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

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!

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

Novoflex has a motorized stage.

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.

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

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Originally Posted by 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

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

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Originally Posted by GRAYnomad

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

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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.

Attachment 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

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Originally Posted by David Suchoff

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.

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Yeah that's not too bad I think.