Manuscan 810

[Peter De Smidt]

I'm finishing up a copy-stand-style scanner for 8x10, the Manuscan 810. It use 3 frames to cover the 8x10 negative, and it's a manual slide system. I still have some optimizing to do, but here's the first scan:



I'm using my D600 with a Schneider 50mm Componon-S. At 300 dpi, it'll give me a 19x23" print, which is plenty for me. Obviously, a higher MP camera will give more, or one can always take more photos, but this is very fast to use. Adobe Lightroom uses a perspective stitch, and it outputs a raw file, which is great. Photo taken a long time ago with a Wisner 8x10 TF camera and a Nikon 450m.

[Two23]

Would like to see a photo of the finished stand, and where to get the parts.


Kent in SD

[Peter De Smidt]

Eventually, Kent. I have an accelerated summer class starting tomorrow, and so photos will take awhile. The camera support structure is the same as Scanduino, a wooden structure with a 4000 series Velmex uni-slide for camera positioning. Light source is a Pixel P50 led panel in a custom box. I made the box mainly out of solid PVC house trim from Menards. Negative is positioned on a 12" square piece of 6mm thick Starfire glass, with a polyethelyne opaque mask. Stand is an old aquarium welded steel stand with leveling feet. Platform is edge-joined Aspen. I machined a coupler to mate an Kirk Arca clamp to the Velmex out of Fortal aluminum.

[Ted Baker]

Looks good Peter!, is the stitching automated?

[Peter De Smidt]

Thanks, Ted! I shot tethered into Lightroom. I selected the three photos and used Photomerge, with the "reposition" projection option. After a few seconds, it output a merged raw file. My earlier scanner, Scanduino, worked at 1x magnification, using 25 frames to cover a 4x5 negative. Stitching could be an issue, especially with featureless areas, like a clear sky. That required a precise and repeatable positioning system using stepper motors and a template in Ptgui to guarantee good stitches. It worked, but it was a bit of a pain. With this scanner, though, I'm working approximately at about 1:8, which has much lower requirements for depth of field, vibration ...and hopefully stitching. So far so good, but it's of course possible that Lightroom will have trouble stitching some images. Only time will tell. By 'automated' is that what you meant?

[Ted Baker]

By 'automated' is that what you meant?

Yes, just interested in how you do stitching, always impressed with what can be done.

[sperdynamite]

This is great! I have a similar set up that I use with a Pentax K-1 II and a macro lens. The results are quite impressive, especially when you start factoring in Pixel Shift technologies.

So much so, that I would encourage anyone considering an IQSmart or Drum Scanner to consider if camera capture will satisfy their needs. The only drawback is that it can be hard to achieve those super high res pixel levels. But if you're working within the constraints of a 40" printer, you can pretty easily get by.

[Peter De Smidt]

Pixel shift technology is very interesting. With your camera, do you shoot tethered? Does the camera blend the exposures, or must this be done on a computer? Is the resulting file a tiff or a raw file?

[CreationBear]

Pentax K-1 II and a macro lens.

That sounds like a great match with Peter's system (I'm still shooting my K-5, but not having to leave K-mount lenses would cut down on the overhead a bit.) Still, I'm waiting for one of y'all to start film-scanning with a Pentax 645D, now that the prices have come down...

[PRJ]

I was looking at the new Sony they just announced. It has a mode where it shifts half a pickle. Combine that with a 61 megapickle sensor, and it seems pretty impressive. Would be great for scanning film assuming you had a lens that was up to the task.