Jump to content

Who needs a scanner?


Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I've been experimenting.

 

Being an old 'wet' photographer, I have quite a few negatives, many of which I will want to re-print as time goes by. But I no longer have a darkroom - one of the reasons why I bought an M8.

 

So I need a scanner. But it occurred to me that I have a Visoflex II and bellows and a some good enlarging lenses, and a copy stand, and a light-box.

 

So I tried using this setup, with the M8 on the back of the Visoflex, and a 75mm enlarging lens on the front, to copy some BW negs.

 

The results are excellent, even better than I expected. My negs are low-contrast, full-scale from slightly overexposed/underdeveloped films and I'm getting files with every bit of detail retained - the M8 is the best copy camera that I've ever tried.

 

On the computer screen at 100%, which is rather an unfair test, since it represents a bigger print than the 20"x16" I normally would make, they hold up amazingly well.

 

And, although I hate to admit this, I'm getting prints that have the tonal range and detail that I would expect from a good darkroom print, plus more shadow detail. The M8 seems somehow able to find and separate tones in the barely-exposed areas of the neg that would be difficult if not impossible to retrieve by conventional printing.

 

Once set up, I can copy a batch of negs quite quickly, and the lack of ICE-technology is no real handicap, since it can't be used on silver-image films anyway.

 

So I've saved myself the cost of a scanner.

 

David

Link to post
Share on other sites

x

This thread is prompting me to think of the 90mm Macro-Elmar M Lens with the Macro Adapter M on a M8 for copying 6x6 cm negs and chromes; does that sound feasible? I have tons of negs but I do not want to get into scanning.

 

Sergio, I saw your 35 mm copy, which was pretty cool. What lens setup did you use? I am not sure the above setup would work well for 35's but your opinions will be valued.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Say what???

You are converting them to digital and then adjusting them on your PC. Post one of the digital images.

 

Maybe I should be a bit more specific. I'm talking about copying 35mm (mainly Leica) negatives. I'm making a side-by-side comparison with a silver-image darkroom print and a digital print made from the same neg, copied using the M8 as a copy camera. I'm comparing prints, that's the object of the excercise, so posting a small jpg, or whatever, would be meaningless.

 

The copies I'm making are not the equal of original shots from the M8, but the prints that I've made so far have convinced me that I can continue printing my negs with no significant loss of print quality. And I'm only copying BW negs - not colour negs, or transparencies.

 

I was originally sceptical, so all I can say is that it works for me, and well done Leica for producing such a versatile camera.

 

David

Link to post
Share on other sites

This thread is prompting me to think of the 90mm Macro-Elmar M Lens with the Macro Adapter M on a M8 for copying 6x6 cm negs and chromes; does that sound feasible? I have tons of negs but I do not want to get into scanning.

 

Sergio, I saw your 35 mm copy, which was pretty cool. What lens setup did you use? I am not sure the above setup would work well for 35's but your opinions will be valued.

 

The example was made with a d2x and an old micro nikkor 55/3,5.

With the m8, I think that using, as David Stone, a Visoflex , is more suited to this kind of work than using the 90 macro elmar alone. A simple slide holder mounted in front of the camera at the right distance should be all you need.

Sergio

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...