DSLR / Mirrorless Scanning

Hello from Ankara, Turkey!

This is my first ever blog post exluding some forum posts and other personal posts online. I wanted to create a section on my personal website so I can keep archiving my various projects etc. about maintenance and photographic applications.

Today I want to speak about what is commonly known as ''DSLR Scanning'' which refers to digiziting film in any gauge with the help of a ''digital camera''. The term is known as DSLR simply because DSLR's were the first ''digital'' pro cameras before mirrorless cameras which people used for digitising firstly before switching up to mirrorless systems.

The term may be confusing sometimes and it is surely funny to me since DSLR is getting outdated nowadays (speaking in April, 2025)

It is a very simple application theoratically, but anything can go wrong and you'll end up not liking your results.

This is how a ''Digital Camera Scanning'' setup works very basically from a vertical view.

Digital camera

Macro Lens

focus distance in between

Film slider

Film

Light source

Getting started around the concept

Common knowledge that you need to know is that first of all everything should be LEVELED - and I mean leveled evenly or else you will not get a clear picture with grain focused perfectly from the center through al four edges.

Testing is veryhighly recommended for this step. You just take test picture with your setup and then open the digitalized image that you made and very carefully check if the grain is evenly focused on this 5 basic spot first;

center, upper left, down left, upper right, down right

Now I will be partially describing the scanning setup segments that I wrote one by one

Digital Camera

On my setup, I use a Sony A7SII (12 megapixel) mirrorless camera which creates 2832 x 4240 pixel sized images.

It is a very poor camera to do digital scanning but I do not own any high megapixel digital camera so this is what I have been using for the past 4 years.

prefarably you would like to use something which has more than 45 megapixel sensor to get very detailed grain particles. But I didnt intended to write this article to make people spend more money. I'm just gonna show you some differences so you can make your mind about it.

My A7 line Sony has two modes for shutter - one is mechanical and it would worn down as it gets closer to 100.000 shutter counts (not our subject)

and the good ''electronical shutter'' which doesnt use mechanical shutter. This is called ''silent mode'' on A7 line. And that is what I am using. Remember. It doesnt really make that much difference since you are photographing a still object.

Macro lens

so I am using a m42 macro bellow attachment (seen below) I guess it's the belomo version but I'm not too sure nor would like to know... It works and that's ok to me.

Mine was heavily modified when I first got it (as a gift from a local photographer) like i said it's normally for a m42 lens but the previous owner glued a m39 (enlarger) lens adapter to it.

The levelness of the lens mount is very questionable for this particular unit but on my tests I was able to get a very sharp image on all corners and I've been using it for long time now.

The lens though is another subject. I am using a very poor soviet enlarger lens. And you will notice the differences (we will get down to this later)

И-90U 4/75 (Иndustar)

Is what I have been using. Its the soviet Industar 75mm f/4 enlarger lens and it is very ''unsharp'' compared to other high end enlarger lenses.

For a comparison I will show some detailed pictures from different lenses later.

Focus Distance in Between

very basic but really need to write this up.

I actually have 2 enlarger lenses. One is the Industar 4/75 and the other is a Komura Komuranon-E 50mm f/3.5

I was able to get a ''full'' picture on my 35mm negatives with the 75mm lens but was unable to do it with the tighter Komuranon.

Komuranon needs to have a closer distance in order to focus on the film surface. So it can take ''pictures'' of a very small part of the 35mm film image. I will show the difference between later on as I told you.

focus distance is unique for each lens so you have to test it with your own setup first.

What I suggest is to get a decent ''macro bellow attachment'' with a bayonet mount for lenses that you already had. for an instance if you. already have very nice quality canon lenses then get one for that, or else...

also don't forget to buy an adapter for your camera. I am using a M42-Nex adapter on my Sony.

Film Slider

This is where things get a little bit intense.

I was having problems with a 3d printed film slider specifically designed for this task. I don't know if it's the poor quality of the 3d design places nearby / bad luck or 3d prints being shitty. I just don't know. But I have replaced 3 individual units because they would break down (no I don't throw them to my wall when im bored.)

I was using this design specifically and I really cannnot blame the person who designed this but all due respect I think that this is not a good solution nor it is a long term solution so I dont advise you to do it. The print would cost me around 13 usd to make one copy and I guess you can find a better value item with that price.

Now this is what I have been using it on the test instead.

Modification process -

So. Let me introduce you the cheapest solution which helped me get very decent results so far.

This is partially disassembled ''slide film carrier'' from the very same ''macro bellows set'' that I got for free.

It was laying around and not beeing used for years (since the focusing distance was not long enough when it was in it's normal condition)

what I did it I removed some parts from that ''slider'' block. in order to just get the film carrier. it had a vertical alignment metal rail system and some bellows to attach to your macro lens which made this bulkier and not flat (in it's surface)

disassembly took 5 minutes. I found out the screws and some other parts were rusted so some parts waited in white vinegar bath for a day like the film door locking bracelets (which is not seenable on the picture)

Now I don't want you guys to try to get the ''same'' material that I used on this post. Believe me. Most systems which has a macro bellows and a slide copier device should work. one screw might be in a different spot or other but who cares really. This SHOULD work with most systems. Just inspect what you got very carefully and you will find how to disassemble it.

If you are scared to open things up and never did before. Try to read some articles before doing anything... Just be careful using the right screwdriver bits. use solvents to break down dunked/seized up screws and eventually you will make it (just please read about it before)

but these bellow systems are so cheap since most people have no use for them what you would lose. Just try it out.

Film

Sadly, for this step you need to have some 35mm film laying around. Otherwise there would be nothing to scan...

Light Source

So for this step you need a good bright well evenly diffused light source. I am using what is called a ''surface mounted led panel'' (CATA brand)

I use a big one. just so that I can use the panels surface to use it to hold my film slider.

For the records this is the model name: CATA СТ- 5272

they are made to be used inside walls so they don't come with an ON-OFF switch or with a cable but it is fairly easy to add one if you know how.

PLEASE BEWARE and don't do any electrician work if you are not educated about it. 220v is not a joke and can harm you. Just pay someone to add the cable if you DONT KNOW how to.

Now beware of ANY stray lights when digitising. I simply added some ''black foam'' pieces to close the surface around my film slider. so the light only comes behind my film slider and nowhere else which streaks.

This is common practise or else you will end up having very poor light halations on your digitized image.

Led light doesnt really heat up which is a plus (very hot surfaces can cause damage to your film or it might even catch in fire if it's a very old film which has been made with silver nitrate.

Now. here are some images that I took with the setup I specified here.

Sony A7SII 12 megapixel (2832 - 4240 pixel)

ISO 100 - 1/30 sec (timer mode on tripod)

No crop on digital sensor.

No edit, just converted from negative to positive on LR

Industar 75 f/4 enlarger lens

bottom has some very slight flare problem which I am trying to solve about it. It is very small though and if cropped a little bit can be

overcome.

Same image

Sony A7SII 12 megapixel (2832 - 4240 pixel)

No crop on digital sensor.

Industar 75 f/4 enlarger lens

JPEG of the RAW scan. No edit just turned from color to BW on LR.

Now things get interesting here for me. This is a ''digital'' crop. from the picture seen above;

723 x 1084 pixel.

Digital Cropped zoomed partion of the above image.

Remember about the Komura lens that I mentioned. This is the full image (non cropped) view with that lens.

See how beautiful the grain particles look. this is the portion of the full image on the 35mm film surface. But since the KOMURA really gets a blow-up view we're able to see more detail.

Remember when I said that the Sony A7SII was a poor choice for Scanning film. I think anyone can understand the difference between the more detailed blow ups view and the cropped view of ordinary 12 mp images.

You would get something similar in detail to Komura's blow up even when you would do digital cropping on a full image when using a 60 megapixel camera or so, but not with a 12 megapixel Sony A7SII.

The megapixels does matter when it comes to scanning.

These were the basics. Thanks for reading.

Eren