What kind of lens, film holder and light should I use to digitize a great many B&W negatives?

Question

I wish to digitize a great number of B&W negatives. I have an older scanner (Epson V600) that works well with VueScan software and has film strip holders but is quite slow.

Additionally, many of the images I want may be the only one on a film strip so I am forced do a lot of extra effort to sort out what I want.

My current plan is to use a macro lens, a crop-frame camera (Sony) on good tripod, a film strip holder and a good small light source (w diffusion).

Suggestions on lens focal length, adequate film holder and light source would be welcome and any comments about the practicality of scanning 300-500 images this way. (I’ve tried scanning houses and the economically feasible solutions had mediocre results.

Any comments about appropriate f stop to combat residual curvature in the film would also be welcome.

Answer 1

You can use a slide duplicator, which is a film holder that attaches to your lens using the filter thread.

Benefits:

• There is a built-in light diffuser
• You don't need to find something to hold your negative
• Your negative is held flat by the holder (note that some slide duplicators come with only a slide holder, the negative holder is extra)
• You don't even need a tripod, you can work with the thing on a table
• Most come with a build-in close-up lens so they can be used with a non-macro lens. However that lens isn't very good and is usually removable so you can either use a macro lens (or a lens that can at least do 1:1.6 since you have a crop sensor) or extension rings as I did above (31mm ring on 50mm non-macro lens).