Hunakai

Just a thought...I see so many folks wanting to copy slides to digital here, but not necessarily wanting to purchase a scanner, wanting to go direct to digital.
It may have been mentioned here before, don't know, but I remember making dupes and internegs on a device called a "Bowens Illumitran" back when I was in the business, and the quality was quite good, at least at that time.
One could mount their camera in the vertical rail and shoot from the illuminated stage.
I've not used this device in years (since scanners have become the vogue) but it just might be the answer for those not wanting to buy a high end scanner, want to use their DSLR.
They're pretty cheap on E-bay.

hj Loc: Florida

Trying to understand why someone would want to buy a vintage Bowens Illumitran on eBay for $150 and up if they don't want to buy a scanner?

elee950021 Loc: New York, NY

Hi all!

Back in the day, my custom photo lab provided duplicate color slides as well as color and black and white conversion negatives. We started with the Bowen Illumitran to do the work. Basically as Hunakai mentioned, a compact copy stand with a built-in light source, however, the light was tungsten balanced and you had to add Kodak color compensating filters to fine tune the color balance. Beseler, a competitor to Simmon Omega who made, besides cameras and lenses, darkroom equipment, came out with their version. Using T-mount adapters one could use a variety of cameras and lenses but high grade enlarging lenses with their flatness of field worked best.

Why would someone use one them today? This machine allowed us to do hundreds of thousands of slide dups and conversion negatives quickly over the years. It could easily copy half frame (APS-C) sized original slides and negatives up to 4x5" with its built-in color head, moveable slide and film holders. We were able to copy slides in their 2x2 mounts or full frame without its cardboard holder, crop, correct color balance, make slides from negatives (with the right film), use tungsten or daylight film (with built-in flash), correct contrast with pre-flashing. We had a second one as backup and the cost was under $800 each. They paid for themselves after 160 slide duplicates. I still have them in storage!

Now I have a Nikon Coolscan 5 for the occasional slide I run across and the scanning takes more than a few minutes especially if you use Digital Ice3 software to remove dust and scratches. Multiple that time by several hundred or thousands of slides and you'll be at your computer for awhile!

When we had to make giant enlargements, we used 4x5" or 8x10" film and exposed them under the enlarger to get internegatives. The hardest job was one where the client wanted a 20x24 color print from a super 8 movie frame! We had to use a shorter than normal lens and cranked the enlarger all the way up. Long exposure to utilize the best aperture of the lens.

Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/222197201/beseler-dual-mode-slide-duplicator-model?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_high-electronics_and_accessories-cameras-other&utm_custom1=28812158-bbf6-b349-a226-0000111f7ce0&kpid=222197201&gclid=Cj0KEQjw3M6oBRDnnIywo5i287ABEiQAXRm7S2Y4_LDnMCzsATUqpAY6Cc3kNKZVw0Mpr7w9ZklSKhAaArMg8P8HAQ

Best wishes all!

Ed

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

YES! I had one in the 1980s when I was an AV producer. I used it to make tens of thousands of duplicate slides. It would do a FINE job as a slide copier, with a digital camera mounted on the back of the bellows with the right T adapter.

I still remember Kodak's SO-366 Ektachrome dupe film, a special order slide duplicating film with reciprocity characteristics designed for the flash in the Illumitran. When they killed off SO-366, Ektachrome 5071 dupe film had to suffice. At that point, I bought a Beseler 4x5 color head mounted upside down with a slide compound from Double-M industries, along with a Double-M pin-registered Nikon F3. THAT was a wonderful slide composition rig! It, too, with a digital camera in place of the F3, would make a fine slide copy rig for digital conversions.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

SPEED, that's why!

The illumitran has a built-in flash. Plug it into the PC sync socket on your camera, and you can copy slides as quickly as you can change them in the tray underneath the lens. It will take you longer to CLEAN your slides than it will to copy them.

Using a 60mm enlarging lens on the bellows, you can go from about 1/4 life size down to about 4X life size, so you can crop the originals.

Exposure should be FULL MANUAL with lowest ISO, custom white balance, and carefully tested exposure. You may need Neutral Density CC filters to reduce the flash power to that required for the sharpest aperture on your lens (probably about f/5.6 or so).