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How to “scan” your film shots with the Nikon ES-2 digitizer and your camera

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The Nikon ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter was announced way back in August 2017, along with the Nikon D850. It looks like somebody finally bought the $140 plastic tube, though, because a sort-of review and how-to has been posted to DPReview.

The D850 came with a feature specifically designed for use with the ES-2, and so does the new Nikon D780, which is what’s used in the video. Although you don’t have to use one of these two cameras. You can use it with any camera, as long as you have a macro lens.

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How to build a DIY 35mm slides and negatives copying machine

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Like many of you, I have a large collection of 35mm slides and negative film that I have taken over the years that are currently pretty much invisible. I ditched my slide projectors with the last house move (they were 240V and hadn’t been used in 20 years!) and so all the slides were stored in their boxes for some sort of future viewing! In my early years, I took a lot of black and white films and so have all those negatives in those paper holders filed away. I’m not saying that these will be great for stock photo images, but there is a lot of my life stored in those boxes! So I’ve always wanted a way to scan them to digital and perhaps pick the best to share with family and friends.

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Do you have any old slides that you want to scan? Here is my cheap and easy way to do it at home

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A couple months ago, we had a family friend who got a hold of some really old family photos. She came over and asked me if there was any way that I could convert her old slides to digital images. Since I do not own a slide scanner, I was about to tell her that there was nothing I could do, that was until I came up with a plan B.

I was holding one of her slides up to a light to see the image, when I came up with an idea.

I knew that I needed to backlight the slide to see the image, and I also knew that if I could get in close enough, I could capture a digital image of the slide. In order to get a good solid backlight, Here is what I came up with

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Nikon D850 doubles as 35mm film scanner with ES-2 adapter

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Nikon D850 was officially announced yesterday, and we went through all of its features. The camera undoubtedly thrilled many digital photographers, but there’s another useful feature occasional film photographers will find useful.

With the optional ES-2 film digitizing adapter, Nikon D850 doubles as a 45.7 MP film scanner. You can use it for both 35mm negatives and slides, and take advantage of the high pixel count on the latest Nikon’s DSLR.

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Using a $7.99 IKEA Lack Table To Build A Lightbox

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Ever seen those IKEA Lack tables? They feel suspiciously light right? This is because, as this tutorial will demonstrate, they are not made of wood. They are just a covered honeycombed piece of cardboard. But for this tutorial’s sake, this is actually a good thing. If you are looking for someone to thank to, Jack Watney is your man.

If you come from the digital era, you might ask what a lightbox is. Well, essentially it is a backlit translucent surface that you can place film on and inspect it before sending it off to print. Or, you can use it to view slides. On the non-photography side, you can use this table for tracing.

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Quickly digitize the Dark Age with this DIY Automatic Film Slide Scanner

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For those alive (or with family alive) during the days of film cameras, you have probably encountered the phenomenon of film slides (considered by some to be the precursor to PowerPoint, but Bill Gates refused to comment on where he originally came up with the idea). The problem with them, however, is moving them over into the digital era.

That is where photographer and DIY-er Stefan Lindgren took it upon himself to build a more-affordable alternative to the SlideSnap Pro, which weighs in at a hefty $3,395. (Heck, I don’t even spend that much on a car!)

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Build A DIY Slide Scanner For $10

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Here’s a quick DIY project that can help you convert your collection of old slide film collection into digital images by Instructables user, barkergk. The project calls for PVC pipe, a smartphone, and a few other items that can be easily sourced and the project itself shouldn’t take up too much of your time making it a great rainy day activity. Let’s get to it![Read More…]

Duplicating And Scanning Slides – A Refined Tutorial

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So, the holidays have rolled around once again, and sometimes we like to look at your old, but memorable, pictures from years gone by. But, having converted my photographic efforts to a digital, I continue to postpone (again) the inevitable, and disagreeable job of converting the old negative or slide collection into an acceptable digital format. This universal reluctance to bring your photos into the 21st Century is usually the caused after finding out the apparent complexity of the project or, more oft than not, the cost of the equipment.

For the past 12 years, I’ve been happily using digital photo equipment, forever clinging to the distant hope that someday I would be able to view my photographs and slides on the TV or the computer screen. I well remember how it used to be fun to drag out the slide projector and display the slides. It has, unfortunately, become less and less convenient that without clear wall space to project on, it’s just not worth the effort as the old 6ft. “pull down” projection screens just don’t cut it any more. Besides the set up of projection equipment, darkening the room and the other rigmarole one has to go through to look at slides, has driven the ‘fun’ right out of the effort so that I almost never look at them anymore. I took thousands of pictures during my travels and a lot of them were quite good.

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Building A DIY Slide Light

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It is no secret that we have gotten a bit Slide Crazy ever since we kicked off the Light Blaster. I mean we’ve always loved slides (Velvia, where art thou!), but only with this project we’ve been staring at tens of thousands of slides simultaneously.

We even conjured our little light table to help us get a better look at those little beauties. Photojojo did an even better one, though. Built after the uber awesome Slide Light, not intended specifically for examining slide, but more for enjoying them while kicking back in your favorite space.

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