"Scanning slides with 20D

Hey folks:

 

I originally posted this in the Digital Darkroom forum, but did not

get the helpful responses I anticipated. I realize that a scanner

would be the best option, but I know that I will never complete this

project using a scanner -- I simply cannot/willnot invest the time

required.

 

I would appreciate equipment/set up advice for using my Digital

Camera.

 

Here is my original post:

 

Hello

I would like to digitize my father's collection of slides. I have a

minolta dimage scan elite II scanner and realize that it will give

me the best results. I do not have enough free time (or patience) to

scan each slide with the dimage.

 

Instead, I would like to digitize all of the slides using my 20D

camera. The family would then be able to view them easily using a

computer or dvd player. If I needed to make a print, I would use the

dimage to scan the slide.

 

I have thought about projecting the slides with a slide projector

and then taking a digital picture of the image. I have also thought

about using a macro lens to photograph the slides while on a light

box.

 

I assume that using a macro lens and a light box would result in a

better image, but would appreciate advice on what others think would

work best.

 

I also would appreciate advice on what type of lens/light box would

work best for "scanning" the slides. I do not have a good macro lens

and was thinking of purchasing the canon 100 mm macro lens. Would

this lens work for this project, or should I look at getting

something else?

 

Thanks in advance.

You can find old macro lenses and bellows units for pretty cheap these day. You'll need a slide duplicator. The film is loaded in strips or in mounted slides. Check ebay or KEH.com. You'll need an adapter to the EOS mount. if you get either Pentax or Nikon, the parts should be very easy to find, and the Pentax to EOS or Nikon to EOS adapters are also easy to find.

<p>http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?

O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=37453&is=REG&addedTroughType=search</p>

<p>be sure to close the space: ?O</p><p>Maybe you can hack this so it will work with

the Canon 50mm micro. Otherwise, there are generic versions of what I would call a "slide

copier tube" that goes on the front of the camera.</p>

saw your post there and didn't repond. Sorry.<br>

I 'scanned' some 30-year-old slides just last weekend with a 10D and a 24-70 lens at 70mm. I used the blue sky for my backlight and did this out on my porch. I made a ricketly rig out of those black office paper clips and a board to rest the clip+slide on. I used a tripod and manually focused. <p>

<img src="http://www.kenpapai.com/images/nugent3130.jpg">

<br>

 

That was a slide I shot with a Minolta SRT-102 in 1975 with a 50mm lens, f/1.4 I think. I then shot that slide the other day with my 10D.<div></div>

<p>I cannot vouch for <a href="https://secure.soligor.com/index.php?

id=5&backPID=102&L=1&tt_products=499&L=1">this widget</a> (Soligor AF & MF Slide

Duplicator) at all, but it looks like the right idea. Not cheap, though.</p>

Check out <a href=http://cgi.ebay.com/ZOOM-SLIDE-DUPLICATOR-LENS-w-T-T2-CANON-EF-AF-EOS-NEW_W0QQitemZ7555606695QQcategoryZ4687QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem>this eBay item.</a><br><br>

It looks like it does what you're asking for a reasonable price.

I'm not sure I follow this. Yes you could go to great time and effort to setup your 20D to digitally capture a slide but how would that be quicker than scanning them? The effort to setup a light box, purchase additional hardware or lenses, and the time to take a bunch of pictures and then the post processing side of that having to crop them down, if you shoot raw adjusting them, etc.

 

I would suspect the reason you didn't get enough helpful answers is this seems a very difficult way to accomplish something. Can it be done? yes will the results be acceptable? Yes. But if you don't have the time and patience to do this on a scanner, the setup alone with the 20D would be tedious. Achieving focus on each slide could take time and if you try the remote capture functions then you're looking at about 1+ minutes per slide just in capture and another few minutes to capture another one. Slide scanners I thought were able to batch scan a group of slides. That may not be the case on inexpensive ones but I've never worked with one.

 

It sounds to me like this would be a very time consuming method to scan a bunch of slides. Like using a spoon to move an anthill. It can be done but there are better tools that will help with the process not just the quality.

I'm sorry if you found my posts unhelpful. As I pointed out in the other thread, there aren't slide duplicator attachments that will handle the necessary less than life size reproduction - they are designed for copying 35mm onto 35mm (albeit you can zoom in still further to crop even more) - unless you get one that is designed to handle MF film onto 35mm (there's a very expensive Pentax unit which might be able to handle that with your 20D), or digitise via a digicam. Of course, if you are content to capture just 40% of the area of each scan or take several carefully aligned exposures and stitch them, you can use e.g. an Ohnar slide duplicator. As I remarked, it is notable that Ohnar (or anybody else) haven't produced a unit specifically designed for use with crop DSLRs. There are a number of problems with attempting to photograph slides without the aid of a duplicator if you want reasonable results (alignment, lighting/colour balance, contrast etc.). I also posted a link comparing different methods of digitising slides, including the ones you are considering, which illustrated the shortcomings of the different approaches. In the end I recommended a flatbed scanner that will handle simultaneous scanning of a significant number of slides while unattended (I actually suggested the Epson 4990 on quality grounds and linked to the photo-i-uk review which is extremely thorough and includes discussion of simultaneous scans using different software, but for possibly more slides per scan you might consider the Canon 9950F - also reviewed on photo-i-uk - which, IIRC comes with a holder that handles up to 24 in a batch).

A canon 9950f Scanner will scan 12 slides at a time. also 35mm film strips and a whole lot of other film types too. Has scratch and dent removal software also. About $350 @ B&H. Just got mine haven't used it yet, but it is Canon. It's a full 8.5X11" bed scanner for everything else. Win XP.<div></div>

I used my 10D, EF 50 2.5/lifesize converter, tripod and light box to copy a few slides. The

setup and tweaking before and after is a grand pain. I find using a film scanner far less

painful (i use an old Canon FS4000US). Both techniques have a learning curve for setup

and postprocessing but the scanner is far less labor intensive.

Even if you can "dupe" the entire frame of a 35mm slide on your 20D, the best you'll get is a 12-bit, 2489 dpi file.

 

You're much better off with a dedicated 14- or 16-bit 4000 dpi or 5400 dpi film scanner, or a newer 4800 dpi flatbed that'll also scan film (such as the new Canon 9950F mentioned above).

Scanning slides with a DSLR, the low-tech way:

<p>

Scanning slides with a DSLR, the ultra low-tech way:

<p><div></div>

Thank you all so much for your advice. I was thinking that there was an "easy" way to quickly digitize the family slides and now realize that "easy" is a relative term.

 

The long term plan is to get a different scanner which will allow me to scan numerous slides quickly. The short term plan is to try the method outlined by Ken.

 

Thanks again.

take them to Kinko's doesnt get any easier than that :)

I sympathize with the idea of using the DSLR for a quick & dirty 'scan.'

 

I have a wonderful Epson 4180 scanner. It can scan 4800 x 4800 dpi without interpolation and can give incredible results.

 

BUT the software which removes dust leaves definite artifacts and is INCREDIBLY time-consuming compared to a scan without the software.

 

No matter how much I blow & brush away dust, there are always some tiny particles in the shot. I thus end up removing them by hand in Photoshop. It's time-consuming. You can do it for your best shots, but not for any volume of slides.

 

Hence a bellows and slide duplicator is not a bad idea.

 

--E. R. O'Neill

edoneill.blogspot.com