[JensMA]

Once upon a time in the analoge age, I had use of a proper copy stand and a camera with a bellow, 50mm for taking copies of old original photographs for working/research documentation purposes. Not doing anything other than using the assembly I`m a bit out of touch with how to procced with an imporvised set-up as outlined below.

Now the need for some of this work has surfaced again, but alas no "proper" equipment are available this time around. What I got are the K7 with kit lenses, Slik Master Standard tripod and a set of close-up lenses (+1 to +3) and would appreciate advice/experience in this niche of photography.

[SpecialK]

A true macro lens seems in order as they are normally designed for flat subjects and focus closely. An easel or stand with small magnets or clips to hold the photos might allow a more stable camera/tripod arrangement than pointing straight down.

[wsteffey]

This is for my information as well, but what is wrong with using a good flatbed scanner for this purpose? I have restored a number of old prints in very bad shape using a scanned image. Will taking a photo yield better results? If so, why?

[RioRico]

A flatbed scanner WILL give best results... with images/pages that *can* be scanned. This may not be possible with large items. In a copy-tripod setup, you want flatfield sharpness; a macro lens is good, but also costly. A reversed manual zoom lens also offers flatfield sharpness; one in the 40-70mm range is very flexible re: distance and magnification. But this won't work well with larger source images unless the tirpod is rather tall. Also, the zoom needs an aperture ring, and it should have a zoom ring, not be push-pull.

The determining factors for lens choice may be: What are the tripod height and the maximum size of the images to be copied? Inexpensive enlarger lenses are flatfield sharp; some of these on macro tubes may do the trick. Oh yeah, forget the +dioptre meniscus closeup lenses; they lose image quality away from the frame center.

[JensMA]

The scanner is not an option as most of the photos are either in antiquarian books or pasted in vintage albums - hence no spine chrushing to get them truly flat, parts of the material includes cotton gloves, and there is no bugdet, hence the cheapness of it...

Forgot about those details in the initial post, sorry bout that.

[RioRico]

Forgot about those details in the initial post, sorry bout that.

OK. My point remains. The determining factors for lens choice may be: What are the tripod height, and the maximum size of the images to be copied?