Kevin Bjorke
Kevin Bjorke
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Flying: Film Scans w/Leica Monochrom

In the spirit of the previous post about impatient film photography, I tried using a “proper” digital camera and macro lens to scan these negatives, rather than a phone. Shot them right through the PrintFile page, still in their sleeves – on very close inspection you can see occasional tiny bubbles and reflections from the transparent sheet.

Even with that interference, the results lets the snappiness of the original lens shine through: the Zeiss 50mm Planar ZM, a close cousin to the Zeiss 45mm Planar that I’ve been so happy with on the Contax G.

The setup:

  • Original Shot:
    • Zeiss Planar 50mm ƒ/2 + Yellow filter on Leitz-Minolta CL (great combo!)
    • Ilford HP-5+ in X-tol 1+1, all very vanilla.
  • “Scanning”:
    • Nikkor 55mm pre-AI Micro-Nikkor w/extension tube + Fotodiox adapter on Leica Monochrom M246.
    • USB-powered LED Light Box ($19.99!).
    • Bogen 3050 tripod (large, heavy, old).

The process is very quick, and if I had a proper copy stand the negative would probably even be well-aligned. Instead, I used Photoshop’s Perspective Crop tool to get it straightened. Still, for a quick online-quality version of the film-based shot, this does quite nicely.

As for Terrafugia’s research center: sadly Geely have moved operations to China. No more flying cars in our neighborhood. I still see a couple of autogyros occasionally whining over the neighbors’ houses.

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