Post by @jack
Scanning film negatives with a digital camera is more work than using a flatbed. You're going to disagree, but I think you're wrong.
Here's my version of each:
Scanner: Cut the negatives. Load the film holder, hit Prescan, choose "Find all frames", press Batch Scan. Go do something else. Import into Capture One. Done
Digital Camera: Mount the camera on the copy stand and level it. Manually focus on the first frame. Stand there and carefully advance each frame and hit the shutter (36 times). Import into Lightroom. Then convert the frames to positives using Negative Lab Pro. Export converted copies as TIFF. Cut the negatives.
I find that to be way more work
@jack Thanks. It’s been years since I got my v700 out, but I struggled to feel like I’d be better off doing individual frames with a digital camera.
@jack I'm lucky enough to have the space to leave the camera and copy stand setup all the time, that's the biggest time sink for sure.
@shom@gts.shom.dev I'll hopefully give that a try one day. I bought the whole crazy Negative Supply kit but later sold the camera I was using to scan and also decided I preferred the flatbed workflow. I need Negative Lab Pro outside of Lightroom (and maybe on Linux), too. Tethering with Capture One Pro would help, too. I want to stop relying on an expensive scanner, and all scanning software is a nightmare. Maybe one day!
@jack yeah, I hear you. All the bits are fiddly.
Negative Lab Pro seems to be closer to a standalone offering on Linux, apparently sometime this year. I use Darktable for inversion (negadoctor), library, and editing but haven't given tethered shooting a try yet. My setup is not by my desktop but I could try with my laptop direct to network storage but walking over SD card isn't much of a pain. I have a fairly minimal setup with a copy stand, cinestill light, and valoi holder (no advancing knob or antistatic brush dealing) but I do use a USB trigger for shutter release. Don't love that I have to touch the film for stability or curl sometimes probably introduces shake. All the bits are fiddly but if it was perfect I probably would be less interested.