DIY Negative Film Scanner! How to use a digital camera to copy negatives
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- Showing and demonstrating my homemade DIY film negative "scanner" for copying negatives. I've been copying my film negatives with a plywood box I made to hold the negatives and then using my mirrorless camera and Mieke extension tubes to copy. Whilst not as good as a dedicated film scanner, this method works surprisingly well.
If you enjoy my content, why not buy me a coffee?
www.buymeacoffee.com/VintageJim
Epidemic Sound. It's where I get my amazing copyright-free music:
www.epidemicsound.com/referra... (YOU get a 30 day FREE trial with this Affiliate link)
Follow me on Instagram: / vintagejim61
Website: jamesfisher.vip - Навчання та стиль
Jim, great DIY project for scanning your negatives. I cannot wait to see the next video.
Thanks… me too! 😉
This was great! Unlike anything I have seen in the photography vlog world. Cool video ❣️
😁😁 Thank you!
Excellent video! Great DIY project!
Thank you! A little tweaking and it would do a really good job copying negatives. Thanks for watching, it’s so good to be publishing again!
Channeling your inner Bob Vila - looks like your setup works pretty well.
Bob Vila… well, I do live in “ This Old House!” 🤣🤣
A little more tweaking and it will be better. Thanks for watching.
Great stuff Jim. I created something less impressive to do a similar job, luckily I had access to an old artists lightbox and simply made a card mask to photograph some old black & white 35mm negatives, it wasn't prefect but I managed in the end. I think your solution would keep the negatives flatter for a better end result.
Thanks Andrew. I tried the same light box/mask method you described. Agreed it works too. I wanted to be horizontal rather than vertical, so I make this box. Plus, I got to saw some boards and release the scent of fresh cut wood! Any excuse to work with wood and an air nailer! 😁
Best wishes for the new year!
That was really interesting Jim! Can't say I totally understand it all...it was like woodworking, photography, and math class all rolled into one. BUT what a cool DIY idea and looks like a lot of work went into it! I kept thinking "Jim, brace yourself for some idiotic comment from some snobby film purist" but you addressed that at the end when you asked if this is perfect. Really cool video my friend, very unique!
Thanks, Paul. Trivia: I do trim carpentry and did work for a few years as a construction project manager. (Not the profession for me… my blood pressure has dropped about 20 points since I quit). I do love trim carpentry, though, and wallpapering, too.
Thanks for your support and kind words.
@Vintage Awesome to hear (read actually) about my blue-collar brethren being into photography. I was a roofer from the end of the 80’s and into the 2000’s. Still learning and needing to follow through to have pictures in hand to show folks. Most of my negatives were never printed or scanned. I have done similar with digital and filling hard drives! Still fun shooting!
@@michaeldimmitt2188 thanks for your comment! I have been fortunate to have had many careers and interests in my life. I owned a storefront portrait studio in the 1980’s, then a sales rep, a corporate store manager, local elected official, retail big box store, kitchen designer, insurance reconstruction project management, and now part time work at a funeral home and social media for our church… and for me!
I do love working with wood (and sometimes tile) and have done a LOT of work on our 1872 Victorian home for the past 22 years. Construction workers are so grounded in the real world… except roofers. They’re a different breed! 🤣🤣
@@VintageInsightPhotography LOLOL! I know what you mean! Even there I was different. I am slow and meticulous and a bit OCD leaning. We always said I was a finish carpenter trapped in a roofer’s body! Plus with that North Idaho roofer crowd I didn’t smoke or drink and loved Jesus! Never made money but loved working outside and the views were awesome! I wish back then I had the photographic eye and equipment I have now!
@@michaeldimmitt2188 thanks for laughing. Not all get my sense of humor. 😉 And, if you’re not stoned 80% of the time, you’re not a real roofer! 🤣
Nice video.
Suggestion: to combat the row of the LED lights, make a picture frame that just fits inside the bos, and then take some white cloth (Like a muslin or a diffuser material) that lets light through, stretch it across the frame, and then put it on the inside of the box.
It will help difuse the light and remove the little dots. (at least in theory)
Hey, Curt! Good suggestions for sure. A secondary diffuser would also help even out the light if it’s not aimed totally flat. Many of my “scans” have a faded edge on one side - that’s actually a shadow from the light not being aimed 💯 correctly.
@@VintageInsightPhotography Just make sure you mount it flat against the box to try to eliminate any discrepancies of light across the negative by having it as parallel as possible to the negative :D
Great ideas! With 6 sides you could scan 6 different formats!!! LOLOL! I actually was glad to see your idea. I recently bought a couple flatbed scanners with the built-in light source to scan negatives. But neither came with the negative holders! When I search online (I’m in Berlin) a am not finding the ones for my models. Time to dig through my scrap wood pile…
I hope to get a “real” negative scanner, but I hear the Epson doesn’t play well with Macs.
Great video and content this video makes look behind negatives and see that there still beautiful pictures behind the negatives. New Subscriber here this was awesome.
Thanks so much for your kind words. Happy to have you along for the journey.
This is fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks! My pleasure. 😁
Thank you! You just answered my question for my 4X6 negs.
You’re welcome! I’ll be upgrading this system in a couple months. I have 1,000+ negatives I need to digitize over the winter months.
4x6 negatives!?! Are they vintage or recent?
@@VintageInsightPhotography They are Vintage 4X5 Negs Not 4X6 MY BAD.some are 50+ years old I me
@@hankfoto 50 years old... that's still pretty young from my perspective!
I have a bunch of old 6x9 b&w negs from 1945-50 when my grandfather worked on the Alaska Hwy near Whitehorse.
To scan them, I cut a circular hole in the bottom of a plastic ice-cream container to poke the lens of my Fujifilm X100V through (min focus being 10cm, the container is 13cm tall). Then at the other end I cut a 6x9cm mask from black card that sits on the neg and behind that is a sheet of opalised white perspex for diffusion of the light from a LED panel at the bottom. The whole setup is vertical unlike what you’ve done and is a bit fiddly but it works okay.
Now that I’ve seen your setup I’m thinking of building a box from foam board and have everything horizontal which will be easier to swap the negs in and out rather than ‘unstacking’ everything as I do now. And the nice smooth waxy surface of the foam board won’t scratch my negs.
Thanks for the inspiration! And for the tip about using a higher ISO for dynamic range, I didn’t know that.
That’s some amazing ingenuity! Those photos are priceless memories!
@@VintageInsightPhotography Thanks James, my setup works surprisingly well considering what it is, but I can do better. And yes, these negs are unique and historical, once I've got them copied I'll be sending copies to the Yukon Archives to preserve and share them. Cheers from Melbourne, Australia!
Great video sir! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
ayo?
the problem with the cameraphototechnige ist that you geht the color processing of the camera... so a CCD scanner not..
True. I develop the RAW files in Capture One and have a great latitude of color adjustments. I often use a duo-tone preset fot a more creative look. I view it as more art than science.
Thanks for watching and commenting!