Lighting for a copy stand

[Tin Can]

Drew, so now you admit to using a DSLR.

Prove it.

[Drew Wiley]

Hi Randy. Nice try. But other than just testing it for precise settings, it's for copystand use exclusively, as in cataloging my collection and possibly web applications again, down the line. I have no intention of doing general photography or printmaking with the thing. That would be a ridiculous step backwards, even for a DLSR with that high of a reputation. I wanted those particular guts for the superior hue capture and not just pixel count overkill, which itself becomes road kill next to any decent MF film camera, not to mention LF.
But I can't post anything yet at this point. My own Mac is no longer tethered to the web, and this new Mac is mainly for sake of my wife's professional use, with image clutter forbidden, though it does have an internal imaging program that allows me to verify the high quality of my DLSR capture. There does still seem to be something intermediate missing; and I'd have to pull teeth to get the permission to make an interface between the Nikon internal program, it's disc, and something like elementary Lightroom applications. And in that case, I'm sure it would be my teeth getting pulled out instead! No big deal. One step at a time. I have other priorities for awhile.

[Tin Can]

You are the boss.

I also use my Nikon mostly for copy stand, that's what I wrote about.

[Willie]

You might make an exposure with a Color Separation guide and gray scale showing so you have a solid reference to color. When printing from the copy negatives these are used as a Standard.

[invisibleflash]

I tried all the usual suspects for copy stands. Bought, modified and junked them all....

Wow, would love a setup like that, but no room. I got to break my stand down after use to eat on the table.

[invisibleflash]

You might make an exposure with a Color Separation guide and gray scale showing so you have a solid reference to color. When printing from the copy negatives these are used as a Standard.

Thanks for the idea.

[invisibleflash]

Hi Randy. Nice try. But other than just testing it for precise settings, it's for copystand use exclusively, as in cataloging my collection and possibly web applications again, down the line. I have no intention of doing general photography or printmaking with the thing. That would be a ridiculous step backwards, even for a DLSR with that high of a reputation. I wanted those particular guts for the superior hue capture and not just pixel count overkill, which itself becomes road kill next to any decent MF film camera, not to mention LF.
But I can't post anything yet at this point. My own Mac is no longer tethered to the web, and this new Mac is mainly for sake of my wife's professional use, with image clutter forbidden, though it does have an internal imaging program that allows me to verify the high quality of my DLSR capture. There does still seem to be something intermediate missing; and I'd have to pull teeth to get the permission to make an interface between the Nikon internal program, it's disc, and something like elementary Lightroom applications. And in that case, I'm sure it would be my teeth getting pulled out instead! No big deal. One step at a time. I have other priorities for awhile.

Why don't you get a cheap PC if short on Macs? I've never used a Mac, but wouldn't a PC be as suitable for your use? Walmart has a nice HP slim desktop for $280 online.

[Tin Can]

I did break it down after every session. It was in the middle of my studio.

The bigger problem was copying the same type of art from one person for 5 years.

My entire setup evolved with better cameras and lighting. One lens worked the best on all the Nikons.

Which made matching impossible year to year. I reshot some of his art for certain galleries and the books.

I also gave him a thumb drive after every session and told him he was responsible for his files.

Wow, would love a setup like that, but no room. I got to break my stand down after use to eat on the table.

[Drew Wiley]

Thanks for the reply, Mr. Invisible. I used PC's on my day job, and even had my own server and a full-time software engineer on staff. But PC's are rather virus prone in my experience, despite alleged firewalls. Besides, I like higher color resolution monitors. Mac has always been better oriented to imaging work. No big deal. I'm just staging things for another rainy day, so to speak. This is color printing season, then travel. But I do have a sizable collection of personal work that should be catalogued sometime before I croak.

[jamesaz]

OP, what I've done for a similar project is take an old enlarger, just the mast and base, (in my case a 23c) and drill a hole through the part that moves up and down, put a 5/8 bolt through it and screw on a tripod head for leveling. You could also consider open shade lighting. This arrangement would only be applicable to small format cameras and smaller flat copy, though, so not versatile but maybe adequate for what you are wanting to do. Good luck.