Probably the best way to digitize slides or negatives is a special slide scanner. The purchase is worthwhile only if you want to scan a larger number of images. And even then, the device is at the end - new analogue images to be digitized do not attract most photographers. The scanner is therefore sold immediately after use. An alternative would be to leave the time-consuming digitalization to a service provider. That is not cheap either.
However, current cameras consistently have such a high resolution that you can easily photograph your analogue images. The dynamic range of modern sensors is usually sufficient to cope with even high-contrast slide films.
What you need
To digitize a slide with the digital camera, only one lens is needed, which images a small picture in full format, a holder for the slide and a light source that illuminates it evenly.
A full-frame camera requires a macro lens with a magnification ratio of 1: 1, which projects a 35 mm slide exactly onto a small image sensor. A Micro FourThirds camera is sufficient for a reproduction ratio of 1: 2, but their aspect ratio of 4: 3 deviating from the small picture means that the full sensor resolution can not be used.
Nikon and Ricoh / Pentax offer slide duplicator resolutions for their DSLRs; The accessory manufacturer Kaiser offers a solution for any camera system. A craft solution for even lighting can also be improvised with simple means. If you do not already have a dedicated macro lens, you can replace it in several ways.
From the craft box
Michael Hussmann / DOCMA
The overall structure for slide digitization. Book stacks bring the components to a uniform height.
In the construction shown here for digitizing 40-year-old Ektachrome 64 slides from a trip to Portugal, I used an LED lamp that already creates a diffused light with its spherical shade. A matte screen from the crafting corner of a photo retailer - probably originally intended for a 9 × 12 -speed camera - made the illumination even more moderate and allowed me to fix slides with clips from the hardware store on it.
The straight and image-filling orientation of the slide is the easiest to check on the display, in a DSLR so with activated live view.
Michael Hussmann / DOCMA
The slide can be easily aligned in the holder by the clamps
As a macro lens, I could fall back on an older Sigma 105 mm f / 2.8, with which a magnification of 1: 1 can be achieved, matching my Pentax K-1 with a small image sensor.
In addition, I have tested another solution, based on a magnifier lens. The Schneider-Kreuznach Componon-S 50 mm with M39 thread is a remnant of my darkroom.
Michael Hussmann / DOCMA
The magnifying lens. A focusing screw allows focusing.
For photographic use, a mechanical adapter for the K-bayonet and a macro-worm or a bellows were necessary because the lens itself can not be focused. I have chosen an only antiquarian to find spiral of Pentax. An alternative to a real macro would be a near-end - most likely a chromatic aberration-corrected achromatic - that comes with some diacopy labels. This could also use a common lens.
A closer inspection of the picture after taking the picture revealed a disadvantage of the simple photographing: The dirt on the slide, which was not easy to clean after a long storage period, was obvious.
Michael Hussmann / DOCMA
Adherent dust on the slide requires a subsequent spotting with the "area repair"
In Lightroom, you can remove stains with the "Area Repair" tool. Depending on the degree of soiling, it will take some time for the image to be flawless. Slide scanners usually offer the option of using an additional infrared scan to detect foreign objects on the slide or color negative and automatically calculate the resulting stains.
Michael Hussmann / DOCMA
This method also fails with black-and-white negatives, as the metallic silver they contain is impermeable to infrared light, as is dust. Then manual work is necessary.