Now that I have more time on my hands than I ever expected, I have decided to review some 20 years of shooting 6x7 film and digitizing a fair amount of my prior work. I still have my old Imacon Photo Scanner, but it is SLOW, it only has a SCSI connection that is buggy to adapt to the FireWire connection on an old MacBook that I have retained to use with it, and the Flexcolor software is very dated. So, I have read about the work that Digital Transitions has done configuring a system for digitizing transparencies that uses a Phase digital back, a copy stand, a Rodenstock tech lens and a dedicated light source. Digital Transitions claims that the scans produced with the system surpass those made with even the more recent Hasselblad X1 and X5 scanners and are the equal of the best drum scans. Perhaps all true, but the system is not even remotely cost effective for someone like me. However, it started me thinking about the possibility of configuring my own system that, while not the equal of the DT system, would at least equal the quality of the scans from an X1 or X5. I have an X1D and an H2 with a Phase IQ180 back. One is CMOS the other CCD. I would need a Macro lens for the camera, a device to hold the 6x7 transparency flat and perfectly perpendicular, a copy stand, and a light source. There is a small, new company called Negative Supply that is producing what look like well designed and engineered components like these. The German company Kaiser also produces copy stands and light sources. Perhaps there are others.
Has anyone tried to put together a system like this? Is it unrealistic to think that the system would produce scans at least equal to those from a Hasselblad X1/X5?
Thanks for any input.
Has anyone tried to put together a system like this? Is it unrealistic to think that the system would produce scans at least equal to those from a Hasselblad X1/X5?
Thanks for any input.