Slide to Digital with a DSLR

[jeff_plomley1]

Has anyone tried to duplicate their slides by photographing 1:1 with a macro lens on a DSLR. Are there

any advatages to this approach over a scanner, particularly if you use RAW capture (12-bit color mode,

aRGB color space)?

[cameradude]

Scanners were designed for this... Thats one big advantage I can think of.

[ellis_vener_photography]

what is aRGB? Do you mean Adobe RGB(1998)? Adobe RGb(1998) has the potential to clip

some of the more saturated colors a slide film can record --whether or not it will depends on

the individual image--and Ekta Space is possibly a better working space for this.<P>

 

Peter Krogh has a whole section about how to do this in <A HREF = http://

www.thedambook.com>The Dam Book</a> including a straightforward way of calibrating

the process using Adobe Camera Raw. I've tried it and as long as you aren't expecting to

make gallery quality 11x14 or larger prints and don't mind dustbusting each scanned slide

manually it works fine. What lens are you palnning on using and which camera?

[austinphoto]

I've done it. It does an ok job. Nothing special. Quality will pass. If you have spectacular slides, this will not do. IF you just want snapshots, it will be ok. Much depends on how you copy, type of light source, and the quality of your camera.

[ulrich_michel]

Hello Jeff,

The only advantage is speed, as wen you need to digitize a shoe box full of slides from some time ago, so the whol family can enjoy the old snapshots on the TV or monitor.

 

I have doublicatet with Pentax and slide copie adapter to film in the past, and recently with Canon A620 point & shot with copy adapter getting workable results. An important factor here is: clean slides, ability of camera to focus on film, clean lens in adapter :-) , and a cool & even light source in the 5000 K neighborhood. If your not to picky you can even post process the JPeg's with a one click software. But if you're looking for Quality and ability to print and enlarge, the scanner route is recomended.

 

good luck, Michel.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Thanks for that fine exmple Les. For clarity sake Isn't the 20D a 6Mp camera?

[leicaglow]

Yes, after much trial and error. There is a good thread about this in the Nikon forum using a bellows and enlarging lens setup. I tried this with a D200, PB-6 bellows, and a bunch of lenses, and the results I got were simply dull. It sort of surprised me a) how much work it is matching a DX sensor to a FF slide, and b) how lifeless the images looked compared to scanning. I did use RAW capture and it didn't help.

[jeff_plomley1]

Cheers for all the info folks. I would be doing this with a Canon 1Ds and Canon 100/2.8

USM macro lens (or the Canon 180/3.5 L-I will have to compare color rendition of each

lens for this sort of application).