How I scan 35mm film with a DSLR and a Beseler Enlarger

you actually took pictures of your DSLR scanning rig on film lol. that's dedication!

Mentioned my bootstrapped film scan rig in another thread and got a lot of response. So here it is in wonderful analog glory. Pics taken with a Canon A1 and scanned in with the rig. Below is the imgur post in comment form:

The Rig:

Last year, I inherited a Beseler 23C film enlarger setup. I didn't have the knowledge or space to make prints, and was looking for a way to scan my home developed film. And then the idea hit me! Use the enlarger to project the film into my DSLR instead of onto paper! And one year later I have perfected the rig.

Here you can see the core components: the DSLR, the enlarger, the tripod, and the film paddle. I set my phone to a white screen and place it into the paper sleeve, then load the film into the paddle on top. This makes it easy to align the first try. Then I load the paddle into the enlarger head.

The Closeup:

Here the paddle is loaded with a 35mm strip and placed into the head, projecting the image into the camera. The bulb is impressively bright, allowing me to shoot at F11 iso100 1/60 2700k for most film. I adjust the focus manually, aided by the Canon's zoom function.

I made a couple adjustments to the Beseler to allow this. First, the head tilts back allowing for a horizontal projection. That is crucial to the ergonomics of the rig. Second, I have dismounted the lens plate from the enlarger so I may use my Sigma Macro. I tried using the enlarger's macro, but found the results poorer than the Sigma. Since the camera is unattached from the head, the quality of the tripod and the alignment of the lens are absolutely critical. Both took a lot of trial and error. And there is still room for improvement.

The Raw Result:

This is the raw image file taken by the Canon. I then load these color negatives into Lightroom and correct with Negative Lab Pro. Editing is worthy of a whole other post, but the general process is: crop out black frame, convert via NegativeLab, and use Heal tool to take out scratches and dust. Often NLP at 2700 results in too much blue, so I have to Undo Negative Lab and adjust the white balance towards 2500, then re-convert. The final result is shown above. I am very happy with this method and it has taken my film to the next level. I can get great scans at home and save a lot of money on lab costs.

Awesome! I use the exact same enlarger setup with my Nikon D7100 and get great results. Now I’m just trying to get a 6x6 negative holder so I can try and scan my medium format stuff.

Does the enlarger have a condenser head?