Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Camera Set-up to shoot slides.

This is topic Camera Set-up to shoot slides. in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 06-30-2003, 01:38 PM:

I would like to get set up to shoot our own 35mm slides for pre-show advertising. I am leaning toward getting a digital camera over 35mm for ease of editing the pictures (Like adding text). Also, what else should I get to shoot businesses both indoors and out eg. boom lights, flashes, etc.

Looking to do this under $1000.00

Any suggestions or links on cameras and accessories would be appreciated. There is not a single reputable camera dealer within 60 miles of me other than the big chain stores that know nothing about what they sell.

Thanks

Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 06-30-2003, 02:15 PM:

Adam,
I can't help you with the specifics of what you are looking for, but once you have a better sense of what you need, I would recommend getting your gear from B&H Photo in New York. They have just about everything, and at great prices, too. Their staff is knowledgeable, and they are completely reliable. Good luck.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-30-2003, 06:28 PM:

Pretty much any 35mm SLR camera with a standard 50mm lens will work fine. Depending on the size of your artwork, you might need a macro lens or a set of close-up diopters that screw into the filter threads on the lens.

The hard part is getting even lighting across the artwork and lining it up with the optical axis of the camera. The "right" way to do this is with a copy stand with light sockets on each side. If you are shooting color artwork, you will need to use tungsten-balanced slide film or an 80A filter on the camera to get the right color balance. An incident light meter would be helpful, too.

If you want simple white text on a black background, you can use Kodak Ektagraphic HC slide film, which is just Kodalith negative film that is packaged for use in 35mm cameras. You create the artwork in reverse (white background with black text) and then shoot it with this film. The results are great and the film can be easily developed at home with little more than a stainless-steel reel and tank.

If you want to manipulate things digitally, are dealing with "normal" size artwork, and don't mind spending several dollars per slide for the output, you might want to forego the camera and just buy a good flatbed scanner instead.

Hopefully others will have more suggestions....

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 06-30-2003, 11:18 PM:

Joe, I would not recommend B&H because of their strict return policy (7 days). There are other vendors on par who are more flexible on that... I guess I'm not comfortable enough in this space to recommend any.

Also, you could seriously consider getting a 35mm 8-perf film recorder. They're not that expensive. Looks like Mirus makes some that retail for under $200. This is definitely better than doing paste-up, etc, especially if you have a scanner. This is how we do our in-house slides. We also do in-house E6 development, but you can outsource that to a local photo lab easily enough if you don't need instant turnaround time and don't want to deal with chemicals.

--jhawk

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-02-2003, 01:00 PM:

Making presentation slides:

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/av/slideProjectors/consortium/easier.shtml

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/av/slideProjectors/consortium/designing.shtml

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/av/slideProjectors/consortium/slides.shtml

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/av/slideProjectors/

Many use high contrast B&W films, shooting black letters against a white background to get slides with white letters against black. Advantage is that it's easy to process yourself. Some compose the slides on a computer, then photograph the display: