Myriad Multi-Format Film Holder

Digitising Guide

With your camera and macro lens mounted on a copy-stand or tripod and pointing downwards, place Myriad on top of your light panel, and position it underneath the camera and lens.

Power up the light panel. If you can adjust the brightness, set it to the highest level, and if the colour temperature is adjustable, set it to 5500K or thereabouts.

Dust off both sides of your film strip. With the outside of any curvature (if present) facing down towards the diffuser, slide it into the film channel (you can insert it from either side, but it's better to choose the side where the film guide tabs over-hang the most, as this will help with vertical alignment of the first image):

[Note: When working with lightly curved films, you might feel a bit of resistance while inserting and feeding the film, and this is perfectly normal. However, if you encounter significant resistance, please don't force it as this may risk damaging both the film and film holder. Instead, follow the instructions in Digitising Guide - Part 2]

Move the film until the leading edge of the second image is underneath the top panel's alignment marking:

Power up your camera and select the following settings:

• File type: Raw (e.g. DNG, PEF, CR2, NEF, ARW etc.)
• Exposure mode: Aperture Priority (“A”, “Av” or similar)
• ISO: Lowest setting (usually 100 or 200)
• Exposure compensation: +/- 0
• White Balance: Automatic (AWB)
• Auto-Focus (AF): Enabled
• AF Mode: Auto-Focus Single (AF-S, AF.S or similar)
• Focus Area: Center spot
• Metering mode: Spot
• Lens aperture: f/8
• Drive mode: Single exposure, timed or remote shutter release
• Viewfinder: Live View to rear display, with histogram and highlight alert (“blinkies”) enabled

Adjust the camera height, light panel and film holder position, and lens focus, until the first image on the film is centered and accurately focused. Ensure that both film guides are visible at the top and bottom of the frame. If you can't see them, just leave a small gap above and below the film:

Switch to Manual Focus (MF) mode to prevent further re-focusing.

Remove the film from Myriad. As the camera is set to Aperture Priority mode, it will adjust the shutter speed automatically and the screen image will darken to mid-grey:

Use the camera's custom white balance function to set white balance on the light from the diffuser, then select the new custom white balance (refer to your camera's manual for details).

Set the camera to Manual (M) mode with the same ISO and aperture settings.

Adjust shutter speed until the histogram is just below the highlight clipping point, or the highlight alert stops flashing:

If the camera's live view implementation doesn't support this, take multiple exposures at different shutter speeds and review until the the histogram is correct.

Dust off the film strip once more if necessary, then insert and align it as before, with the leading edge of the second image underneath the top panel alignment marking:

Wipe the highlighted area of the top panel once, to remove any newly-settled dust:

Use the shutter release or remote control to take the shot, then review on the camera's display.

It should look something like this:

This image is ready for cropping and conversion in post-processing.

Move the film to the next image, aligned as before:

Repeat until all images are captured.

Though optional, it's a good idea to give the top panel a single wipe before digitising each new strip, to minimise the possibility of dust in your images.

Once all images have been captured, you're ready for post-processing in your chosen software.

NOTE: The preset film-guide positions for each film size create a channel that's slightly wider than the film itself. This is intentional, for two reasons. First, the width of individual film stocks can vary, especially with older films. Second, the channel needs to be wide enough to allow easy feeding of the film. Because of this wider channel, you might notice that your digitised images are slightly skewed and not perfectly aligned. This is normal, and you can easily correct the rotation during post-processing.