hockey rink" in which you moved ONLY to the 4 corners, that might work.
More than that, it gets complicated and expensive. So not there in my case.

There are small manual stages that I suppose you could marry up to your light source via a cheeseplate or some other adaptor. I also see the potential for spending way more than hoped for and accumulating a lot of crap along the way.

There are quite a few small manual stages on Amazon. Caveat emptor. Maybe even a sliding table linear stage for simpler stitching.

[Bob Salomon]

Novoflex has a motorized stage.

[GRAYnomad]

Manual XY tables are everywhere on eBay et al, well under $50 IIRC. I have one and did plan to use it for scanning but it's just too slow, sure you could add stepper motors and a controller but just how many photos do you plan to scan and do you have that skill set? You could make something using linear bearings as well, but it's all overkill I think.

I think just some guides on the light table to keep the holder straight and some index marks on both the table and the holder, click slide click slide. Now that's for my 6x12, for 5x4 I think turn the holder around and repeat then rotate the second set of images in post. With 6x12 I currently shoot 4 frames (the 6cm is full width on the DSLR sensor, IE the camera at right angles to the neg), so when I get around to 5x4 that will be 8. With a 20mpx camera that's pretty large file but there's a lot of overlap so not enormous.

If you're talking more images and/or larger negs it will more complicated.

[David Suchoff]

The company "mjkzz" created a motorized stack and stitch system that looks just about perfect for highly reproducible DSLR scanning and stitching. I have not used it personally, but am very intrigued (see video below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j06rSqa7ftY&t=40s

[GRAYnomad]

The company "mjkzz" created a motorized stack and stitch system that looks just about perfect for highly reproducible DSLR scanning and stitching. I have not used it personally, but am very intrigued (see video below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j06rSqa7ftY&t=40s

Yikes, I bet that costs a few $, good for a museum of some such.

[David Suchoff]

Yikes, I bet that costs a few $, good for a museum of some such.

I had a few brief communications with Peter, the owner. He stated that it would be between $1,200 and $1,500. Whether that is still the case I do not know. Overall I was expecting more sticker shock.

[Leszek Vogt]

213916

I'll be using this configuration over a lightbox (Kaiser). Four overlapping shots should be enough....or several more in vertical configuration. I'm mostly talking about copying 35mm slides/negatives and stitching. Had to install soft pads under the plastic holder, to make sure it will not scratch the lightbox. I guess it depends how much resolution one desires.

Les

[GRAYnomad]

I had a few brief communications with Peter, the owner. He stated that it would be between $1,200 and $1,500. Whether that is still the case I do not know. Overall I was expecting more sticker shock.

Yeah that's not too bad I think.

[GRAYnomad]

213916

I'll be using this configuration over a lightbox (Kaiser). Four overlapping shots should be enough....or several more in vertical configuration. I'm mostly talking about copying 35mm slides/negatives and stitching. Had to install soft pads under the plastic holder, to make sure it will not scratch the lightbox. I guess it depends how much resolution one desires.

Les

It seems that you are wasting most of each frame. If that's to scale you could probably do it in 2 frames, or get in closer and get really hi res.

[Peter De Smidt]

I used SBR rails + stepper motors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmRHTausFls&t=0s

Daniel used....I forget! Here's his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXy7RJwIBAo

Currently, I just camera-scan 8x10. I use a manual slide system. I built a platform with two guide rails. I made a light box/negative stage using PVC boards. The negative carrier just slides between the rails.

[GRAYnomad]

I used SBR rails + stepper motors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmRHTausFls&t=0s

Daniel used....I forget! Here's his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXy7RJwIBAo

Currently, I just camera-scan 8x10. I use a manual slide system. I built a platform with two guide rails. I made a light box/negative stage using PVC boards. The negative carrier just slides between the rails.

Pretty sweet, makes me want to do the same. I am trying NOT to get back into electronics and embedded programming, but maybe.

[joelio]

These all sound like fantastic ideas - thank you! I look forward to watching the youtube videos and hope to see some other pictures of people's setups some time.

As always, thank you all for your insight!

[Peter De Smidt]

Pretty sweet, makes me want to do the same. I am trying NOT to get back into electronics and embedded programming, but maybe.

We do have all of the programming and circuit diagrams on Github, but I understand.

[grat]

Lists for $1203 for the basic system-- the problem is, the system on their website looks nothing like the one in the video.

Also-- I work with 3D printers a fair amount, so I'm familiar with what a couple meters of extruded aluminum, some wheels, steppers and electronics cost. There's a fair amount of markup in that $1200.

One of my side projects I need to get back to is converting a cheap 3018 CNC rig into a negative-scanning platform.