Reddit mentions of Neewer Camera Slider Carbon Fiber Dolly Rail, 16 inches/40 Centimeters with 4 Bearings for Smartphone Nikon Canon Sony Camera 12lbs Loading

First things first, film scanners are specialized scanners, do not confuse them with regular office flatbed scanners. In a regular office scanner the light comes from under the glass, bounces back off the paper and is recorded on the same side. In a film scanner the light has to pass through the film and is recorded on the other side.

A scanner is easier to get into. You basically buy the scanner, and it has its own software that does very good processing on the resulting pictures. Put negatives in, you get very decent scans out, for a flat entry fee of about $200.

DSLR scanning is more flexible, but it has a lot of variables because of this, it's more finicky, and can potentially end up costing more.

• You will get whatever resolution your DSLR is capable of, but on the other hand you'll get an upgrade whenever you upgrade the DSLR.
  
• Like with a scanner, you will need a light on the other side of the film. There are several ways in which you can do this: a specialized light table; a sketching light pad; you can sometimes substitute a regular tablet or smartphone (but you have to adjust depth of field to not catch the pixel grid inside the screen; some light pads also have a support grid); you can shine a flash from the other side, or natural light, but you need a matte support background. You will need to temperature and hue-correct the light later; flash and light-tables are neutral, but other sources (including daylight) are not.
  
• The DSLR needs a macro lens, which can resolve maximum detail off the film frame. An actual macro lens is ideal, because they're built differently from regular lenses, in that they minimize geometrical distortions, corner softness, vignetting, and they can focus much closer.
  
  • You can also try using a regular lens with a macro extender, which will allow it to focus as close as a macro lens, but you still have to deal with the distortions/softness/vignetting etc.
    
  • You can (probably) adapt a vintage manual focus macro lens to your DSLR with an adapter ring, which will take the cost down quite a bit. This depends on the flange distance of the DSLR; some mounts (mirrorless, Canon) have more tolerance than others (Nikon).
    
  • You can use an enlarger lens. These lenses are usually made in only a few focal lengths (typically 50mm). They are used to transfer the image from a negative to photographic paper to create physical photos. Pro: they make outstanding macro lenses, with zero distortion/vignetting/softness, and they are dirt cheap. Con: they don't have a focus mechanism, their focus distance is preset and you need to move them back and forth to focus; but since you're creating a setup where you will work with fixed distances that should not be a problem.
    
• You need to figure out a way to place the DSLR, the film and the back-light in a stable position. The distance between these three, particularly the lens and the film, is crucial (we're talking mm-precision), so you usually want some kind of contraption that will help you achieve a stable position. You can adjust the sharpness by focusing on the writing on the film edge.
  
  1. If you're using a horizontal light surface (light table, pad, tablet/smartphone) you will most likely need a tripod with a 3-way column or ball head, so it can aim the lens straight down. If the light surface has unwanted elements (pixel or support grid) you will additionally need the film to be a distance away from it, and to adjust the depth of field to catch the film but blur out the unwanted stuff. This setup will let you scan arbitrary film sizes, so it lends itself well to medium/large format and any other format. Some anti-newton glass is often used to prevent Newton ring artifacts, and some people also use the mount supports from scanners.
     
  2. If you indend to use a flash or daylight you want a contraption that will mount at the end of the lens and provide a support for the film and a steady distance. Probably the best-known are the Nikon ES-1 and ES-2. Your lens' ring diameter will probably be different from these, so you'll need a step-up or step-down ring. And in order to achieve the distance you need you will require several spacer rings (the fewer the better, ideally you should not need any and mount the ES-1/2 directly to the step ring; shorter focal lengths will help you achieve this). You can mount the resulting setup on a tripod and also mount the flash on an accessory arm to shine from the other side into the lens, but you can also mount the flash on the camera and shoot in a mirror, or simply shoot the camera handheld into clear bright sky, no flash.
     
• Once you have your raw shots from the DSLR, it's time to process them. There's a fair amount of processing that goes into taking a raw film "scan" to a usable state, and scanner software does a huge amount of work. Long story short, no, it's not as simple as "invert". If you want flexibility in processing, this is your moment, load up the raw in the processing software and have at it. But most people want some help, which is where a plugin like Negative Lab Pro for Lightroom comes into play.
  
  As you can see, lots of options, but also a lot of factors to account for. Personally I like DSLR scanning because it's made up mostly of gear that you use all the time for other purposes anyway, unlike a scanner which only has one job and will sit there taking up space whenever you're not using it (which is most of the time). But if you don't already have this stuff, then a macro lens, tripod and flash can add up to a fair chunk of change.
  
  I'll give you an example from my own setup, based around a Fuji X-T20 mirrorless, with a vintage Tamron 90mm 72E macro lens. It's a Nikon F mount, so I also added a Nikon-F-to-Fuji-X adapter. I got the classic choice, the Nikon ES-1 film adapter (but keep in mind it can only scan 135 film, not larger formats). Needed a 55mm (Tamron) to 52mm (ES-1) step-down ring. Also, 90mm is a fairly long focal length, so I also needed no less than 3x 2" 52-52mm spacer rings, which added to the ES-1's built-in extension ring allowed me to get an entire frame into the shot. You can get the ES-1, spacer rings and step rings from eBay from Japan sellers, it's all metal, new, and in excellent condition.
  
  The ES-1 has some clever metal prongs will allow you to scan a mounted single frame as well as hold a 6-strip of film securely, so you don't need any additional mount or support.
  
  If you need a flash, Godox makes excellent ones for little money. The TT350 and TT685 are probably all you need, plus some accessories if you want remote trigger.
  
  If you want an accessory arm to mount the flash on, make sure the tripod can do that. Most tripods should have the ability to mount accessories like softboxes, umbrellas etc., but don't take it for granted.
  
  I won't recommend a tripod because it's not important, any cheap one will do as long as it can mount the lens pointing straight down, can support the camera, and it stays put without wobbling. It doesn't even have to be a tripod, there are all kinds of contraptions that can be used to vertical-mount a camera off a standard 1/4" tripod socket.
  
  Speaking of which, there are such contraptions that combine a vertical stand with a light table, or horizontal setups with rails, or macro bellows (which are basically variable macro rings). I only mention them for completeness, it's unlikely you'll find them practical.

Are you going to pan with the tripod? You only need a fluid head if you pan. You see, most movie shots never pan, but they do slide for that cinematic dolly look. I'd suggest getting the cheap Amazon tripod for $20 but also investing in a slider for $50: https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Centimeters-Bearings-Smartphone-Loading/dp/B0792SQSY3/