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Thread: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

  1. #21

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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter De Smidt View Post
    Digital camera scanning is also an option.
    I will expose my ignorance; why is this not an increasingly better way to do it?

  2. #22
    Steven Ruttenberg's Avatar
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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Not that simple and it brings with it a whole other set of problems.

  3. #23

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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Why and what? please and thank you.

  4. #24
    Steven Ruttenberg's Avatar
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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Mostly making sure your optical axis is perpendicular to film, film is flat, no light reflections. Using a macro lens of at least 100mm means having to reposition film for several shots and then stitching. Plus finding optimal f-stop, exposure setting takes time. Typicall f/8 is good. I have played a bit with it and for what my V850 can do it has better resolution than my 5DMKIII’s sensor.

    You won’t be taking a single image of a 4x5 or larger. But if you develop a method and optimize it would do well however, I can scan my film faster than I could with a dslr. And of course there is the bayer filter to deal with and the antialiasing the camera does. Of course most of this is minor stuff. It is the setup that takes time. You could do tethered capture to your computer to avoid the step of saving to memory card and then downloading to computer. But you still gotta stitch at least 9 images or more.

    I am sure others who do it regularly will have a better view point and are pretty quick at it. I have been working on a design, but my scanner does quite well and my next upgrade is to a drum scanner or better in the future for color negs and slide film.

  5. #25
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    I didn't use a 100mm or longer lens. I used a 75mm Rodagon D at f/4. Alignment is critical, but the same can be said about making big enlargements with an optical enlarger. One can easily control exposure, whether through light source adjustment or camera settings, something that's much more challenging with a scanner. With a digital camera scan, one knows when one's optimizing image capture, as opposed to doing a software manipulation on captured data. If needed, one can use multiple exposures, without moving anything and so no sharpness hit, if one really needs to, such as with very dense film.
    “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

  6. #26

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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Re. digitising, more than half of my 5x4s are digitised with D800E/85tilt-shift/macro rail on a light box using a four-frame stitch. This has been doable and produced very good results, esp. as the 85PC-E is a brilliant lens. Compared with my new Epson V850, however, it's quite a bit more effort and requires more room to work and more top quality equipment to work well.
    I did also see if there was a way of replicating this technique, with a stitch of more frames, for 8x10. But perpendicularity – even with a tilt-shift lens, a top of the range tripod/head/macro rail –, questions about desired resolution, and the amount of effort required soon made this seem foolhardy. If you limit yourself to a stitch of 4 frames or fewer, there doesn't seem to be any point at all doing 8x10 this way, since you might as well just shoot 5x4s and get a decent digitation/resolution that way.
    http://www.davidfearnphotography.co.uk
    see too my 5x4 and 8x10 flickr albums

  7. #27
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Sure, it's very easy to simply buy a turn-key scanning solution, but it's not that hard to put together a system that can easily take way more than 4 frames. I used 25 frames for 4x5, for example. Many of us have most of the equipment needed already. I'm not saying it's the best option, or that everyone should do it that way. I have a very good dslr scanner, but I mainly use my Cezanne. When that dies, though, it's nice to have options other than an Epson scanner or another very old professional machine.
    “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

  8. #28

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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    As of now I am very tempted to make my own mistakes and get into drum scanning - simply because their availability seems easier and cheaper then high end flat beds. I know, I know... this isnt the right motivation to get into drum scanning - but Im sure It'll be an educational experience. If I had been able to get the ScanMate F8+ up and working I would do that - but I am not. The experience I had with the Epson V700 was just too annoying to go down that route again... although, it seems like several people here gets good scans with those machines. Now I just need to convince my better half that this is an awesome idea :-)

    It seems to me that there could have been more scanner/scanning options then either the Epsons or the drum scanners...

  9. #29
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Sprint scan, Imacon, Eversmart, Coolscan, Minolta Dimage, Plustek, Fuji Lanovia, Canoscan.....
    “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

  10. #30

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    Re: How do you digitize 8x10" sheet film?

    Quote Originally Posted by pkr1979 View Post
    The experience I had with the Epson V700 was just too annoying to go down that route again... although, it seems like several people here gets good scans with those machines...
    Me... I'm one feeling I obtain really good results with V850 for LF. But YMMV, of course.

    See... just adjusting image with a few clicks in PS one can good get really good results:

    https://www.largeformatphotography.i...=1#post1479178


    The upper left (see titles) is the crop V700 crop, adjusted with a few clicks, and ressembling the output of expensive gear.


    I'm not alone:
    https://petapixel.com/2017/05/01/160...s-500-scanner/
    https://web.archive.org/web/*/https:...s-500-scanner/

    Also if you go to the Collaborative scanner test: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...an-comparison/

    then download samples, and separately optimize the crops, you may find the same than me:




    No doubt that a drum is a way, way better scanner than a V850, but many times there is no difference in the result, in special for LF and if the man editing the images is a bit proficient in Ps.

    Of course for 35mm I would prefer a roll film scanner, or something better. But many LF shots have total (or near total) contrast extintion at 2500 dpi (50lp/mm), so using an expensive piece of gear may offer little benefit. A Ferrari and a Fiat 500 have same acceleration, top speed and down force in traffic jam, and a bicycle may be faster... In Monza circuit it's another thing.

    If you have a proffesionally LF scanned sample that it's way better than the V700 scan, please let me know, I would help you to obtain a close match.

    Also I've to say that I think that the V850 is not Pro gear, perhaps it's semi pro, someone that would be scanning all day long would not like the V850 as a workhorse.

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