Copying slides with A99/flatbed scanner

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I have recently embarked on  the mammoth task of digitising about 1000 355mm flim slides, some 35mm film negatives and some larger format negatives and transparencies.  I intended to use my Epson Perfection 3200 flatbed scanner but a photographer pal recommended I copy them 1:1 using a Minolta 50mm f2.8 macro lens on my A99 using my professional lightbox on top of a professional copy stand he lent me for the task.

My initial tests show the images from the scanner at 1200dpi are generally good but a little 'flat'. The initial tests with the A99 seem to be high contrast - rather like copies used to be if made using standard film and not dedicated duplicating film - and need much more post-production work to get right.

The A99 is used in aperture priority at f5.6. Exposure is with a corded remote and with the robust copy stand there's no chance of shake.

I can increase the resolution of the scanner but this seriously slows an already slow workrate, hence my decision to limit it to 1200 dpi.

In contrast the speed of the A99 process is impressive - I've fastened a frame for the slides on to the lightbox so there's only the manual fine focussing to do - and the A99's focus highlighter is a real help.

Can anyone offer some suggestions?

[addicted2light]

Hi, I wrote extensively on the task a few years back. If you're interested you can check these old posts of mine:

 

1) About the quality you can expect from a top flatbed, a drum scan and a DSLR with a macro lens

Best film scanner: Canon 5D Mark II vs Drum scanner vs Epson V700

 

2) The description in detail of the multi-shot process I use (hint: don't use the copy stand. The biggest loss of resolution depends from the lack of parallelism between the sensor and the film, especially with medium and large formats. Put instead the camera directly on top of the film using a metal lens hood as spacer)

How to scan films using a digital camera

 

3) This is about the time consuming (but not overtly difficult) task of getting the colors right using negative film

How to get the right colors from negative films

 

4) To give you an idea of how much resolution there actually is on your films, based on formats and film types, with actual examples of hi-res scans; this way you won't get insane trying to squeeze detail out of your films that simply isn't there to begin with:

FEM: Film Equivalent Megapixels – redux

 

I still use this system. The only variation is that nowadays for 35mm film, with the A7r, I use just one shot. For 35mm films, if you can find one, you can buy a cheap metal repro unit that screws on top of your existing macro lens and keeps the parallelism between camera and films. I paid 7 or 8€ for mine. Avoid like the plague, though, the ones with optical elements inside that mount directly to your camera like they were a lens, and the ones made of bellows (too flimsy to keep the film/sensor parallelism).

 

Slides have a lot of contrast, so quite a bit of dynamic range is required to capture them. The best thing is to shot in raw and then process the file in LR, Photoshop, Capture One etc.

 

Sometimes, in the worst cases, you might have to shot two or three images and combine them in an HDR later. With the A7r is rarely necessary if ever, because it has a gigantic dynamic range, but when I still used a Canon it was routinely needed. I'm telling you this because I don't know how good or bad the A99 is in this regard.

 

On a positive note, it may look like a daunting task but once you get the hang of it it is actually quite fast; I did the same a few years back and in the end it didn't took as long as I feared, so don't get discouraged!

[Golem]

+1 for using a camera instead of a scanner.

 

Resolution will be whatever the resolution of the

camera happens to be. The slide is just another

piece of subject matter.

 

Depending on your needs you can use the contrast

controls of certain cameras to mimic slide duping

film. Some Sonys do this but I don't know about the

A99 in particular.

 

As for parallelism, or the lack of it ... having been

in the duping bidnez, it's possible to achieve that

using a copy stand and light box. My system was

a sorta hybrid between mounting the slide stage

directly to your lens/lens hood and just putting it

down on the light box.

 

I use a huge heavy copy stand, built like a 4x5"

enlarger. I do not mount the slide stage to the lens

but I do mount it to the upright of the copy stand

so if there's any vibration in the column, the slide

and camera vibrate together [no vibration between

them]. My rig is adjustable for parallelism, and I

use rather long lenses [90 and 105mm] to minimize

the critical nature of such adjustments. At any given

angular error, the longer the distance, the closer

to true parallel everything will be.