Hi Malcom ... Without a copy stand it may be difficult to get good results, but you can get results that are "good enough", especially since you're working with a limited time frame and limited equipment.
First, set the photo to be copied on a solid, flat surface - a hardwood floor is ideal, but a sturdy table will be almost as good. Put a tripod over the photo with the head facing straight down, use a a bubble level to be sure the camera is parallel with the photo. Without a copy stand it may be very hard to get things perfectly parallel, so you may want to use as much DOF field as you can, without getting into a shutter speed that will contribute to blur and vibration. Try to keep the shutter at 1/60th second or above, or at 1/2 second or below. Frame the photo so it fills the viewfinder as much as possible. This may be hard to do with only a tripod and a 50mm lens, but some tripods get down pretty low. Use the camera's self timer or a cable release, and MLU if you've got it. Be sure the light is even, and bright enough to allow for a good contrast range. I have a beautiful Pentax copy stand, and, if you're anywhere near me - in the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose areas, you're welcome to borrow it. In fact, if you're close enough to borrow the stand, you'd be welcome to use some other lenses, too, including the wonderful A200/2.8 macro, as well as extension tubes, accessory finders, and whatever else you need. Good luck! Malcolm Smith wrote: > My mother was lent a box of photos at Xmas of > family taken many years ago (all B & W). She > only has it for a few more days, and I'd love to > copy them. Of course, now would be a great time > to own a camera stand, but I don't, so any advice > on taking copies with either the LX or MX with > a 50mm F1.2. I don't own that much Pentax equipment <blush>. -- Shel Belinkoff mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/ - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
