Digitize your Film using a Canon R camera

[gudgoin]

The process has accounted for 30,000 shutter actuations, but my R has double-dutied as my analog film digitizer/scanner and I couldn't be happier with the results. Providing beautiful 30MP scans of my transparencies has brought my photo library into the digital age. I now have instant access to my entire library of photos back to the mid-60s. Organized and backed up twice, a project that I thought would take an eternity to achieve was accomplished in a month.

The solution was achieved with a United Nations of support players. Mounted on a Leitz Copy Stand is a Nikon PB-4 Bellows. In it is a reversed mounted Leitz Focotar enlarging lens to assure ultimate optical and flat field performance. I used a Porta-Trace 5500˚K light box for illumination and set the WB on the camera to match. Attached to the Nikon Bellows, via a Kipon Nikon-Canon RF adaptor, is my trusty utility player Canon R. What makes the R such a delight to use for this application is summed up in two great features, Focus Peaking and Canon Camera Control.

Focus Peaking makes critical focus a walk in the park and once the bellows extension is determined and locked down, that's the last time you think about it. But Camera Control is the real savior here, providing a big, beautiful render of each film frame on your computer monitor. Exposure, framing, focus are all at your disposal with the tethered app and it makes the whole process really fun. With each exposure, or scan, taking 1/125th of a second, you blow through batches of slides in minutes. It is super fast and efficient. I'll do a little Dust Off blow on each slide, and blow the gate out every 20 slides or so and still knock down hundreds of slides in a couple hours. As I said, I digitized 30,000 images in a month, a perfect project in a Pandemic. Photos of the set up attached.

 

[DBeach]

Very impressive Jon. I'll keep this in mind. I've been using a Plustek scanner successfully but would never get through thousands of slides that I'd like to digitize. Do you notice a difference with the types of film used?

 

[gudgoin]

Very impressive Jon. I'll keep this in mind. I've been using a Plustek scanner successfully but would never get through thousands of slides that I'd like to digitize. Do you notice a difference with the types of film used?

The images with the most accurate color, ones requiring the least amount of love in Lightroom, were those shot on Kodachrome, which, as would be predicted, have the most stable color. The thickness of the emulsion seems to have no effect on focus. Ektachrome required the most correction, with Fuji E6 films falling in between. But, overall, the system accurately reproduces the images as they are. When I started the project, I shot everything raw and soon learned that if the content was of secondary or tertiary importance (just record shots) I switched to lowest compression jpg, as the results were so good. Images that I knew I would print or publish were all captured raw, but I think more on principle than necessity.

 

[Greg]

That's a smart looking arrangement. I would have thought a bellows between the lens and slide would benefit by keeping stray light away.

How much did that set up cost, excluding the camera?

I am thinking of using a macro lens to copy my colour negatives. First thoughts were for a Tamron 90 mm. Might go for the rumoured Canon 100 mm once I know the cost

 

[gudgoin]

That's a smart looking arrangement. I would have thought a bellows between the lens and slide would benefit by keeping stray light away.

How much did that set up cost, excluding the camera?

I am thinking of using a macro lens to copy my colour negatives. First thoughts were for a Tamron 90 mm. Might go for the rumoured Canon 100 mm once I know the cost

The beauty of the system for me was that it was cobbled from a lifetime of photographic acquisition. The copy stand made by E. Leitz, was acquired in the mid 70s and has been my trusty stand for the better part of a half century. I think its cost was in the mid $200 range back then. Decent copy stands can be had today for less than that. The PB-4/PS-4 Nikon bellows/slide copier was purchased around the same time. Back in the day it was about $450 or so. The Leitz Focotar enlarging lens was gifted to me by a lifelong fellow photographer friend for the purpose of this exercise. It is perfect for the job, due to its flat field nature and consumate Leica performance. I have used the light box as my slide viewer since the mid 80s and its balanced 5500˚ color temperature works ideally for this purpose. I'm sure some variant of it exists today, likely in an LED form, for less than $100. The only piece of gear that I actually had to buy was the Kipon Nikon to Canon RF adapter and it was about $40.

I would think you could reproduce the whole setup for less than $1000. There is a great FB group that provides as many solutions as it has members that you should definitely check out. Proving that there a number of ways to skin a cat, solutions range from homemade to very sophisticated. I found it after putting my system together and found it informative for my next venture: negative scanning. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/287716734970881

 

[Greg]

The beauty of the system for me was that it was cobbled from a lifetime of photographic acquisition. The copy stand made by E. Leitz, was acquired in the mid 70s and has been my trusty stand for the better part of a half century. I think its cost was in the mid $200 range back then. Decent copy stands can be had today for less than that. The PB-4/PS-4 Nikon bellows/slide copier was purchased around the same time. Back in the day it was about $450 or so. The Leitz Focotar enlarging lens was gifted to me by a lifelong fellow photographer friend for the purpose of this exercise. It is perfect for the job, due to its flat field nature and consumate Leica performance. I have used the light box as my slide viewer since the mid 80s and its balanced 5500˚ color temperature works ideally for this purpose. I'm sure some variant of it exists today, likely in an LED form, for less than $100. The only piece of gear that I actually had to buy was the Kipon Nikon to Canon RF adapter and it was about $40.

I would think you could reproduce the whole setup for less than $1000. There is a great FB group that provides as many solutions as it has members that you should definitely check out. Proving that there a number of ways to skin a cat, solutions range from homemade to very sophisticated. I found it after putting my system together and found it informative for my next venture: negative scanning. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/287716734970881

Don't want to spend anything like $1000, that's £727 which is most of the cost of a good macro lens. A lens that can be used for copying, portrait and of course macro.

The light almost any led lamp, can be had for a few £s, and a negative/slide carrier for about £25. I'm a retired cabinet maker, very capable of constructing a stand to mount the camera, negative carrier and lamp. I hadvlooked at metal stands, all rubbish unless you spend £200 plus. I even looked at buy a defunct enlarger to use its column

I have been researching copying methods on and off for a few months now. So many variations, recently become more sure of going with the macro lens direction

 

[gudgoin]

Best of luck to you.

 

[Rhody]

The process has accounted for 30,000 shutter actuations, but my R has double-dutied as my analog film digitizer/scanner and I couldn't be happier with the results. Providing beautiful 30MP scans of my transparencies has brought my photo library into the digital age. I now have instant access to my entire library of photos back to the mid-60s. Organized and backed up twice, a project that I thought would take an eternity to achieve was accomplished in a month.

The solution was achieved with a United Nations of support players. Mounted on a Leitz Copy Stand is a Nikon PB-4 Bellows. In it is a reversed mounted Leitz Focotar enlarging lens to assure ultimate optical and flat field performance. I used a Porta-Trace 5500˚K light box for illumination and set the WB on the camera to match. Attached to the Nikon Bellows, via a Kipon Nikon-Canon RF adaptor, is my trusty utility player Canon R. What makes the R such a delight to use for this application is summed up in two great features, Focus Peaking and Canon Camera Control.

Focus Peaking makes critical focus a walk in the park and once the bellows extension is determined and locked down, that's the last time you think about it. But Camera Control is the real savior here, providing a big, beautiful render of each film frame on your computer monitor. Exposure, framing, focus are all at your disposal with the tethered app and it makes the whole process really fun. With each exposure, or scan, taking 1/125th of a second, you blow through batches of slides in minutes. It is super fast and efficient. I'll do a little Dust Off blow on each slide, and blow the gate out every 20 slides or so and still knock down hundreds of slides in a couple hours. As I said, I digitized 30,000 images in a month, a perfect project in a Pandemic. Photos of the set up attached.

What a superb and practical set up that is Jon.

 

[gudgoin]

Thank you! One great source of enjoyment from the assembly is the fact that it is a group effort on the part of my three favorite camera companies. I love that Leica, Nikon and Canon all contributed to the end solution!

Having worked for Canon for nearly 20 years made me a fan of their product, but having come from a retail background allowed me to take a more agnostic approach. After retiring and having to give up a half million in Canon samples, I was in a position to buy whatever I wanted (and pay retail for the first time in 50 years!). Not a bad choice out there, with Leica, Nikon, Sony, and Fuji Film all excellent contenders. In the end the R system won out, based on a host of considerations and I have been very happy with the decision ever since. For digital photography and for the next decade, I think that Canon will prove to be a good choice. It's clear that mirrorless technology will be their focus and what we are seeing coming out of their think tank looks very promising!

I was tasking my R with other duties and needed to do some slide copying, so I dug an old 5D MKII out of my "antique collection" bin just to see if it could be applied to the copy setup. No focus peaking in this early milestone Canon camera and it hangs on the very edge of compatibility with EOS Utility, being a little buggy with the software (this camera is 13 years old!), but lo and behold, it does a very good job! I'm using a razor thin EF to Nikon adaptor, which allows for infinity focus (unnecessary in this case) and the 5DII was right at home on the Nikon bellows. While a bit less resolution than the R, it still produces a lovely 5616 x 3744 pixel scan (example attached, shot on Velvia with an EOS 1v / 24-70/4.0L IS).

EOS Utility is the greatest free app and, in my opinion, one of the wonderful advantages of using Canon. Having full camera control from your desktop and having a beautiful, large image to work with are features I can't champion too much. You'll pay $200 for the Nikon software, less for third party, but with Canon, it's free. And when you find that you can even use a 13 year old camera and it works, I have to tip my hat to Canon.

 

[Rhino]

Very VERY cool!! My dream job would be working for Canon!