Q3 43 + Elpro 52 as a film/slide scanner

[JimD]

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Here's another use for a Q3 43 in Macro mode attached to an Elpro 52.  Using a light table and tripod, I photographed an old 35mm Kodachrome slide.  I tried this last year with my Q2, but this new setup with the Q3 43 + Elpro 52 yields much better results.  It's still not a true 1:1 macro, but the results are not bad.  My settings were f/3.5, 1/125, ISO 100.

Any of you try this yet?  Are there any other attachments to the Q3 43 + Elpro 52 that could get this closer to 1:1 ?

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[Alberti]

Nice colour shades  - how is red?

Edited October 4, 2024 by Alberti

[JimD]

1 hour ago, Alberti said:

Nice colour shades  - how is red?

Thank you.  The scanned slide started out with a slight blue color cast throughout so I went to Color Balance in PS and added a little red and a little yellow to remove that blueish cast.  I don't remember the amounts, I just did it by eye.

[Erato]

Awesome, please share more samples for further reference, many thanks.

[40mm f/2]

I am interested to know more data about the combination Q43 +Elpro52 in macro mode (I mostly would use it for closeup during hikes).

What is the magnification at minimum and maximum focusing distance im macro mode and also what is the free working distance (distance front of Elpro to subject). Magnification can be easily measured by photographing a ruler.

I did some calculations using https://www.photonstophotos.net/Tools/Close-up_Calculator/Close-up_Calculator.htm and the working distance was extremely small but I don’t know if all my input data were correct (also internal focusing changes the effective focal length). Too small working distance would be a no go for me as lighting (natural or flash) would be impossible but for transmitted light as for copying slides not so much of an issue.

[Sparkassenkunde]

This is a very promising approach! What resolution do you get in the cropped image finally? Might become an alternative to my dedicated film scanner. My only problem in recent years with this kind of work was to get the plane of the sensor and the light source under the film aligned properly. So far I couldn't bring myself to buy a proper tripod for this use only.

[davidnvh]

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17 hours ago, JimD said:

Any of you try this yet?  Are there any other attachments to the Q3 43 + Elpro 52 that could get this closer to 1:1 ?

Interestingly, I tried to do something very similar with a marumi 200 (+5) in combination with valoi 35.

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I am thinking about getting another marumi to stack and get +10 dioptries, will have few rolls developed next week so we will see. 

[JimD]

6 hours ago, Sparkassenkunde said:

This is a very promising approach! What resolution do you get in the cropped image finally? Might become an alternative to my dedicated film scanner. My only problem in recent years with this kind of work was to get the plane of the sensor and the light source under the film aligned properly. So far I couldn't bring myself to buy a proper tripod for this use only.

I use a level to make sure the camera is exactly parallel with the slide on the light table…adjusting the ball head on the tripod to remove any pitch and yaw.  You’re right about the image needing to be cropped, because it’s not a 1:1 true macro.  I start out with a DNG file then covert to TIF.  I don’t know how the math works out, but I can tell you the final TIF file of the image (after post processing) shows on the computer as 9.5 mb.  That does limit how large of an enlargement you can print if that is a consideration.  But it’s good enough for me and a lot quicker than my old Nikon film scanner.

[ComprehensiveGoose]

Is it possible to stack two Elpro 52 close-up lenses?

[JimD]

On 10/6/2024 at 10:58 AM, ComprehensiveGoose said:

Is it possible to stack two Elpro 52 close-up lenses?

You know, that might work.  But I don’t have two to try it.

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  I did purchase a set of Tiffen 52mm close up diopters (+1, +2, +4) and I stacked all 3 of them onto the Elpro 52 and kept the camera in Macro mode.  Then with the camera on a tripod, I took a photo of a 35mm Kodachrome slide on a light table with settings at f/11, 1/8, ISO 100.  It worked!  It had more magnification than with just the Elpro 52 and I like the results!  I think the image will hold up nicely at an 8 x 10 print.  This is going to be my new setup to copy slides.  Here’s the photo I took.

[Pierre68]

2 hours ago, JimD said:

Damn I miss the Kodachrome so much...

You know, that might work.  But I don’t have two to try it.

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  I did purchase a set of Tiffen 52mm close up diopters (+1, +2, +4) and I stacked all 3 of them onto the Elpro 52 and kept the camera in Macro mode.  Then with the camera on a tripod, I took a photo of a 35mm Kodachrome slide on a light table with settings at f/11, 1/8, ISO 100.  It worked!  It had more magnification than with just the Elpro 52 and I like the results!  I think the image will hold up nicely at an 8 x 10 print.  This is going to be my new setup to copy slides.  Here’s the photo I took.

 

[JimD]

On 10/11/2024 at 12:44 PM, JimD said:

 

You know, that might work.  But I don’t have two to try it.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

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  I did purchase a set of Tiffen 52mm close up diopters (+1, +2, +4) and I stacked all 3 of them onto the Elpro 52 and kept the camera in Macro mode.  Then with the camera on a tripod, I took a photo of a 35mm Kodachrome slide on a light table with settings at f/11, 1/8, ISO 100.  It worked!  It had more magnification than with just the Elpro 52 and I like the results!  I think the image will hold up nicely at an 8 x 10 print.  This is going to be my new setup to copy slides.  Here’s the photo I took.

Here is a postscript to the above setup.  I tried changing the f-stop to f/16 and it actually made the results of the scan a tad bit sharper! So that's what I'm going to do for future scans of slides/film.

[JimD]

Q3 43 in Macro Mode with two Elpro 52’s stacked together taken at f/16, 1/30, ISO 200.  This configuration worked better than my prior posts above.  It's an old Kodachrome slide from 1974.

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[Alf Steg]

So .. what is the final/best setup?  Tiffen (budget) or Elpro x2 ($950+tax) ?   I just had ScanCafe do 200+ 35mm slides …(horrid)! & it took 2 months. 

[humerc]

Has anybody else tried this? I am thinking of buying an ELPRO for scanning with my Q3 43 and more experience from users before buying would be appreciated.

Edited March 24 by humerc

[plantagoo]

Maybe a dumb question: Aren't these negative slides? Do you just invert the colors in PS? Does the slide fill up the Q3 43 picture completely or just a fraction of it?

TIA

Greetings
Erik