Can a Fuji GFX Pixel Shift Scan Win a Fight Against a Drum Scanner?

Let's go on an adventure where I try to figure out if utilizing the Pixel Shift technology on a Fujifilm GFX 50S II can make a comparable scan from a negative scanned with a 550-pound Heidelburg Drum Scanner.
Blood, sweat, tears square holes, more rears, more blood will be shed.
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0:00 - Introduction
0:37 - Pixel Shift?
2:38 - Caveats
3:24 - Omega DII conversion
11:40 - Results
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[@clickroach]

Two things. 1) I know I said 4.5 instead of 4x5 and "pixels" instead of "Megapixels" in that second scene. But there was no way I'd get the cat to hit those marks again so live with it. 2) I have tried doing some color negatives with this setup and the highlights always have a weird pink color cast. Is it the light? Is it the lens? Dunno. I have a lot to learn yet with this technique.

[@SuperSuperka]

3) you named capturing with camera "scanning" - common mistake nowadays.

[@SD_Alias]

Yes C41 is more difficult. I used a flashlight as a lightsource and used a blue 80a Filter to compensate the orange Mask in the Negative. The results were nice. I had no comparison with a high end scanner. But way better than an Epson950. I guess it is your light source. The bandwith of the coulorcouplers in the negative emulsion is very small. And LED light that has not a very high CRI above 96 or more have many gaps in their spectrum. So try a flashlight as a lightsource and i bet the weird pink colorcasts are gone. For conversion i like Negmaster more than NLP… A colorhead from a enlarger is an excellent lightsource too!

[@martyzielinski1442]

@@SD_AliasNegmaster???? More info please?.??

[@lewisbloom6396]

This is a train wreck, AND I loved every second of it, I have had many drum scans done in my life but I am ready to take my scanning in house, and a perfect excuse to add to my Fuji collection, thanks so much for the entertainment and information!

[@nicolaimedbo]

This video is fantastic! I don't think i've seen a more entertaining video about scanning before:)

[@alexanderaleksander4272]

Man, I found your channel by accident while searching for another one, but this is the best overview of the Fuji GFX scanning method! Besides, I have almost the same situation with the lens, so it’s very informative. Very cool, respect!

[@christianpaul6893]

This was a really cool comparison video, and also your style is way funny!

[@brianbarber2188]

Remember that one time when you had some of us film photographers over to demonstrate the drum scanner and invited people to bring some negs to scan and then you scanned them and then we drank a beer and watched it spin around and then you gave us the scans? I never told you this, but later I compared the drum scan to my digicam "scan" and really couldn't tell much difference. But thanks for doing that. :)

[@tessiebuttsie]

Next time it should be called "Beers and spacecraft photography lessons" cuz it sounds like a spaceship taking off every time

[@RayLombardi]

Truly astonishing mate!

[@larsbryngelsson4769]

This is the single greatest video I’ve ever watched!

[@stephen_mcateer]

Excellent. Very useful information thanks.

[@JonathanNotley]

Really enjoyed this!

[@andyvan5692]

one other camera system does this as well, the Hasselblad H6d 400C multi-shot; these do the same thing, but alternate the on and off of the edge pixels, and with a 400MP back !!

[@CallMeRabbitzUSVI]

The back is 100mp, it also does pixel shifting to achieve the 400mp

[@csilt]

Wow funny and really cool video! Thanks for the idea of using an enlarger

[@user-kj5en4hz6c]

you are extremely entertaining. love your content.

[@GettingNegative]

You had me at "fist sized hole".

[@tessiebuttsie]

😂😂😂

[@andrewf.7813]

beautiful prints by the way

[@JanneRanta]

The best thing you can do to any home scanning setup is to make it as rigid as possible. That saves you so much work. Enlarger lenses are nice for digitizing, but I would personally see if you could find appropriate adapters and also secure the camera to the enlarger. 👍

[@clickroach]

Yup! I've already got parts on hand to actually connect the camera to the enlarger.

[@thefalsh]

this is a great vid

[@andrewf.7813]

🤣 brilliant video, thanks for doing the work and thanks for the entertaining video!

[@chris_jorge]

why has youtube kept this gem away from me. love this mate. :D

[@terencemorrissey4413]

Interesting!

[@diegoramosg]

This looks like a suitable solution. I was thinking of buying a tango for 8x10. But i already own a gfx 100

[@sammcraephoto]

Great video. I’m interested to see a comparison with colour film. Large Format colour neg vs gfx would be a great test, not just for sharpness, but all of the colour subtleties.

[@andyvan5692]

good hack, at 5:40, this is what we used to call a "copy stand" ; as in the day these were used to "photo-copy" documents (far before xerox invented that machine); or do macro shots of stamps, coins, or flowers, etc. the main difference was the column had a camera mounting screw instead of the condenser 'stage' on this, and provision for a light box underneath, or multiple desk lamps on arms to light the subject.

[@paulalanputnam4592]

Man, the chicken thing was genius. Caught me off guard.😊

[@andyvan5692]

have you got any videos of the DRUM scanner in use?, as this is what we came to see, not the fuji, even though it is an MF camera, but the drum scanner is a novelty, not many people have seen, or know how one works, we may have heard of a Flextight X1 or X5 but not any other scanner of the non- flatbed type.

[@ironmonkey1512]

I've been using a pentax 645 120 macro on my GFX it is a great lens

[@earlyodaka]

Nice setup. Which extension tube do you use to scan 35mm negatives?

[@jeremygarretson5482]

When I use pixel shift I put a 10 second time on and leave the room. I'm worried if I breathe too hard I'll cause an error.

[@Varo486Photography]

Pretty damn perfect results imo. I love your improvised setup, for me it's just a raleno LED light and a 3D printed holder, with a Fuji X-S10 coupled to an old nikon 50mm 1.8 lens with two extension tubes. Fiddling around with a tripod in a very awkward position, I can get good scans. It does the job, but yeah, it's not even close to your setup, let alone that GFX or the drum scanner.

[@velvia7880]

You can get some really sharp flat plane repro lenses for your enlarger and this setup.

[@dima1353]

Is resolution the only characteristic worth discussing when it comes to scans?

[@sklba632]

There appears to be a grainy texture like difference between the two photos. Would I notice this if it wasn't blasted in my face and challenged to look for it, no. Would I even notice it if it wasn't noted as possibly captured in this method - absolutely not. Amazing.

[@porth4250]

up your game and use the condenser from the enlarger to collimate the light.

[@normtesch1126]

what are your setting for camera?? mainley f stop

[@hglmz]

can you share sample photos ?

[@jayc6170]

The only thing I like more than film photography content is aviation content. Great shirt!

[@clickroach]

I wore that shirt to a bar one night years ago and someone told me it was illegal to own it. 🤷‍♀️ Found it at a thrift store.

[@d.r.martin6301]

That's some super high end mirrorless camera film scanning for sure. But for most folks a mirrorless or DSLR with a good macro, lightbox, copy stand (or in my case Slik mini tripod) will do . I'm really happy with the scans of my 35mm b/w stuff I'm getting with my M43 mirrorless and 30 macro. Good enough for what I need.

[@clickroach]

Are you using a filed out negative holder to get that authentic full frame darkroom print look? I keep thinking about how we could have done that for your show if we had this technology back then.

[@d.r.martin6301]

@@clickroach That would have been cool. That's how I printed my shows before the one we did in '16. And I still love the look. But I'm not doing that for my recent scans. Too much work. I just shoot the negs on my lcd lightbox; either with optical glass on top or in a Epson neg holder (for those shots that give me newton rings).

[@TechnikMeister2]

It never can, because the file will be a GFX raw file, and no matter what anyone says, Fuji apply changes to a raw file that you cannot control. A drum scan will give you a pure TIFF file to work with.

[@Zetaphotography]

When you upload to Facebook it doesn’t matter anym

[@qingyunwang3802]

Nice video! Make me want to try out the pixel shift trick myself. Sadly I couldn’t afford a GFX, only an a7RV, and now I have to endure the eternal pain of being locked in a 14-bit color depth instead of 16-bit.

[@TheRealHarrypm]

But after you stack 3-4 exposures of pixelshifted images you can just export it as a 16-bit DNG/TIFF so its a mute point really still getting plenty of colour channel data to resolve most if not all colour film stocks.

[@Zetaphotography]

@@TheRealHarrypmnot the same.

[@TheRealHarrypm]

@@Zetaphotography Want to expand on that?

[@Nobody-Nowhere]

Did not know you have a youtube channel, i remember reading your blog/site at some point way way back in time The drum scanner starts to win when you need larger prints, its hard to get files large enough to cap the inkjets 600-740dpi resolution.

[@cherrypicksmixtapes]

any chance yo see how it looks with color film?

[@clickroach]

I've done some old 35mm Kodachrome for someone which looked really nice. But didn't require juicing it up to do pixel shift for that project. Haven't had a need yet to try print film.

[@lrochfort]

I have a Howtek 4500 drum scanner and am considering whether to move to a digital camera. I think resolution is probably equal. My only question is dynamic range. The digital is certainly quicker! The Howtek is painfully slow

[@Zetaphotography]

How much for a trade X1D 4116 Edition

[@michelhjorth8682]

People who use this Heidelberg machine, use "white Jumpsuits". Love your Metamorphosis standard. I do the same thing...

[@maf421]

You crafty sicko. I created the same abomination last year with a Beseler 23C and my Sony a7ii. I found a lens mount adapter would lift the grip off the neg carrier, but later bought extention tubes. I did find I had some light leaks from the adapted carrier and the adapter, so..... gaffer tape. I should revisit this with my current a7R4 (moar rezapixles). I can't see why others haven't done this, because a lot of the 'copy stands' being sold for this today are flimsy pieces of unstable flexi-crap. Just one question... which would you rather carry up and down the stairs to the basement? The MegaFooj or the Heidelberg?

[@clickroach]

I dunno. Fooj is pretty heavy. Better buy a second and weld it to the enlarger.

[@uncommonsimon5775]

Now try the GFX 100 ii pixel shift with a proper macro lens :D

[@GiesbertNijhuis]

Eh eh, UR funny. Does it become better when making the room dark? Like a dark room? There are some photons going where they should not be.

[@TheRealHarrypm]

Sony, Olympus, Fuji have together with pixel shifting and first and 3rd party tools have been king of the scanning hill for a couple years now, I can spend 3k on a mirrorless setup but I cant spend 15k on a drum scanner, what I have found is its better to start talking in resolving power terms and with pixel shfiting and exposure stacking at base ISOs with single chip sensor camaras you cant tell them apart from a ARRI scanner or a Heidelburg today we can capture all the data potential at 1:1 or 2:1 with all the colour channel data being stacked too there is no loss of range potential, microfise is the next battle and the only arguemnt left in the digital scanning world for consumers.

[@c.augustin]

There's a difference to the drum scanner - the lighting of the negative is actually quite hard for color negative work (light quality not as much, if the color temperature and CRI is constant over the whole area). The drum scanner should excel at that. On the other hand - getting a suitable light source for 4x5 should be cheaper than getting the drum scanner to work …

[@c.augustin]

Answer to myself: Got a tip (by the Valoi founder) later in that year for a rather cheap light source that does work pretty well - the Raleno PLV-S192. One advantage is a flat back, and light quality is good enough for color negative scans. There are better light sources from Negative Supply, but those are quite expensive …

[@bernardkealey6449]

The megafuj; is there nothing it can’t do?

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

I wish there's a JJC setup but for film formats larger than 35mm so I don't have to engineer the setup shown in your video. Right now I only scan my own 35mm film.

[@nachnamevorname5917]

jjc?

[@SprocketHoles]

Ive been exploring this with a coolscan 8000 scanner lens and an enlarger lens for larger than 35mm scans. I just need a pixel shift to test it fully.

[@JamieMPhoto]

People used to call me crazy when I told them a camera scan could rival a drum scan (while conceding at the time that the drum scan would be slightly better overall, for significantly more money), but it's only gotten more true in the 9 or so years since I've been shouting this from the mountaintops. Also, Has me considering going back to a GFX since it's not a whole lot more than the Sony I use for scanning/light reportage. 🤔

[@jan-martinulvag1953]

Must mean that lense is very good

[@r.g.carter3908]

why does this hvac tech have all that photo equipment ?

[@AbDaniel21]

okay, cool, but what about color negatives?

[@mikesuhor439]

PMT > Bayer CMOS/CCD

[@nachnamevorname5917]

pmt? ​@@mikesuhor439

[@sklba632]

The hair. I love the hair.

[@tessiebuttsie]

I'm so sorry, I cut it this morning 😢

[@sklba632]

@@tessiebuttsie The beauty of this hair thing is that it tends to grow back. :)

[@tougedrifter123]

Mavica best digital scanning tool still

[@clickroach]

So say we all.

[@imoutodaisuki]

Not the square hole again… 😫

[@AlOne-xg6dv]

To help you, may be stop coffee or others substances which burn your nerves ...

[@slammermx]

You forgot to mention how long it takes for a drum scanner to make those big scans.

[@Zetaphotography]

You don’t drum scan every picture you take. They are not all good and worth a scan.

[@slammermx]

@@Zetaphotography Back in the late nineties we had to scan whole magazines, it was a long job.

[@tessiebuttsie]

Stop being funny I'm trying to learn something

[@martyzielinski1442]

Just imagine how much better the camera scan would be without that imprecise enlarger and bullshit 80mm Nikkor in the mix......

[@DavidStone-ei2dt]

That EL-Nikkor is an amazing lens! Being that it's a dedicated enlarging lens it is also a flat-field design which makes it a perfect choice for this application. I would wager that it would only be outperformed by a very expensive macro lens. The enlarger set-up is rickety yes, but only due to the charmingly slapdash style of the fellow who made the video. Just my two cents.

[@user-ti9zc1xv2b]

With enough magnification, even a 15 year old Canon 600D will outresolve the heidelberg.

[@christominika3048]

buahahha

[@SD_Alias]

No…

[@dummatube]

That isn’t a “negative” it’s a transparency and the camera doesn’t “scan” it digitises!

[@graydeotto2820]

You seem like fun

[@dummatube]

@@graydeotto2820 Yup "Life's a ball" when you finally get control of your OCD🤣🤣🤣