The Great Digitisation begins

[pgk]

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I have several large boxes of slides - thousands and thousands of them. Now seems the time to go through, dispose of the dross and digitise some of the better material. First box has had its first run through and the bin has taken its toll. So time to set up to copy them because my scanners have long gone and I found scanning too slow. Copying is quite easy if you follow the 'rules'.

Rule number one - a consistent light source. I'm using a small CIE specified LED lightbox

Rule number two - ensure that slide and sensor are parallel. I use a spirit level on the camera back display and on the slide holder - works a treat

I've built up a copy unit from miscellaneous bits I already had - a bit of a concoction but the results are all that matter, and I'm using a Sony camera because I have a macro lens for it. The slide was taken in about 1980 on a Leica M4 using a 135/4 Tele-Elmar on Ektachrome 64 Daylight and is a view of the Embankment in London. Colours are pretty good to me and grain is starting to intrude at 24MPixels. The slide is suffering from age with some dye diffusion by the look of it (it has not been stored wondrously in an attic room - hot in summer). So here we go:

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[Pyrogallol]

Looks like the old Amateur Photographer test viewpoint they used when reviewing new cameras and lenses.

[pgk]

34 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

Looks like the old Amateur Photographer test viewpoint they used when reviewing new cameras and lenses.

I think that they used the "RRS Discovery" as a test target because it could be photographed from the tower block they were based in I think. My shot was from Waterloo Bridge.

[stuny]

Nicely done, Paul.

[pgk]

Ok, for anyone interested here's an update.

Despite being up to 40 years old my transparencies have actually survived surprisingly well with only dust and small hairs being any significant problem. However ....

Card mounted Kodachromes, slides in aftermarket card and Gepe plastic mounts are all ok, BUT Kodachromes in the thin plastic Kodak mounts are showing some slight edge fading. So the plastic Kodachrome mounts are not inert (the ones I've looked at so far are from ~1990). These should probably be remounted if they are important

[stuny]

Paul -

You're no doubt finding some old treasures.  Please post them in the appropriate photo sub forums.