Nikon D800 as a "Scanner"

[ColSebastianMoran]

Originally Posted by Nokton48

I also have a "DURST CHROMA PRO" gathering dust in my darkroom, which would be -perfect- for color negatives. Hmmmmmmm.........

Let us know what filtration on the color head gives you a reasonable balance with this setup.

[L David Tomei]

Looking forward to seeing your results. I may not unpack my new Epson scanner just yet.

[Nokton48]

Originally Posted by ColSebastianMoran

Let us know what filtration on the color head gives you a reasonable balance with this setup.

I am rebuilding the Chroma-Pro. What a Hoot.

I have now converted it from Nikon F to Minolta SRT. The color head still works, goes to 130CC. Magenta, Yellow, and Cyan. 100W Tungsten bulb as you would find in a slide projector or color head.

Heading off to the hardware store, to get a machine bolt, to attach the heavy base column to the Dichroic "box". Using a 50mm F3.5 Macro Rokkor MC on the bellows section, when I get it setup with an SRT body, then I will add a Nex-3.

Looks like it might do 6x6 to me, as well.

[Noll]

Originally Posted by Tony Pio

I've had my D70 on the PB-6 for several years now to digitize old film. The two problems that I have yet to overcome are the unavoidable cropping of the film frame, and the terrible results with color negs.
How have you dealt with the cropping issue and the white balance in the color negs?

I was playing around with the custom white balance on my dslr (e510) while 'scanning' and found the best color inversions came when I had it set between 2000-2400 degrees kelvin. The flourescent tubes under the neg were probably of the 4000-5000k range.

The results of a quick 2 shot stitch looked decent. I'd say I got most of the detail that the "24 mp" lab scan obtained. The dslr scan showed less color-grain-blotch, but also less contrast, and duller skin tones. White balances of 2000 K in-camera gave a warmer look, 2400 cooler.

DSLR scan @2000 K custom white balance, Olympus Trip 35, Kodak Gold 200


Downsized '24 mp' Lab Scan:

[j j]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

You would be best shooting a frame of a gray card, properly exposed, and basing the whit balance adjustment for base tone on that. It's a better representation of the dye mix for neutral-white than film base color.

Really? Wouldn't that add another variable (the light conditions under which you take the reference image)?

[ColSebastianMoran]

Noll, that looks pretty good.

I worry with WB in the 2000-2400 range, that good color will be hard to obtain. Your DSLR scan looks pretty good, but the building in the upper right looks a little ill.

I wonder if a higher K bulb would produce a better result. Say a daylight balanced bulb?

I had 110 C and 60 M in the filtration in my test and the histograms were reasonably balanced at 4000 K.

Any color-savvy engineers reading this?

[ColSebastianMoran]

Just thinking... We could make a fortune if we created and sold the right light source for digitizing color negatives with a simple slide copier!

[ColSebastianMoran]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

You would be best shooting a frame of a gray card, properly exposed, and basing the whit balance adjustment for base tone on that. It's a better representation of the dye mix for neutral-white than film base color.

Godfrey, this sounds right to me. The C41 film-base shows the mask color, but it's signaling absolute black in the positive image.

Probably best to get white balance from gray, not from black or white. I'm going to shoot a Macbeth Color Checker in my next roll of C-41.

[willie_901]

Why not just pop it with a SB-80, SB-800 or 900 strobe on a light stand?

Power is adjustable in essentially 1/3 stops down to 1/128 full power. Gels with a wide variety of color temperatures are available.

[Thanimal]

My friend Walker was writing about this a little while ago:

http://theagnosticprint.org/future-of-scanning/

There's a lot of other interesting reading on his site as well.

[ColSebastianMoran]

Originally Posted by willie_901

Why not just pop it with a SB-80, SB-800 or 900 strobe on a light stand?

Power is adjustable in essentially 1/3 stops down to 1/128 full power. Gels with a wide variety of color temperatures are available.

Now I think that's interesting. Start with a 5500 K light source (instead of a tungsten light) and start adding filtration from there. That should enable us to handle the orange mask on C-41.

[Godfrey]

Originally Posted by j j

Really? Wouldn't that add another variable (the light conditions under which you take the reference image)?

Not if your gray card is a proper neutral reflector. It's always best to take a WB reading from something neutral in between the extremes of pure white and pure black.

[Nokton48]

I had to go, but I quickly tried 110C + 60M with my Nex 3 and it worked decently well. I think the saturation is what may be lacking, the results are a bit flat, but definately usuable. I used a 100mm Bellows MC Rokkor on the Durst Chroma Pro. I reset the Nex 3 to TUNGSTEN lighting, which adds even more blue. Color was correctable within photoshop at these settings.

This has potential, especially for B&W.

Pete Turner has his Honeywell Repronar "souped-up" by Marty Forschner, with an electronic flash light source. But, of course, he was copying with Kodachrome II.

[Nokton48]

Here is my Durst ChromaPro with the Nex-3 and 100mm MC Rokkor attached:

[ColSebastianMoran]

Originally Posted by Thanimal

My friend Walker was writing about this a little while ago:

http://theagnosticprint.org/future-of-scanning/

That article is quite interesting. Thanks!