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Copystand

Holding your camera still over a tiny negative is near impossible so you will need some kind of holding device. There are essentially two options - a tripod or a copystand. This section will briefly mention tripods and you can feel free to read about them here but to get the most consistent, frustration-free results you want a copystand. The rest of this section will therefore focus on the various different options out there.

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The most important task of this holding device is to hold the camera in a fixed position, parallel to the negative, while being sturdy and provide adequate adjustment to make them parallel. Different price ranges will give you different levels of sturdy build, different materials and more or less adjustment. 

General Points

  • Hold the camera rigid and parallel

  • Minimise vibrations

  • Have adjustments to achieve perfectly parallel alignment

  • Be as affordable as possible

  • It is possible to use a tripod but a copystand is much preferred

VALOI Recommendations

Note: That the categories you will find below are are ordered in order of price range. While we do not recommend the tripod category we still think it is important to address the issue. 

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