Camera Scanner 2024

[Peter De Smidt]

I've decided to scan some of my father's negatives. He did a lot of local sports photography with a Rolleiflex Automat. Anyway, about a decade ago, some of us here worked on a semi-automated stitching scanner. We succeeded, but given today's high megapixel digital cameras, for most uses stitching isn't needed. Since most of my father's picture are 6cm square, I used a 105MN on my Z9. I made a light box with an inexpensive LED panel, one with good CRI, and I made a negative holder out of a flexible plastic cutting board. I'll take pictures of the setup soon. Any, I'm very happy with the system. Autofocus works great. The Z9 doesn't use a mechanical shutter or mirror. The light source is bright enough that I can use over a 1000th of a second shutter speed, and the files would make excellent 17" square photos at 300 dpi, assuming the negative is of high quality.

[Serge S]

Very good. Looking forward to seeing your scanner set up!

[r_a_feldman]

Here is my camera "scanner" setup that I made for copying 35mm slides and negatives. The frame is 3/4" plywood. I have an Olympus Pen F bellows, OM-1 50mm macro lens, and Fujifilm X-E1 16MP digital camera, with the appropriate adapters. The light source was from a battery-powered LED closet light (4 AA batteries) that I power at 5V from a USB cable. The stage is made from styrene sheet and 1/4" styrene H-column shapes. You can get both at a hobby shop or art supply store like Dick Blicks. I have two pieces of frosted glass diffusers (2.5" square) above the LED. The negative holder slips off and I can put slides between the H-beams that support it. My typical exposure is 1/30 second at f11, ISO 200.

[Peter De Smidt]

Looks good!

[Greg]

Did the same a few years ago and soon realized that wiping the negatives with an orange Ilford ANTISTATICUM cloth before shooting them removed a whole lot of dust and dirt.

[Peter De Smidt]

I use an air bulb and a sticky silicone roller for records. Works great.