Digitizing color negatives

[Peterj]

Much of the reading I've done about the subject indicated that to get "proper" results one should use a scanner and sometimes a dedicated film scanner. I'm certain that for professional projects this advice is accurate. Pricing one highly recommended Epson V700 drove me to explore alternative methods. My HP c6280 printer/copier/scanner is fantastic for printing and scanning but alas has no attachment for slides or negatives.

My current project is digitizing 2.25 x 2.25 color negatives exposed by my dad in the 70's and 80's. Many of them are of folks I don't know and some exposed not so well therefore I'm embarking of identifying the keepers before I invest in a service of suitable scanner. I'm discovering that the negatives weren't all stored with great care so I'm using PEC-12 to clean them. I purchased a $40 6 x 6 led light box to illuminate them. I used ACR to adjust overall tone, opened the image in PSE 15 to invert and finished in RAW. One tip I found extremely useful was to include a portion of the pure orange mask surrounding the exposed portion and using it when importing into ACR as your white point.

This bison is an example that turned out nicely.



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This prompted me to also look for an alternative method for digitizing slides - I'm planning on using my slide projector onto rear projection screen so I avoid the parallax when attempting to use a reflective screen. Already ordered a $3.95 Carl's Sample Pack - Projector Screen Materials

[cats4jan]

We all have those treasure troves of slides. The digital world makes these a forgotten treasure. Good luck finding the equipment to make your job easier.

Your photo turned out very good. Nice job.

[Peterj]

Thank You Janice - After I've moved on from "Proof of Concept" I'll post a tutorial for those folks who might be interested.

I have time to invest and being retired using the ole grey matter is important.

My ultimate goal is to have a suitable system in place for digitizing both film negatives and slides using equipment I own and keeping additional purchases for both methods under $75. If, and only if, I find a spectacular image from my father's stack I might consider paying a service to scan a few!

[BuckSkin]

Honestly, I don't think a professional service could do any better than you already have.

I would be interested in knowing/seeing your method of digitizing; you may have said and I missed it; but, did you use your camera to capture the slide, or somehow use a scanner ?


One thing I have had on my wish list for quite some time is the Wolverine film/negative digitizing device:

www.amazon.com/dp/B00O46B7TY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1DVCIIRSXZ5ME&coliid=I2HWE04NTON5EF&psc=1

[Peterj]

I didn't use a slide/negative scanner. The original of this is a color negative 2.25" x 2.25". My 1st goal was to determine the "keepers" from the thousands of images my dad left me.

I illuminated the negative with a Gange Porta-Trace 6 " x 6" LED light box and captured with my camera. I was careful to include some of the pure orange mask surrounding the exposed area. I used awb, aperture priority (f.4), macro mode. Opened the raw file in ACR and used the white balance eye dropper to click on the pure orange area. I proceeded to use ACR's histogram to adjust white, black, contrast, shadows, highlights, and exposure. I then opened in PSE 15 and inverted & cropped. I put some finishing touches using On1 RAW.

It was suggested that I purchase a used Epson v700 or 750 scanner for this project. That was W A Y over my budget for simply examining a huge pile of unknowns. So far my major investment has been time and $40 for the light box (I already had the PEC-12).


Rather than try to describe the set up here's a quick iPhone image



* The light box is too bright for a successful iPhone image.
* The rubber bands are to hold the black mask against the box since it's vertical.
* Black mask has spacers on light box side to aid in using roll film.
* Setup enables single negatives or a roll both color and black & white
* This setup is nothing professional nor is the iPhone image.

[BuckSkin]

Neat idea! Thanks for posting it.

Are you dismounting the slides from their cardboard perimeter ?

I guess camera lens to slide distance is determined by the zoom level ?

How much open/unused territory is in the captured image ?


Probably a very silly question: we have several rolls of undeveloped 35mm film, both slide film and regular film; two are partially taken rolls that I removed from old forgotten cameras; we have no idea what is on any of this film; how can I digitize this undeveloped film ?

[BuckSkin]

I just had an epiphany --- I ended up with a huge big old fancy cabinet that came out of a doctor's office; in the center of this cabinet are two swinging doors, behind which resides a big old X-Ray viewer.

I wonder if that X-Ray viewer could serve as a light-box ?

It has a removable layer of white plexi-plastic something-or-other that is the surface where the X-Rays hang.

I cannot tell by your picture; is there any surface material behind the slide, or is the slide over an opening ?

[Peterj]

Thank you for your continued interest. The Wolverine digital converter is a purchase that is reasonable if all of your digitizing sources are 35mm you will more than likely achieve superior results using it (20 megapixels) and no tripod required it will certainly be much faster. OTOH if you already own a slide projector the next phase of my project (rear projection screen) might interest you even more.

I'm planning on making a tutorial and your questions help my write it.

Below>> questions in red, from both your responses with answers in blue following:

"Are you dismounting the slides from their cardboard perimeter ?"
These are unmounted color negatives which measure 2.25" x 2.25" not slides, some of them were cut to individual size, others are in polyethylene sleeves rolled up. I own a Wolverine which is capable of scanning both positives (slides) and negatives (film) but only in the 35mm format; there was no way I could envision scanning the much larger negatives.

"I guess camera lens to slide distance is determined by the zoom level ?"
"How much open/unused territory is in the captured image ?"
I used the macro function; the camera/negative distance was determined by framing the negative image in such a fashion that some of the pure orange mask was included. The advantage here is the orange mask is used in ACR to produce a white balance target which removes the orange cast from the entire image. The obvious slight disadvantage you're "wasting" pixels in your capture.

"...how can I digitize this undeveloped film ?"
To my knowledge this is currently impossible.

"I wonder if that X-Ray viewer could serve as a light-box ?
"It has a removable layer of white plexi-plastic something-or-other that is the surface where the X-Rays hang."
"I cannot tell by your picture; is there any surface material behind the slide, or is the slide over an opening ?"
The image posted of my setup wasn't clear enough to determine it has a non removable diffusing layer probably very similar to what you explained about your X-Ray viewer. I'm relatively certain the x-ray viewer would serve as a light source. Of course size does matter wrt positioning relative to camera; my light box is 6" x 6".....here's a separate image of the box

[bobharron]

Peterj,

You might want to look into www.scancafe.com.

I used their services a number of years ago to scan all my slides from the 1950s and 1960s and was very happy with the results. Check out the bullfight photo in my gallery taken in 1958.

Good luck,
Bob

[Peterj]

I'll keep them in mind once I've identified the keepers from the 1000+ negatives. For this first phase their prices for medium format would break the bank. I'd be able to purchase an Epson v800/850 for less and then resell once finished.