Scanning 4x5 negs with Sonly Alpha 7 and Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro Art

[Times2]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out the best possible system, in terms of quality, for scanning my 4x5 (and 6x7) negs but with money being a constraint high-end scanners are out of the question.
This combo fits the bill but I'm wondering how good will it be in squeezing info from my negs. Any thoughts?
Also is there an approximation of how many shots will i need per neg for maximum quality and what is the highest usable resolution I could get from it?

Thanks!

EDIT:

If some moderator could please correct my title (Sonly -> Sony) it would be very much appreciated <3

[Joshua Dunn]

I am going through this transition myself, I just started digital capture of my negatives. It's tougher than you think. I imagine the highest number of shots you would need would be nine. Even four would give you a huge file to work with. As a Canon user I can't vouch for the Sony A7 (you didn't say which version) or the Sigma lens. However Sony makes a great mirrorless camera and as long as you are careful with the Sigma macro I think that you will be fine. You will need a good light source and an effective way of holding your negatives flat. For reference look at this site. The link is for the first of three parts, be sure to check out all three. I believe I found that link from a post on this forum but I can't remember which one.

-Joshua

[JohnF]

I use a Sony Alpha 7III with a Canon EF 100 mm macro lens with adaptor. I have an LED light panel with a sheet of perspex to diffuse the light and the 5x4 negative lies flat on the perspex. I have a sheet of glass intended to lie on the negative but in practice find it is not needed. I use a copy stand with the camera attached and photograph the negative complete in one frame/exposure with a surrounding black card. Maybe my expectations are low but why would I need to photograph the negative with several exposures? Do we mean slices of the images to stitch or bracketing?

[xkaes]

If you have a 4x5 enlarger you are all set for a light source. Your big problem will be getting everything aligned perfectly.

I use a Beseler slide copier -- which is basically a copy stand with an upside-down color diffusion head -- uh, bottom. It does the same thing as a color enlarger -- just upside down, and with a built-in flash.

[Gabe]

The lens is definitely capable enough. I use it with an A7RIV to digitise my film (4x5, 6x6 and 6x7) using pixel-shift mode to generate 240 megapixel captures. The results are superb.

You don't say what version of the camera you have. If it's one of the early ones you won't have pixel-shift capabilities, and will be forced to do multi-shit stitching if you want to come close to capturing what's on the film (doable, but more work involved, and more sources for potential error). A sturdy copy stand and remote release are a must, as is a good way of holding the film flat, and ensuring parallelism of the film and sensor planes (a mirror is a cheap and very accurate way of doing this; far more so than using spirit levels).

[Times2]

I m planning on buying Sony A7R II so, i guess i will need some tube extensions? How much will it degrade its quality? Or

[xkaes]

How much extension you need depends on how much magnification you want to achieve -- which depends on the focal length of the lens -- which depends on the magnification you want to achieve. "Normal" lenses are not designed for high magnifications. Macro and Bellows lenses are.

[Gabe]

so, i guess i will need some tube extensions?

The Sigma 70mm Art is capable of 1:1 magnification, which is more than enough. I actually wouldn't recommend digitising at this level of magnification, as then any deviations from perfect parallelism of the film/sensor planes become quite obvious in the end result unless you stop down significantly, which will then cause a loss of captured detail due to diffraction. It also requires more frames for stitching. Something closer to 1:1.5 is a lot easier to deal with in my experience.

Before getting my A7RIV I used to use a Nikon D810 for digitising. For a sheet of 4x5, taking 9 x frames at ~ 1:1.5 magnification and then stitching would yield a ~ 90 MP image. The D810 has a 36 MP sensor, so the A7RII with it's 42 MP sensor would give something more in the region of a 105 MP stitch. Enough for your intended purposes?