Observing the Natural World: Photography, Video, Binoculars and Telescopes: March 2026

I designed and built a 3D-printed slide and film strip copier because I could find nothing on the market that was sufficiently versatile or designed specifically for my needs. There is a whole industry out there building film copiers for those photographers who persist in using film and then making a digital copy. Many are very expensive and a number have design flaws. Most simpler attachments on the market on designed: to fit a specific macro lens, of around 50 mm focal length; to be suitable only for 24 x 36 mm transparency or film frames; to fit only thin slide mounts like card or the relatively recent glass mounts.

I have no need at present for a 50 or 55 mm macro lens but I do have the Nikkor Z MC 105 mm f/2.8 VR S for its longer working distance. Fitted to my Nikon Z8 it seemed ideal to build a slide copier around. I decided on a horizontal design à la optical bench found in physics labs. That way it is easy to have the camera and the slide parallel compared with a vertical copy stand in which the camera has to be adjusted in all directions.

Before going further I should explain that in 2001 I bought the then new Nikon Coolscan IVED scanner. I scanned all our own slides and negatives and over the years continued to scan inherited slides as well as some for friends and relations. However, I had to use an Epson flat-bed scanner for ‘superslides’—40 x 40 mm transparencies from 127 roll film in mounts of the same external dimensions as a normal 24 x 36 mm slide from a 35 mm film camera. We also have lots of half-frame 18 x 24 mm slides and negatives. In the scanner these produced files half the size of the full-frame slides, and this lack of resolution was evident. Scanning thousands of slides took weeks since the process is slow, very slow, as the scanner works its way across the frame. In theoe early days of crossover from film to digital sensor, these scanners and their successors had a higher resolution than the digital cameras that were appearing. However, as camera sensors improved markedly and rapidly home scanners became obsolete. Nikon ceased scanner production in 2008/09. Because the Nikon scanners were so robust they remain in use and having copied all my material I did not bother to shift from scanning to copying. However, sometimes I need a high-resolution copy so decided to bite the bullet of building a convenient-to-use copier.

Features

The copier is simply a tube that slides over the lens with a plate at the end to hold slides or film strips. The tube itself slides along a separate base, to which the camera is attached, in order to move the slide nearer to or further away from the lens. When pulled forward it is at or very close to the closest focus distance of the lens and thus reproduces 24 x 36mm slides at a reproduction ration of 1:1. When the tube is moved further away it reaches a point when the field of view covers a 40 x 40mm ‘Superslide’. I have stops at each end of the slideway for these options. In other words, the copier will work on any size of image mounted in a standard 50 x 50 mm (2 x 2 inch) mount.
The Z8 provides images of 8256 × 5504 pixels for full-frame 24 x 36 mm slides, a resolution capable of extracting more information from high-quality camera film than the majority of scanners. Half-frame (APSC in current parlance) slides produced images of approximately 5504 x 4100 pixels.
The tube protects eliminates ambient light reflecting from the surface of the slide into the lens.
There are interchangeable plates for the front of the tube. One is for slides in standard mounts; the other for a film strip holder.
The mount for slides fits all thicknesses of mount, from cardboard and plastic to the thick sandwiches of cover glasses, foil mask and transparency we used in the 1950s and 60s. A magnetic frame hold the slide in position. Although the standard size for the mount is 50 x 50 mm there has been variation over the years. Some of the fold-over cardboard mounts may be slightly larger than this. I settled on a holder slightly larger than the nominal size to cope with such deviant slides.
The plate for film strips has a slot to house a commercial six-frame strip holder (JJC Strip Film Holder, 6 PCS 35mm Negatives Slots Carrier…on Amazon).
Although specialised light sources are available for copying transparencies I decided to use what I had. I 3D printed a simple reflecting reflecting light box from white material to provide even illumination.
I decided not to make provision for changing the camera battery since the Z8 can be powered via USB-C during long sessions.
The masks in or part of a cardboard mount vary in size. For example, I took a 24 x 36 slide at random and the mask is 34 x 22 mm. Another is 35 x 24. A Kodachrome slide from a 1950s Kodak Colorsnap camera that used 828 size film (35 mm stock without the sprocket holes) is 34 x 23 mm. A Kodak Instamatic slide measured 22 x 22. Similarly Superslide mount masks also vary. This means that in most copies the mount surrounding the transparency also forms part of the photograph and the resulting image does not fill the frame of the camera exactly, necessitating cropping during processing. Having an to crop away the surround does mean that features at the edge of the slide are retained.
For Superslides and Instamatic slides I change the camera format to square. For Half-frame Slides I change the camera to DX mode thus obtaining a full-frame copy but at lower resolution.
So that the metering system of the Z8 ignores any of the inevitable black edges I use centre-weighted metering.

Results

I have tried the copier on a variety of slides, using Raw images processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic. Denoising takes care of the grain in some of the old colour films like Agfacolor CT18.

In short I am extremely impressed by the results of copying vs scanning. The output, as is to be expected, is simply superior. And getting copies once the camera is attached is very fast indeed, governed purely by how quick you are in changing the slide in the holder.

Specific to Camera and Lens

I should stress that my copier is specific to the Nikon Z8 Camera with Nikkor Z MC 105 mm Macro Lens. The design could be quickly modified for any other macro lens on the same camera. For modifying the design for other cameras the key measurement is the distance from the camera’s base to the optical axis. That can be determined by holding a graduated square in front of the clamped down camera. For the Z8 I found that distance to be 45.5 mm. For the lens, the diameter and the minimum focus distance are the key dimensions needed.

3D Printing and Building

For anybody wishing to build or have built this slide/film copier for their own use I will be making the 3D printing stl files available together with a list of other parts and further instructions. When that source is online I will include it here.