Along with my father's ashes, a few boxes of family estate items arrived: clothing articles, wristwatches, analog cameras (see below), and many photos. Results? Dry-cleaning, leather restoration, protectants, watch repair, clothing alterations, and scanning. There was plenty of the lattter. Through the process, I learned that analog cameras remain useful in 2023, if a person can scan their negatives. If going this route, a person will also want to rent additional space on GDrive or buy some PCloud, probably 100G is sufficient.
scanning
A reliable, disposable document scanner reduces wear on a more expensive photo scanner, which can be used strictly for photos and slides. My two scanners, an Epson V30 and V600, had software drivers (from the AUR) that did not conflict with each other. Some ppl have scanners with drivers that conflict with other scanner drivers and will have to spend time sorting-out their software scenario.
Documents: A refurbed Epson V30 ($60). Replace now and then in order to save scanning mileage on the photo scanner. Some light vertical lines are inevitable. I run Linux; here's my software setup for the drivers.
- if conflicts, remove other scanning drivers: eg, I had previously borrowed (see earlier post) a friend's HP MFP M424dw for which I had installed hpoj drivers from the AUR. All that HP sh*t had to be removed to avoid driver conflicts # pacman -Rsn hpoj
- Documents - Perfection V30 (13.5 VDC) : uses the AUR iscan-plugin-gt-f720. Installs without issue.
- Photos - Perfection V370 Photo (13.5 VDC): I also tried this scanner, since I had it laying around. I ultimately went back to a V30 for documents, but here's what I did. The AUR iscan-plugin-perfection-v370 driver is correct, but has an outdated SHA256 signature,and wouldn't install easily. A person can modify the ~/.cache/yay/iscan/iscan-plugin-perfection-v370/PKGBUILD file with the correct hash, avaliable in this page however, YAY simply downloads the latest file and overwrites the PKGBUILD modifications which again cause it to fail.
- attempt to $ yay iscan-plugin-perfection-v370, since the problem might now have been fixed.
- If it still throws the validity check fail and exits, rerun with the following flags (courtesy this page):
$ yay -S --mflags --skipinteg iscan-plugin-perfection-v370
- Bag: The V600 is 5.5" tall due to its two-sided lighting necessary for slides and negatives. So overall V600 is 19" x 11.5" x 5.5". The V30 is slim; 17" x 11.5" x 2". Properly padded bags are laptop size (too small) or camera gear size (too big). So we're looking at an improvised solution which will work for carrying the scanners in a car, but will not work for airline baggage check through without extensive bubble wrapping and all that BS. But still great for convenience carrying. The LL Bean Scotchlight bag is long enough, as is the Samsonite Profile model -- both tend to be expensively near $50. I found a "Protege Collapsible" sports duffel on Wal-Mart for $15. This requires rubber or bubble wrap afterwards. Ultimately I bought a Samsonite Profile used on EBay. Both scanners and their cords fit into the Samsonite Profile.
Photos: spend the money ($300) to reach a new V600.
- Perfection V600 (24 VDC): uses the AUR iscan-plugin-gt-x820. Installs without issue.
If money's no object, get the V700. The 700 will do anything professionals need, but both have cleanable sensors; indispensable for photo/slide scanninig. This is because streaks eventually appear on any scanner, requiring sensor cleaning. On the V600 or 700, this is accessible. On less expensive versions, it's not. For example, I worked for days (disassembly, air blowing, etc) on an inexpensive "370 Photo", and never was able to rid it of streaks; I couldn't access the sensors in the consolidated scan heads. I eventually borrowed a friend's (expensive) HP MFP M426fdw (also CCD) to do photos until the V600 arrived. V600 = 19" x 11.5" x 5.5". Fits
For slides and negatives (obviates keeping photos), a specialized tray is included in the V600 and 700 - see above. To get the focus correct, the tray has focus tabs. Focus can be tweaked further using, eg, Bostik Blue Tack putty, to raise and lower slightly until perfect. See the video below from erwnalejo. My tray does 4 slides at once, and I scan at 800x800 which gives excellent results for prints (2.2Mb file / 4 pics about 550K each). For less important, but still good for archive and online, I use 400x400, providing about 1.1Mb file and about 260K per photo.
Wal-Mart: Loctite Fun-Tak pads. 2oz, $2.17. (less expensive than Bostik) EBay: Squeeze bulb dusters. $6!ea. (no chance of freezing like canned air)
remove color lines (1:14) Duncan Dimanche, 2021. V600/700 cleanable sensor locations.
V600 scanning tips (5:53) erwnalejo, 2021. Somewhere in Western Kansas. Lomo digitaliza, blue tack to adjust height. Links in comments to products. Lomo is an extra $50.
epson scanning tips (28:11) Nick Carver, 2019. Paper masks some of the holder. 5:40 uses a squeeze ball. 2400 dpi is fine for any normal use including 8.5 x 11 blowups, etc.
V600 overview (52:17) Film Friends, 2022. Comprehensive.
negatives (cont)
A few added negatives notes, since we need to address, 1) what resolution, 2) how to make postives.
First, there are obviously multiple images every scan, unlike the one-at-a-time method of photos and documents. And obviously a person must shift to the Transparency Unit from Flatbed (at least in Xsane). I do slides and negatives at 800x800 resolution, fine for archiving.
Secondly, I use GIMP2 for post-processing. A person can do GEGL Negative Darkroom (under Tools) and apparently achieve some good effects, but I have faster processing with some presets in the color curve. Eventually, a script is the way to go, but I don't have the free time currently. Script would do some version of what I do manually: A) Rotate the strip. B) Colors -> Invert (this result in a kind of bluish image). C) Run my presets in the Color curve. Here's a color slide from 1955.
GIMP: negative to positive (1:20) wilwad, 2022.
GIMP: Gegl darkroom (11:53) JonnyRobbie, 2021.
items
Old SLR's aren't worth much on the market. They're inexpensive to duplicate, so why carry these old ones around. For me, "a way to honor/remember my parents by repeating some of their activities." When I look at my wrist, my Dad's old watch dispays time in the same way it did when he looked at it. The old camera allows me to consider shots with the same pleasures and limitations he encountered. Pleasurable.
1. Olympus OM-1 MD (1977)
The OM-1 (including OM-1 MD) is a 35mm SLR which began the OM series. Battery (open with a penny, for models, see here and scroll down), on/off switch. SN 1325151 seems to be from 1977, but could be as early as 1974 or as late as 1979. It also seems to be without prism foam. However, another post, indicates prism foam must always be investigated.
Since it is the "MD" (motor-drive) version, it has a 5fps auto-drive or a single shot auto-winder. It has the black and yellow film-speed dial. As noted above in the above battery link, battery replacement is complex in 2023. One fellow hacked it. Note that there are two penny releaseable openings on the bottom. The larger one is for the battery (light-meter), the smaller one is the opening to connect the external motor drive.
light seal replacement (18:42) Li Reviews, 2022. Old light seals ruin film.
attach/remove ft lens (2:46) Caleb Ginsburg, 2021. Turn to f5.6, then turn speed selector to 400 ASA in alignment with 5.6, then push the release button. It sort of hinges from top to bottom.
leather case
Has two ears on the front which hold the camera in the case. These must be maintained to prevent cracking. Repeated soaks (remove from water just prior to any slime-ing),to get out salts then mink oil. I tried some Fiebing Mink Oil paste (6 oz, $8.29) instead of the desired Saphir.
restore old boots (23:00) Trenton and Heath, 2022. Remove from water before slime, each soak session. First 3:11 describe the soaking, and then at 19:33, the Saphir Medaille d'Or mink oil ($20)
leather satchel restore (19:19) James Berry, 2021. Saddle soap not soak to get off grime b/c too large to soak. Then Saphir.
gluing leather (13:06) Weaver Leather Supply, 2020. Avoid any water-based glues since, obviously, these reactivate with moisture. S-18 glue, contact cement and glue thinner. Another video describes Tanner's Bond and EcoWeld (same chemical).
2. Nikkormat FT (1965)
Does have a battery. In one box however was a Nikon Nikkormat FT camera, SN 4159963, probably from 1965. This is a mechanical/analog Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, using a prism and a mirror, he apparently bought when he was about 23 years old. He saw the world through this camera, and once I learned more about scanning negatives, I took an interest. My original thought was just to harvest the lenses for possible DSLR use.
how to load Nikkormat film (2:02) Dennis Workman, 2022. A hidden tab at the bottom of the left side. Pull down. Shutter release right next to winder.
attach/remove ft lens (2:46) Caleb Ginsburg, 2021. Turn to f5.6, then turn speed selector to 400 ASA in alignment with 5.6, then push the release button. It sort of hinges from top to bottom.
leather case
Same as with Olympus above.
3. Seiko Automatic SKX781 (2004)
In the $500 range on E-Bay, depending on the band and the condition. Nicknamed the "orange monster", of course. Self-winding, 3 position bezel: all the way out for time, middle in two directions for date or day of week. Screws down to water seal when complete.
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