Using Sony A7 as a slide copier

[peter_roberts4]

<p>Hi Michaei, I am still trying to deal with white balance issue. Seem that Sony a7II is not doing a good job. Well, I am thinking about using flash. In this case, how do you deal with focusing?</p>

[mwmcbroom]

<p>Good question. I usually have another light source handy. If I'm duping during the day, I'll use a window. If I'm duping at night, I'll use a lamp.</p>

<p>With my NEX 7, if I'm using a cord to activate the external flash, I have to shoot in manual mode. Otherwise, the camera is trying to meter the scene without fllash, since it doesn't know a flash is connected, and it sets a long exposure time. If I'm using the pop-up flash to trigger a slave module attached to the remote flash, then I can keep the camera in "A" mode.</p>

<p>Now, the disadvantage to using a cord is, when I'm checking focus -- or even checking to make sure the slide is centered in its holder -- because of the manual setting, the image is dark on my NEX 7's screen, so I have to switch over to "A" to see what I'm doing. Then I have to switch back to "M" to take the shot. This switching back and forth business can be sort of tedious, which is why I actually prefer using a slave module for the flash.</p>

<p>As for checking focus, I rely on the NEX 7's focus peaking feature to get me into the ballpark, then I double check by bumping up the magnification to 5x or 10x. I seldom use the 10x setting, since I rarely find it necessary. Recall, now, that I have the lens set to f/8, which gives me enough depth of field to handle any slight irregularities in the flatness of the film itself. However, I've noticed sometimes a difference between slides, so I'll often double check. I'm not sure why there should be a focus difference from one slide to the next, since they're being used in a common holder that hasn't moved.</p>

<p>Now, as for white balance, this tendency to blue shift is apparently a known problem among Sony users. The NEX 7 has it, as does the A7. That is, the sensor has an over-affinity for blues and will teend to exaggerate the hell out of them. The blues can be dealt with in post, but it's a hassle I'd just as soon not have to put up with, but so it goes. In Photoshop or Paintshop Pro, I will use either the black/gray/white eyedropper to determine a neutral tone, which often works well, or I'll desaturate blues with the saturation command. The latter works too, but typically not as well as the eyedropper.</p>

<p>By the way, following are a couple of photos of my setups. The first is the one I use with my NEX 7, which is necessary because of its 1.5x crop. The second is best used with FF cameras. Note that with the first setup, I don't mount it on a tripod. I mounted it on the tripod here just for the photo. I hand-hold it instead. It is quite rigid so I don't have any problems with camera shake. Holding it, I just manually move it back and forth in front of the flash.</p>

<p><img src="http://michaelmcbroom.com/images/dupe_rig_1.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="636" /></p>

<p><img src="http://michaelmcbroom.com/images/dupe_rig_2.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="618" /></p>

<p>Here are a couple of example slide dupes:<br /> <img src="http://michaelmcbroom.com/images/hawaii_ships_1a.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://michaelmcbroom.com/images/palosverdes_lighthouse_2a.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1796" /></p>

<p>I tried filtering out more of the blues in the above slide, but it shifted other colors wrongly, so I just left it alone.</p>