I need a suggestion for a camera stand that is sturdy and stable. I read too reviews about stands bending because the camera was too heavy. I use my nikon d810 with 105mm af G lens. I don’t have a lighter mirrorless camera. can I buy a stand without having to get a house loan?
Good point. Better houses come at a higher price, but a higher price does not necessarily get you better quality.
DIY: get a piece of plywood (at least 1 inch thick), mount a sturdy round metal table leg, add a superclamp to get you something like this:
I use a Kaiser RS 1 stand in combination with a Canon EOS 5 DS and a Canon macro 150 mm, of course with a cable release, not quite a light combination. I imagine that you can buy stands like this quite cheap on the internet (50 -200 € ?). My light-table is the plantar 5500 K.A good film holder is the “Essential film holder” for 35 mm and roll film, even X-pan… the 4x5 and 6x12 is in preparation. And, of course, “Negative Lab Pro”
plantar has to be planistar
The obvious is a tripod with camera pointing down, then there’s copy stands, which I use, here are good ones but do a google there are cheaper ones. You need weight, the heavier the more stable it will be. You don’t need the lights btw.
https://www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/produkte/index.php?s=3
This works, good for 135, at a push 120, problem is distance from lens to negative and stand gets too small. You could buy another longer length of the upstand, it’s just a metal section if larger negs are an issue.
https://www.wemacro.com/?product=vertical-stand
Then of course there’s the diy options. Just do a google or check YouTube.
Final thing to look at if it’s 135 film scanning is something like.
I have never used these, but have used all the others.
A few things to check with all these is: does the stand allow adequate distance between neg and camera, bigger the neg bigger the distance and, a good adequately sized flat base for your light / film holder. And finally weight, last thing you want is a wobbly stand every time the shutter fires.
And the very last thing, a stable table, no point buying good stands if the table moves. Again heavier the better, a lot of modern desks, particularly those that don’t have 4 legs, one in each corner are great for normal office use, but the don’t half shake.
I do not have a suggestion for light stands.
However, if you are digitizing only 35mm film, maybe you could consider my rig, which costed me next to nothing.
I am using a D800 and a Tokina Macro 100mm/2.8 D on which I screw a “homemade” duplicator consisting of a cheap Nikon ES-E28 (plenty on eBay) to which I removed the bottom and threaded it to fit to tube extensions that give me almost 1:1 reproduction at the focus distance.
I got the idea from this post on a local photography website here in Hong Kong.
http://www.dchome.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1328031
The images speak for themselves.
The thread at the bottom of the ES-E28 for fitting a lens filter size extension tube should be 58mm x pitch 0.75.
If there is a precision machine tooling service in your area, it is very easily done.
Contrary to what you see in the photos, I use mine with the camera on a tripod and pointing straight ahead to an LED tracing tablet, as a light source, set vertically.
I find this rig very fast (1 full roll pre-cut into 6 frames can take max 45 secs, or max 50-55 secs for mounted slides), opposed to a table top stand, with the camera pointing down.
Hope this helps and happy to provide additional information, if necessary.
Cheers
Nic
If you are in the UK, try Secondhand Darkroom Supplies in Oxfordshire: https://www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk
I bought a HAMA for £70 from them and it can accommodate originals up to A3. It holds my Nikon D7100 and 105mm lens ok; can’t speak for larger cameras.
They ship worldwide too!
You can try my method that does away with a stand altogether:
Use a lens hood plus a couple of objects to sit the camera on face down. It’s a way less cluttered and easier to manage setup than using a tripod in my opinion. The only downside is you have to be careful not to knock the camera over.
I built one out of scrap hardwood and some macro leveling mounts and a slider I bought on eBay. It works great and is super steady.
If you don’t want to build one maybe you know someone who would enjoy the project. It’s really simple.