Jumped the fence! Just bought an SLR :)

[Derrel]

Pretty good article on scanning with a d-slr on The Luminous Landscape recently. Interestingly, the actual results are better than most scanners in terms of dust...the d-slr scans actually minimize dust to a huge extent.

 

[limr]

Hey, maybe that's a reason for me to finally buy a DSLR! Dust removal is the bane of my film-shooting existence.

 

[Derrel]

Hey, maybe that's a reason for me to finally buy a DSLR! Dust removal is the bane of my film-shooting existence.

I agree--dust on scanned film is such a PITA. The more perfectionistic one is, the more onerous is the task of spotting out that infernal dust!

Something interesting regarding shutter/mirror vibration and its deleterious effects on resolution at high magnification can be learned from this page...http://www.krebsmicro.com/Canon_EFSC/

Bottom line: electronic first curtain shutter or electronic flash are your friends when using a d-slr to make "scans" of small negatives. You'll also need a good lens.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

I do a lot of DSLR scanning but Ive never looked it up so I may be doing it wrong. I have a glass coffee table that I put my strobe underneath with the beautydish and diffuser on. Set it to the lowest setting. then place my neg on the glass table covered by a small sheet of glass from a picture frame and then shoot away. It works as long as I do it at night other wise you can see my reflection and the camera in the image

It works though

 

[Derrel]

Just a few minutes ago I read about a setup on photo.net, in which a fellow doing it a similar way. His setup features a plastic mayonnaise jar that has had the bottom cut off, and the inside painted black...the lens goes into the jar's lid end...the black inner paintjob eliminates reflection between the neg/slide and the lens! Sounds like a pretty handy reflection-killing device.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

That's super nifty! I may have to cut up a box or something this evening and give that a try