Most informative, sir. I can see me 'getting into' this. I've got negatives that go back 45+ years as I used to photograph, develop, and print my own photographs ... plus other photographs that I was actually paid to do. 😉😆
Great to hear from you! From my research and testing, I think this is an excellent method. And it's really fun to see a high quality digital positive image from old negatives you have made yourself or even by other older family members. I would think this would be a thrill for you to see them after all these years! Let me know how it goes if you decide to do it😀
John Thanks you gave a great presentation! I will be getting started on my project of slides and negatives some go back a long ways and other more recent like 20 years ago. Iwant to tke a moment to thank you for this video. I'll be using my old copy stand and my old film holders. so once again thank you.
Thank you for your comments Hank! It was quite a project to make this video, so it's nice to hear you enjoyed it. And wishing you the best of luck on your project. It is a lot of work but it comes with a ton of enjoyment too!
Thank you so much for this, John! The benefits of having Raw images to work from has convinced me to ditch my cheap digitizing scanner and use your methods instead.
Thanks so much Paul. I had to watch my slideshow again and "re-enjoy" it after I read your comment! My favorite one is the last picture of my oldest brother Jerry in front of my Dad's 1958 Buick Special wagon. That car is legendary in my mind!
No, I hadn't heard of that. Thanks! The problem is that I've not taken the leap to Lightroom yet. I'm worried about losing my file organization I've established with thousands of files over the last 15 years or so.
Yes. I just googled it and there is aplace called digitalmemoriesonline.net that does them for 50 cents each. If you have just a few, or don't mind spending the money for a large number of them this could be good. I doubt you would get a raw file from them, but most people wouldn't care about that. This technique is not for everyone!
Yes, my line is 11 1/2 inches up from the platform of the stand with the light panel removed. Of course this will only be for a GH5 camera and Olympus 60mm macro lens. This gets you in the right ballpark and you can always tweak it some if necessary to fill the frame just right. I'm now using my GH6 which has a 25mp sensor instead of 20mp on the GH5, so it takes larger files. Then I don't need to be so careful framing too tightly. In fact it has a 100mp mode too, but that's really overkill for this application. Thanks for watching my video and let me know how it works for you:)
Very helpful video, thanks. Do you continue to recommend the Cosmo copy stand for this ? Any issues with it ? I am looking at using my iPhone 14 tethered to my Mac book pro as a setup. Thanks again.
Yes, I do still see the Cosmo stand as the best option. I haven't noticed any downsides to it for what it is. There are others I would recommend over it, but are way too expensive unless you are making a living doing this or other macro work. But I haven't done a current search. If you haven't done so already, I would really recommend you test this approach before going forward with getting any of the equipment on my list. Just suspend the phone between two piles of books and simply shoot a macro shot of a well lit photo the exact size of a slide and then scrutinize for focus and clarity and speed. If it passes, then I'd say it is a good option! Thanks for this comment/question!
On my cameras (Panasonic Lumix GH5 and GH6), they connect to the computer with a USB-C cable. This is how they designed the system to communicate with the program on the computer so you can control the camera from the computer. It's called "Lumix Tether). This just allows me to take the picture with the software. Once captured to the computer, it is then imported into Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom for processing. Does this answer your question? Not all cameras have tether software, but you can still capture the images to the card in the camera and download to the computer for processing. I would use a cable release or the camera's timer for the exposure in that case.
I love your tutorial!!! And I am a fan! In your Video it says at the the end of video all the instruments like camera stand etc. but it didn’t say. Can you please give names and should I go to B&H
Thank you for your kind words Ravi! The links to all the items needed are in the description under the video. Please click "Show more" at the end of the description :)
Hi John, good stuff. I am not very savvy to all of this but wondered why you take the digital images with the emulsion side up? I have done something similar but the opposite side. Am I compromising quality by doing so?
Truthfully, I doubt you could tell the difference. My thinking is that the more tiny details you pay attention to, cumulatively they may make a significant contribution to the image quality. The reason I shoot with emulsion side up is because the film is made up of layers. The emulsion is where the image is. Below that is a layer of plastic. If you shoot on the shiny side, you will be looking through the layer of plastic to "see" the image. This will degrade the image quality slightly. By shooting the dull or emulsion side, you're seeing the image more clearly. See this link: hhsrop.wordpress.com/2020/01/20/film-study/
Thanks for excellent video. Just wondering why you used a level rather than the level indicators in the camera. I have Olympus micro four-thirds which have these, and just assuming the Lumix cameras do too.
You could use the camera leveling but if the table is not flat this wouldn't give the best result. This way it doesn't matter if the table is level completely or not.
Bought all hardware with Amazon. Long behold, there is no tethering software for Nikon D800 or D850(have these both cameras); there is tethering software for D760 and D6. Also, macOS Ventura with my new MacBook doesn’t work! Old OS like Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave would work. What a bummer 😢
Just don't destroy your negatives or slides after digitizing. There is no guarantee the digital formats of today could be easily accessed after many decades as old computer technology will become obsolete.
Good point-I agree! Thanks for mentioning this. I keep mine in acid-free archival sleeves in a 3-ring binder. Some of the early stiffer slide-holder pages were not archival. I think they were made by 20th Century Plastics.
