The title of this article is exactly what I had to figure out when a large box of slides from my dad landed on my desk a few weeks ago. It was a family treasure waiting to be archived. At the same time, my black and white negatives sensed an opportunity – I could hear them from the closet calling out, “Digitize us!” But how, without a scanner? It’s quite simple, actually. Here’s how to do it.
In this article, I’ll show you how to digitize your analog 35mm film archive without a dedicated scanner. Of course, you can’t do it entirely without some special equipment. But it’s quite possible that you already have the most important pieces of gear in your bag already, namely your camera and lens.
However, to make things a little more complicated, not every camera and lens is ideal for this purpose. The best choices are the Nikon D850 and D780 DSLRs. Both of these cameras have an interesting feature: they can digitize 35mm negatives (both color and black and white) and automatically convert them into a positive image.
Unfortunately, this feature seems to have died out with the move to mirrorless. If you want to use a different camera, you will have to do the conversion from negative to positive manually in post-processing (although even that is nothing you can’t handle).
The other thing you’ll need is one of four macro lenses: AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G, AF-S Micro NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D, or (only if you’re working on a Nikon Z camera) the Nikon Z MC 50mm f/2.8. Unfortunately, the most commonly used type of macro lens, a 105mm f/2.8, is not suitable for the process I’m about to describe because its working distance is too long.
The last piece of the puzzle before you can get started is the Nikon ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter Set (for $140). The Nikon ES-2 is simply a device that holds a strip of film at an appropriate distance from the lens. It attaches to the lens like a filter; a 62mm thread and an adapter are included in the set.
An integral part of the adapter is a matte glass, the purpose of which is to diffuse the light so that the entire window is evenly illuminated. The simplest, cheapest, and perhaps best light source to use is a window. To avoid color shift, position your camera so that a plain white or gray background is in front of the lens. Alternatively, another source of neutral light, such as a lightbox or a high CRI fluorescent lamp (CRI 95 or higher), will come in handy.
There doesn’t need to be a lot of light. After all, the camera, the digitizing set, and the film are one unit. You can shoot at base ISO, and even at long shutter speeds, there is almost no risk of motion blur (unless you touch the film strip or holder directly). I still recommend using a tripod for comfortable work.
Digitization Procedure
What you will need
- A Nikon DSLR or Z mirrorless camera (though preferably a Nikon D850 or D780)
- One of the four suitable macro lenses I discussed earlier
- Nikon ES-2 film digitizing adapter set
- Tripod
- A suitable light source or window
- A neutral background
- Air-blower to remove dust from the film
- Software for negative inversion (if using a camera other than D850 or D780)
- Your typical post-processing software
Place the camera and macro lens on a tripod. Make sure you have a suitable light source (see above) and screw the 62mm adapter onto the filter thread of the lens. Onto this, attach the ES-2 film digitizing adapter and lightly secure with a screw. It’s very straightforward once you have the adapter in front of you.
For digitizing negatives, which are typically archived in strips of six frames, use a strip film holder. Carefully insert the negative into it. To keep your photographs as clean as possible and to save you from subsequent retouching, I recommend cleaning the negatives of any dust with an air blower first.
Now the holder can be inserted into the digitizing adapter. After loosening the screw, the digitizing adapter on the metal tube (through which it is attached to the lens) can be moved back and forth.
I recommend starting by focusing the lens manually at the shortest focusing distance first. Then, move the digitizing adapter with the film inserted to the plane where the image will appear sharp in the viewfinder or display. From this position, move the adapter about 1mm forward, level the horizon, and secure with the screw.
With this procedure, you will have to crop little or nothing from the digitized image, as the image on the film will be transferred to a full-frame sensor at a 1:1 scale.
Now comes the aforementioned unique feature of the Nikon D850 and D780, the digitizing process itself. Activate Live View on the camera and press the “i” button. Select “Negative digitizer” and confirm with the OK button. Select between color negative or monochrome negative, and press OK again. After these steps, you will see a preview of the image converted to positive on the display.
The camera will set the exposure automatically. The default settings are ISO 100, aperture f/8, and shutter speed according to the level of light coming through the negative onto the sensor. If the film is flat, leave the settings as they are. If the film is warped due to improper storage, you can use a narrower aperture, such as f/11 to f/16.
The only thing you can do in auto mode to affect the look of the digitized photo is adjust the brightness setting. In preview mode, press the OK button and then adjust the exposure as needed. If you’re not sure, you’re better off making several variations and then selecting the best one.
The last step before digitizing is to focus accurately. I have found that autofocus only works reliably if the film is further away from the lens (which is not ideal because it leads to a frame that will need to be cropped in post-production). I recommend turning AF off and focusing manually on the grain at maximum magnification in live view.
Done? Now all you have to do is press the shutter. The resulting digitized image is saved to the card as a full resolution JPEG. Personally, I would prefer if the image was saved as a converted RAW or at least a TIFF, but I understand that for most of these images, JPEG would be the optimal output.
If you would like a greater degree of manual control over the whole process, of course the negative can be digitized without using automatic conversion.You can shoot it in RAW format as always and convert the negative file to a positive in your photo editing program.
I tried this procedure for a few photos and eventually abandoned it. Primarily for time reasons. The automatic conversion is done as soon as you press the shutter button; with RAW, it’s just the beginning. The image needs to be converted to positive and, in the case of a color negative, the strong color shift caused by the tint of the film base needs to be removed. It’s good when you’re digitizing only a few of your most important 35mm photos, but not for a batch of hundreds or thousands of negatives.
Still, if you do want to go the RAW route, a plugin for Lightroom Classic called Negative Lab Pro is worth checking out. This makes the conversion relatively simple and consistent, and you can apply it to a batch of photos. However, editing the subsequent photos can require exporting them again as a TIFF, because Lightroom’s sliders still recognize it as a negative image until you bake Negative Lab Pro’s edits into the photo.
When digitizing slides, you’ll follow a similar procedure as before (of course, apart from the omission of the negative conversion step). You can choose to shoot in RAW, RAW+JPEG or go the easiest route, JPEG.
If you’re outputting a JPEG, I recommend setting the Neutral or Flat profile in picture control. Slides are a fairly high-contrast medium, and using more aggressive profiles such as Vivid will often result in clipping of the highlights and shadows. In the case of digitizing to RAW, it doesn’t really matter, but you will get a more accurate preview on the display.
Digitizing slides will also differ from digitizing negatives by using a different type of holder. Instead of six frames, only two frames will fit in the slide mount holder of the ES-2. These are unfortunately designed only for the thinner, more modern frames. The older ones used to be a bit thicker. I’d rather not even mention the vintage pieces consisting of two slides taped together. Such slides will have to be digitized by other methods, or undergo lengthy disassembly and digitization in a strip film holder.
Results and Other Digitizing Options
What do the resulting digitized photos look like? I’d say the automatic feature of the Nikon D850 does a great job. It can really turn a large number of photos into ones and zeros very easily and relatively quickly, with good results. Once you get everything set up, the whole digitizing process is very smooth. I was really surprised at how accurately the camera software can convert a negative to a positive.
And so with all the good and bad. If the negative has a color shift or faded colors, it stays as it is. This is another time when you may want to use RAW instead of the automatic JPEG process.
Is using a DSLR the best way to digitize your analog archive? I think there is no universal answer. Of course, the truly quickest way would be to outsource the task to a professional lab dedicated to digitizing old film. But such a thing can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and it takes away some of the flexibility that you get from being able to choose between RAW and JPEG.
Another way to digitize negatives or slides is to use a dedicated film scanner yourself. Unfortunately, high-quality 35mm film scanners like the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED are hard to find these days, and they tend to be very expensive (sometimes more expensive than the Nikon D850). One advantage is that they can automatically remove dust and scratches, a common problem with old analog film. Flatbed scanners, meanwhile, are more of a stopgap solution – they will usually take longer to use and require more manual edits/crops to look right.
The method presented today is what I would recommend to most photographers instead. And if we also consider the price, it is definitely the most efficient option, assuming that you already own a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Then all you need to do is buy a few small things and you can start digitizing your 35mm film archive relatively cheaply, quickly and easily.