2. D780 Online Manual
  3. Other Shooting Options
  4. Photographing Film Negatives (Negative Digitizer)

Photographing Film Negatives (Negative Digitizer)

Create positive copies of color or black-and-white film negatives. [Negative Digitizer] is accessed via the i menu during live view photography.

  1. Position the negatives in front of a featureless white or gray background.

    • We recommend using an AF‑S Micro NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED or other micro lens and an ES-2 film digitizing adapter.

    • We recommend using either natural light or an artificial light source with a high Ra (color rendering index), such as a light box or a high-CRI fluorescent lamp.

  2. Rotate the mode dial to A.

    We recommend that you choose a sensitivity of ISO 100 and an aperture of f/8.

  3. Rotate the live view selector to C and press a.

    The view through the lens will be displayed in the monitor.

  4. In live view, press the i button and select [Negative digitizer].

    • Highlight [Negative digitizer] using the multi selector and press J; the colors in the display will be reversed.

    • The flash mode is automatically set to s. To use a flash, choose a flash mode other than s.

  5. Choose the film type.

    Press 4 or 2 to highlight [Color negatives] or [Monochrome negatives] and then press J.

  6. Compose the shot to capture a frame of the film negative.

  7. Adjust exposure.

    • Press J to display brightness adjustment options. Press 4 or 2 to adjust exposure. Press J again to save changes and exit.

    • To view your subject at a higher magnification, press X (T).

  8. Take photographs.

    • The photographs will be saved in JPEG format.

    • Press the i button to exit negative digitizer mode.

Negative Digitizer

  • No options are available for correcting dust, scratches, or uneven colors due to faded film.

  • Photos are saved in JPEG format even when [NEF (RAW)] is selected for image quality. Photos taken with a JPEG option selected will be saved at the chosen setting, while photos taken with [NEF (RAW)] selected will be saved in [JPEG finem] format.

Negative Digitizer: Restrictions

Some camera features cannot be used with the negative digitizer, including:

  • Modes other than A

  • Movie recording

  • Bracketing

  • Multiple exposure

  • HDR (high dynamic range)

  • Interval-timer photography

  • Time-lapse movies

  • Focus shift