Thought 04: Perhaps I could us some of the slide scanning set up that I already have on the go?
Thanks to my friend John Salim, who advised me on a combination of affordable lenses and extenders, it’s possible for me shoot an area smaller than a frame of 16mm!
One of the lenses was actually broken and cost next to nothing on Ebay. Genius John fixed it with his crazy precision Japanese screwdrivers. Wow. Thanks John.
The lightbox was also masterminded by him, using an LED security light, and an ND filter. Much to his disapproval, I then added a second filter and wear my sunglasses as the light’s so bright! I also tethered my camera to my laptop which helps eyes-wise. A large amount of light IS needed at this level of macro though, so thanks John!
The cable release allows me to avoid touching the camera, as any camera wobble is of course a problem. The rostrum stand also helps keep things nice and stable. Luckily for me I was given to it for free when I was working at Silverfox Films – (they ‘went digital’ and chucked out their old hand-drawn line test equipment).
A 35mm gate is featured here, but you can buy 16mm film gates from filmmaker Chris Gavin’s Shapeways store. Chris makes really cool DIY processed /scanned super 8 films, too.
By the way – I just quickly assembled the set up for this blog – hence the dust and finger prints!