Copying 35mm Slides With The Nikon Z7; Part II; What Questions Need To Be Answered? What Tests Need To Be Conducted?

Another early test.  This is from a Kodachrome slide of a Memorial Day parade in May, 1985. I wanted to see if I could
record the white uniforms without any color cast. I don't know how this will look on your monitor, but on my monitor
the uniforms are white and the shadowed areas have just a tad bit of blue from the sky's reflected light. (click to enlarge)

Recently, I purchased a Nikon Z7 camera body.  One of the main reasons I made the purchase was to copy a significant number of 35mm slides (and some negatives in several formats) from my archives.  Many of these slides are of family as well as landscapes, travel, railroads, old infrastructure, old bridges, barns and other miscellaneous subjects of which I am interested.  In Part II, I'll highlight what testing I thought I needed to conduct in order to maximize quality as well as potentially eliminate some of the editing chores that are certainly necessary after adding these slides to my Lightroom Classic CC catalog.  You can read Part I here.

There are many variables which I think can potentially increase final image quality in the digital files but I don't know for sure unless I test the system.  I don't assume any particular thing will or won't work best.  I've identified several aspects of the process I plan to test and from the results of those tests, I will decide on the final design of the copying process itself.


For example:

What is the sharpest aperture of the Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 G Micro lens?  

Will the digital image of a slide be sharper if the slide was photographed emulsion up (focus on the emulsion itself) rather than through the acetate base (emulsion down)?

Will the use of the camera's electronic shutter rather than the mechanical shutter have any positive effect?

Will a remote release be any better than using a 2-second delay after manually pressing the shutter?

Is manual focus better than autofocus?  Which is more consistent?

Which focus point is best to use in the Z7?

What is the actual white balance of the Acculight light box's diffused light source?

Should I use a Kelvin temperature white balance setting in the camera after determining the color of the light from the light box or will auto white balance or daylight white balance be more appropriate?

What exposure is best? What I see on the histogram versus what looks "right" on the camera's LCD?  Should I use the expose to the right (ETTR) method of determining best exposure?

Do I need to bracket exposures in order to dig detail out of shadows (slide film has very little dynamic range as compared to digital and there "might" be some detail in shadows that initially look lost or black)?

Which Nikon Picture Control (Film Simulation for you Fujifilm users) is most appropriate in order to best judge exposure, highlight and shadow detail and get the most accurate histogram?

Is copying the slides in RAW format necessary or will a JPEG file be adequate, although it won't give the absolute best image quality?  Is the trade-off of file size versus potential quality something that I should consider?  Does it really matter?

I would need to initially answer some of these questions then answer the rest of my questions by running tests in a manner in which I changed one variable at a time, picking the best result as I worked my way through the process.  

I suspect there are additional questions or issues that will develop during this process.  I will address those as they arise and keep moving forward with the project.

Another early Kodachrome test from 1996.  This is Zion National Park. I was working on color,
contrast, saturation and sharpness in this test. (click to enlarge)

In my next post, I'll go over the results of the tests.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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