Digital SLR for making Slide dupes??

[ajaytyagi]

I am an avid film user (mainly slides) and was thinking of getting

the coolscan 5000ED from Nikon when it struck me that the D70 can

probably double up as both an affordable camera as well as a slide

scanner for the exact dollar value(1K). I could be talking thru my

@#$% but please hear me out and kindly advise if this is even

possible. Using a PB-6 and PS-6 slide duplicator combo is it

possible to make comparable copies of slides with a D70?? This would

at least for the time being let me scan some of my good slides plus

utilize my lenses, accessories while supplementing the second body

NAS cravings.

I guess the other way to put this is - Does the best image taken

from the D70 even compare to a scan from the 5000ED??

Thank you

AT

[spencer_hahn]

In terms of straight-up megapixels I think the highest resolution you can get from 4000dpi is around 18MP, while of course the D70 is only 6MP. Also, there's no anti-dust software/hardware built into the D70. Furthermore, I am unfamiliar with the PB-6/PS-6 combo but if it was designed for 35mm-format film SLR's, then you may have the cropping issue with the smaller-sized DSLR sensor, so you may have to keep that in mind.

[spencer_hahn]

Actually I just did some quick math and it's just over 20MP coming from a 4000dpi scanner.

[ajaytyagi]

2 good points Spencer, but I am still confused by the whole pixel count thing. The cropping factor is definately an issue though you could find lenses to compensate? Or else instead of scanning some good slides I could scan the good parts of my slides (;-)

[ajaytyagi]

Yes ICE is a huge factor!

[jay_.]

Ok let's see, according to Spencer then shooting film and scanning is several times better resolution than shooting directly with a 6mp DSLR. Sounds right to me but all the D-whatever users out their will be getting their panties in a knot over that statement.

[ellis_vener_photography]

<I>

 

In terms of straight-up megapixels I think the highest resolution you can get from

4000dpi is around 18MP, while of course the D70 is only 6MP.</I><P>Were that

these two were directly comparable. The general consensus amongst people who

have actually done real world testing is that an image from a high quality digital

sensor (and the 6MP sensor arrays in the Nikon D2H, D1X, D70, D100, Canon 300D

and Canon 10D all qualify ) is at least equal to a scan that that is 3x to 3.5x the size

is megabytes. That is for general photographic subjects. I have no idea of how to

relatew that to doing a copy slide vs. scanning directly. Clearly the quality of the lens

being used on the DSLR will be of prime importance. There is also the matter of

contrast. Isuspectthat you could get a very high quality dupe out of the D70 but your

technique (and slides) both when shooting the dupes and in Photoshop afterwards

will need to be immaculate for the results to look like anything but a dupe image.

Scanners are probably doing a lot of work automatically that you take for

granted.<P>Which takes us to to an issue that is buried inside your question

<I>Does the best image taken from the D70 even compare to a scan from the

5000ED?</I><P>I think that will depend on how you are planning on using the

resulting file. For low end use like the web or 8x10 prints? Probably the results will be

fine. For higher end usage? I don't rightly know.

[aardvarko]

D70 will give you a file that's approximately 3000x2000. It will be noisy, particularly in shadow areas. Coolscan at 4000dpi will give you a 6000x4000 file that will not be significantly noisier than the source film, and will have greater exposure latitude (preventing blowout of highlights or dropout of shadows). Coolscan also has ICE automated dust/scratch removal, which will save you a LOT of time in Photoshop.

[brodeub]

Ajay - I tried to accomplish the very same thing with a D2H, 55/3.5 micro lens with extension tube, mounted to a PB-4 bellows with a PS-4 slide copying adaptor. Tried a whole succession of light sources (flash, photolamps, direct sunlight), and couldn't get the slide to copy without significant color shift that was very difficult to correct in PS (not that I'm a wiz). Also had a lot of trouble controlling the dynamic range, and would have had to stack images to get anywhere near the quality of the original. I posted on this forum over a month ago and someone gave a fairly detailed response on why it wouldn't work well having to do with the color shift in the light passing through the slide medium and the sensitivity of the camera's CCD sensor. I'm not sure I understood it all, but I reached a dead end. Slides were 70's vintage kodachromes.

[wilfred_wong]

I don't 've a Coolscan... but I 've a Canon FS4000US film scanner, still, I now mainly use my D70 (or D100) to dup slides.

 

OK, my setup.

Micro 60mm

ES-1 Slide dup adaptor (lens reverse adaptors used to extend the barrel)with a 62-52mm ring.

Lightsource.... i use a light box which is for viewing slides.

Sunlight is ok too.

 

OK, Why i use that instead of the filmscan? The Canon filmscan is good for negative.. but for slides... it's not good. Esp if the slides is dark. pix under bright sun is OK. Color is poor in shadow, noise is another big issue. I use ITU8 to cal my scanner... although the result is better after I used ITU8 to cal my scanner, but the DRange is still poor. in some slides(Provia 400F pushed 2 stops), I even had to scan twice (at different exposure)to combine them together, but it's not easy since the 2 scans won't be exactly the same (maybe 'cos the slide moves at different speed inside the scanner).

 

With the D70 (or D100), exposure blanketing on slides is easier than using filmscan. That's not necessary when the slide is not very high contrast.

 

Yes, filmscan at 4000 dpi yield much much finer details, and D70 've no IR dust removal. But a slide shoot with D70 is quite good. I made a 8X10 print from a the same slide (Interior of a church, quite dark, using Provia 400F pushed 1 stop ) using filmscan and D70. That from D70 is MUCH better.

 

Slides I tried to dup inlude... Provia 400F (pushed 1 and 2 stops), K64, E100GX and Velvia 50), and I use RAW.

 

Try it out to see if that works for you. If you 've a decent macro lens (or 50mm with extension tube) already, you don't 've to invest much for the test.

 

Now I'm confused... I love to get the most from my slides.... 4000 DPI is good to me, but the D70 /w the 60mm micro deliver very good results. I really can't justify to dump the Canon filmscan and spend $$ to get another one, and I'm not sure how other filmscanners outperform the Canon.

 

Top Nikon filmscan might be great... but for that price.... I can get another D70 , or some great optics.

 

maybe I could post some samples if you'r interested.

[ajaytyagi]

Wilfred,

I would love to see some images if you have a chance.

Thanks.

[wilfred_wong]

Hi Ajay, here are 3 samples, rather large jpg

 

http://www.wilfredwong.net/photo.net/

 

They'r 3 different slides. Provia 400F pushed 1 stop, E100 (Kodak consumer slide), Velvia 50.

 

 

OK, correction to my setup, they'r mounted in sequence.

 

D70(or D100), 60mm Micro, 62-52 step-down ring, BR2, PK-12, BR3, ES-1

 

the ES-1 is designed for film, so I used the "BR2 PK12 BR3" to extend the barrel length for the 1.5 corp factor of DX sensor.

 

hope this helps

[ajaytyagi]

Wilfred,

The results are quite good and looks like the D70 and slide duplicator combo may work for a while for me. Yes the whole ICE issue is big but the option of another body (digital) to add to my only body (F5) is very appealing. Currently I use a Sony DSC-P1 for extremely mediocre shots of my 2 year old.

 

Thank you everyone.

 

AT