DIYPhotography.net

I myself made one from potato chips tube (have to remove the base part, though, to insert a CFL lamp). The tube's cap made a good light diffuser, and the white wall inside do reflect light.

One thing, if you want to do this, better get a close-focusing lens. I used a normal lens w/ MFD of 45 cm on an 8 MP SLR and I must crop here and there and ended up with somewhere around 300x400 px.

So the best combo is, I think, high-res camera with a macro lens attached.

Best and oftenly more creative ways to solve problems are definitely the simpliest of them, this is a great example.  

A couple of months ago I did this but using a shoe box to scan the negatives, and so far works fantastic

You can check it out here (the original spanish version but you can see the images), http://atravesdelalente.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/digitalizar-negativos-d...

And then I share the same tip on english version in another blog that I wrote for :) http://nonphotography.com/blog/experimental/if-you-don%C2%B4t-have-a-fil...

Enjoy and you tips is very good :)

Very creative. Should also work well for slides

I like this idea so much I'm going to use a variation of it this fall when I start shooting 35mm instead of digital on my model shoots.

Some DYI projects border on brilliant (see RAYPG's example). Others not so much. This one falls into the latter category. You'll get what you paid for here ... crappy (pun intended) dupes. No mention of color correction, light source, focusing, lens (s/b a 1.1 macro to reduce CA and distortion), all of which would influence the outcome. 120K dupes that might enlarge all the way up to postage stamp size before pixelation makes them look like modern art? Yikes! This isn't cheap, it's a waste of time. There are $60 film scanners out there for Pete's sake (whoever he is?). You'll spend less money at McD's but you're end up with something far more worthwhile than this DYI project.

RAYPG's DYI alternative is far more sophisticated. Her needs differ though in that she's duping 120 film, superior to 35MM on nearly all counts (higher resolution, less grain structure, better D-Min/D-Max, etc.) Her setup adds a flash with what looks like a remote trigger, both of which make her setup more expensive than the TP Roll DYI approach. The results, on screen at least, look pretty good though. Diffusing the light source is well thought out but there's still the issue of color balance (wax paper isn't neutral, even with flash). One suggestion though. Black out the areas between the diffusers and the film plane to even out the edge to edge light at the film plane. RAYPG's DYI project is what a worthwhile DYI project is about.

How would you turn these images into positives once they are shot? Or is it just for referencing purposes?

Mr Trickey

The most direct method is to use a photo editing program like Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Photo Pro or others. In Photoshop CSx (Windows), for example, once the image is opened click on Image>Adjustments>invert or press Control+I to invert the tones and colors. In Elements 7/8 click Filter>Adjustments> Invert or press Control+I. In Paintshop Photo open the image then click Image>Negative Image (there is no keystroke equivalent). Remember to save the inverted image with a new file name to preserve the original image.

Another, geekier, way to do this is through the curves adjustment in Photoshop CSx. Open the image, click Image>Adjustments>Curves. By default the curve endpoint begins at the lower left corner and ends in the upper right corner. Place the mouse cursor just inside the lower left corner of the curves window to reveal a 4-way arrow. Click on the small box at the endpoint and drag it up the left side to the top left corner. The image will turn white. Repeat these steps on the upper right endpoint but drag it down to the lower right corner. This reverses the tones and colors in the image. This method allows more artistic control since you can move the endpoints anywhere in the box and play with the curves to produce different results. You may also combine this process with the inverse command.

i just built one myself and it will definitely replace my mediax workscan! it’s alot faster and you don’t have to bother with that stupid scanner software anymore :)

i just took a small drainpipe instead of the toiletpaper roll to make the whole construction more stable. all i need now is a macro lense to get „scans“ with a decent resolution.

my first tries: http://www.applejuicechronicles.com/?p=1125

In reply to previous comments regarding color balancing and light sources I have described on my website how to backlight the slide or negative with any color you desire. I place my negative not in front of a window or light box or flash, but in front of my computer monitor! Using the monitor allows me to produce any backlight color I choose. http://www.johnamon.com/2010/08/how-to-copy-35mm-film-with-dslr-camera/

I have converted my images to positives using Adobe Lightroom.  I have never found a step by step repeatable guide to do this, so I wrote one!

There is a critical step in the process which involves altering the white balance of the image to get rid of the blue tint that you always get when inverting a negative to positive.  The process can be mimicked in photoshop - or in The GIMP which is free.

http://www.johnamon.com/2010/08/invert-colour-negative-in-lightroom/

I plan to build a rig like this for sorting color negatives. I don't need high quality for this, since I just want a viewer to select only the good images for later high quality (slower) sacnning. Using a camera with the suggested lense, tube and light source with a computer display makes a good viewer, but I need to reverse the color. I don't think photoshop would work since I want it to be fast (i.e. don't scan it into the program first, but look at the image in real time as the filmstrip is moved by the lense.

Art, if you try connecting your cammera to your computer, using some software to control your camera from your computer (i.e.:Camera control for Nikon), you coud "invert the colors of your Monitor ( you can do this on a MAC with Ctrl-Option-Cmd-8 ) I don`t know if this can be done on PC. but that is the main Idea. you really would not need to actually shoot the picture, since you have a real Live preview in real colors from a negative film.

I have a bunch of old slides and B&W negatives (35mm) and have been putting off buying a scanner.

Currently I shoot w a Nikon D90 and am considering going to D7000.  These are both crop sensor formats. 

Would probably use my 105mm Nikon 2.8mm Macro.  I did some resolving tests at various F stops and standard focusing distances.  Will probably have to shoot at about F11 to get best results in terms of DOF, reduced chromatic abberation, and diffusion....  ( see sample shots at:  http://glamourphotography.co/?p=406 )

What of the issue of dealing with color slide film which is layered.... the red/blue/green are on three separate layers ...  How is it focusing on these 3 layers simultaineously, with regards to focus and chroma?

Any info on final resolution and how big you can blow these things up versus what you could expect w pro slide scanner?

by now i'm schooting my negatives with a canon 50/2.5 macro and a flash bouncing of my white wall while sitting on the couch. i need 10 minutes per film that way. i uploaded some full-res examples here:

http://simonmeisinger.at/blog/?p=1186

@yucel: you should get enough DOF with an aperture of 11 for shooting slides, i guess.

Hi, 

The link above in the post does not work. It shows that the flickr page is private. Could anyone help?

Hi UDIJW, 

Thanks for the update, have joined the group and will try to make this, lots of shots to scan in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nob_head/4203961175/

www.nobtenerife.blogspot.com