Digital BW, The Print

(This forum needs more volume. This post is also on LuLa.)

My old, but very good, Nikon 8000 scanner will not connect to my new computers. Even the adapter I bought for Firewire to Thunderbolt failed. (Bummer!) So, I decided to see if my Canon 100mm f/2.8L macro lens and Sony a7rii body could do an acceptable job. (I was skeptical, to say the least.) I have an old enlarger stand that makes a good copy stand. After using a mirror under the camera/lens setup to be sure the lens was close to perfectly aligned, I'm happy to say the Nikon scanner is not needed. I take 3 shots of the negative (at f/5.6), with the system adjusted such that the width of the MF negative almost fills the long dimension of the 35mm frame. PS easily merges the shots. I use the old head for the enlarger, upside-down on the baseboard, for a light source. The final black and white display prints made from this method of accessing my old negatives are definitely up to professional display and gallery quality fine art sales. You don't need a drum or Flextight scan of those 120 roll film negatives. The quality of those old MF negatives, particularly those on Tech Pan film, are simply amazing. So, I'm happily "mining" 40 years of negatives, and really appreciating what that old Rollei GX and SL66 on a tripod could (and can) do. (BTW, I was sufficiently fanatical that I used only every other frame on the film to be sure the bend of the film around the rollers of the cameras did not cause the film to come off the film plane.) My first effort is now the main image on my webpage.

Paul

www.PaulRoark.com

Did you see if Silverfast will see it?


Mark
stillrivereditions.com

> On Jan 7, 2019, at 12:27 PM, roark.paul@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> (This forum needs more volume.  This post is also on LuLa.)
> 
> 
> 
> My old, but very good, Nikon 8000 scanner will not connect to my new computers.  Even the adapter I bought for Firewire to Thunderbolt failed.  (Bummer!)  So, I decided to see if my Canon 100mm f/2.8L macro lens and Sony a7rii body could do an acceptable job.  (I was skeptical, to say the least.)  I have an old enlarger stand that makes a good copy stand.  After using a mirror under  the camera/lens setup to be sure the lens was close to perfectly aligned, I'm happy to say the Nikon scanner is not needed.  I take 3 shots of the negative (at f/5.6), with the system adjusted such that the width of the MF negative almost fills the long dimension of the 35mm frame.  PS easily merges the shots.  I use the old head for the enlarger, upside-down on the baseboard, for a light source.   The final black and white display prints made from this method of accessing my old negatives are definitely up to professional display and gallery quality fine art sales.  You don't need a drum or Flextight scan of those 120 roll film negatives.  The quality of those old MF negatives, particularly those on Tech Pan film, are simply amazing.  So, I'm happily "mining" 40 years of negatives, and really appreciating what that old Rollei GX and SL66 on a tripod could (and can) do.  (BTW, I was sufficiently fanatical that I used only every other frame on the film to be sure the bend of the film around the rollers of the cameras did not cause the film to come off the film plane.)  My first effort is now the main image on my webpage. 
> 
> 
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> www.PaulRoark.com <http://www.paulroark.com/> 
> 
> 
> 
>

The Humble Bundle site currently has three bundles of photography
e-books. At a rough guess there are three dozen titles and if you want
the lot it will put you back $15.

The books are multi-format, which usually means .pdf, .mobi and .epub

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/digital-cameras-and-photography-books

Dick


On 07 Jan 2019 17:27:17 +0000
"roark.paul@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint]"
<DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> (This forum needs more volume.  This post is also on LuLa.)
>  
> 
>  My old, but very good, Nikon 8000 scanner will not connect to my new
> computers.  Even the adapter I bought for Firewire to Thunderbolt
> failed.  (Bummer!)  So, I decided to see if my Canon 100mm f/2.8L
> macro lens and Sony a7rii body could do an acceptable job.  (I was
> skeptical, to say the least.)  I have an old enlarger stand that
> makes a good copy stand.  After using a mirror under  the camera/lens
> setup to be sure the lens was close to perfectly aligned, I'm happy
> to say the Nikon scanner is not needed.  I take 3 shots of the
> negative (at f/5.6), with the system adjusted such that the width of
> the MF negative almost fills the long dimension of the 35mm frame.
> PS easily merges the shots.  I use the old head for the enlarger,
> upside-down on the baseboard, for a light source.   The final black
> and white display prints made from this method of accessing my old
> negatives are definitely up to professional display and gallery
> quality fine art sales.  You don't need a drum or Flextight scan of
> those 120 roll film negatives.  The quality of those old MF
> negatives, particularly those on Tech Pan film, are simply amazing.
> So, I'm happily "mining" 40 years of negatives, and really
> appreciating what that old Rollei GX and SL66 on a tripod could (and
> can) do.  (BTW, I was sufficiently fanatical that I used only every
> other frame on the film to be sure the bend of the film around the
> rollers of the cameras did not cause the film to come off the film
> plane.)  My first effort is now the main image on my webpage. 
> 
>  Paul
>  
>  www.PaulRoark.com http://www.PaulRoark.com 



-- 
Please help combat spam, 
when sending out bulk emails: 
1. always use the BCC: field 
2. never use the TO: or CC: fields

Hi Paul,

The studio had the same dilemma with a Nikon 5000 and a Heidelberg Nexscan. We now use an old Mac W 9.2OS to service both. This was our workaround. BTW we also have a Heidelberg S3900 that came with Windows ’95, now upgraded to ’98. Only 21 years behind….

Fred
--Fred Fischer
         

 Tom Fritz Studios, Inc.
2930 W. Clybourn Street
Milwaukee, WI 53208-4104

414.344.8300
414.344.6155 fax

Fred@...
www.tomfritz.com <http://www.tomfritz.com/>

A professionally made device for this is the Zig-Align alignment system which is basically a mirror with a hole in the middle of it which mounts on the lens like a filter and you look through it to a mirror placed on the copy board. When the alignment is perfect you’ll see an infinite ring of concentric circles through the viewfinder.

http://www.zig-align.com/

From: mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2019 2:40 AM
To: DigitalB&WPrint 
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Digitizing old medium format negatives




I'm in the middle of preparing for a show, but I've posted an image of my "copy stand" that uses my Beseler enlarger frame and Omega head.  See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Negative-copying-setup.jpg 

When a flat mirror is placed where the negative carrier will later be placed (on top of the light source that is on the enlarger baseboard), the setup is aligned correctly when the image of the reflected camera macro lens is centered in the camera viewfinder.  Digital cameras like the Sony have a flip up screen on their backs that allow you to see when the image is centered.  There is an adjustment on the enlarger that controls one axis (forward-backward) and the camera can rotate around its tripod screw to control the other axis (right and left).

Hope this helps.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 

On Thu, Jan 31, 2019 at 10:40 AM becavena@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@...m> wrote:

    
  Paul,  Can you say a little more about using a mirror for alignment?  How about thoughts on other light sources?  (My Nikon 8000 died a year ago.  I have lots of old 120, 4x5, and odd sizes in between that I'd like to scan but the options for doing so are limited.)  And thanks for starting up a conversation on this.