Features
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Sturdy, easy-to-use copy stand designed specifically for digital camera scanning
Aluminum construction with a wide base area for light sources and film holders
Standard column height: 49cm
Extended column height (extender included): 69cm
Wide camera mounting head that is easy to tighten/loosen by hand
Product Details
“Valoi” is a Finnish word meaning light and creation — a nod to the creativity of analog photography. VALOI's Scandinavian roots are visible in the minimalism and functionality of their designs. VALOI 360 is a film holder system that provides an easy and effective way to digitize your film using a digital camera. With the right setup, the VALOI 360 system can deliver faster and higher quality scans than traditional flatbed scanners.
Constructed of strong aluminum alloy, the VALOI 360 Essential Copy Stand V2 provides a solid, stable, and dedicated base for your digital camera scanning needs. Unlike a tripod, a copy stand is designed to point your camera down at a perfectly perpendicular angle for copy/reproduction work. The wide base area provides plenty of space for your light source, VALOI 360 film holders, and accessories.
The head of the stand is custom made and specially designed for the task of scanning. The wide shape and rubber surface material grips firmly to the entire base of the camera to keep it firmly secured. A 40mm diameter tripod screw is easy to tighten and loosen by hand with the included locking lever.
Rather than adjusting multiple tripod legs, the camera can be easily raised or lowered on the rail for different film formats using the locking lever. A rail extension is included for use with longer lenses. Standard rail length: 490mm. Extended length: 690mm. The extension is not needed if you only scan 35mm with normal focal length lenses. Please note that the extended setup is not suitable for use with heavy camera and lens combinations, such as a professional DSLR with a 100mm macro lens.
Camera Scanning Considerations:
Camera Body
Just about any semi-modern, interchangeable-lens digital camera will work great for camera scanning. There are many mirrorless or DSLR options to choose from with large lens catalogs, tethered capture capability, and excellent image quality. Some high end cameras can even use pixel stitching to deliver extremely high levels of resolution.
Macro Lens
For camera scanning, the one real requirement is that your lens focuses close enough to capture the entire frame. For full frame cameras and capturing 35mm film, the term “1:1” designates a lens that will reproduce the 35mm frame exactly onto the full frame digital sensor. With crop-sensor bodies, 1:1 lenses focus even closer. Outside of reproduction factor (1:1), also look out for lenses that are sharp, have good color reproduction, limit internal reflections (modern coatings), and have very little vignetting. Finally, it’s generally best to use your macro lens stopped down 2-3 stops from wide open, as this gives a good combination of depth of field and sharpness.
Software for Negative Conversion
There are several plugins and standalone programs for converting digitally captured negatives into positive images. Most of the options presented here allow you to download a demo version to try before you buy and determine which one best suits your workflow.
