Choose your stand height around your camera, macro lens and complete film-scanning setup—not film format alone. Both C2 Pro and C3 Ultra are available with 60 cm or 78 cm columns.

Start with the height you actually need

A longer lens, a larger film area or a taller holder and light arrangement can require more clearance. Including sprocket holes or film-edge markings also changes the framing distance.

Use these SuperStable measurements as references for the camera, lens, film format and holder-and-light arrangements listed below. They describe the head’s mounting position, not lens-to-film working distance or overall head height. Check both the highest and lowest required positions against the stand’s usable vertical range before ordering.

60 cm or 78 cm?

• Consider 60 cm for a compact setup when the complete arrangement fits within its usable head-mounting range. The full-frame + Sigma 70 mm references below span 35–55.5 cm across the tested 35mm, 120 and 4×5 setups.
• Consider 78 cm for more vertical room. The tested full-frame + 100 mm and 105 mm setups need approximately 69–74 cm for 4×5. These are better starting points for the taller column, subject to the actual head and holder arrangement.
• Check borderline setups carefully. The GFX100S II + 120 mm reference reaches 60 cm for 120 (6×6) film and 70 cm for 4×5. A 60 cm column does not guarantee a 60 cm usable head-mounting position; the taller option provides more room, but still needs a compatibility check.

A taller stand is not automatically necessary for 120 or 4×5. Conversely, a shorter lens does not guarantee that every large-format arrangement will fit.

Measured height references

The Standard setup has 3.5 cm below the film holder; the RGB setup has 6.5 cm below it. “Image area only” excludes the film border. A dash means no measurement was supplied.

The 120 measurements are for the 6×6 frame format. Other 120 formats, such as 6×7 and 6×9, need their own framing-distance check. The table’s height reference does not depend on which head model is used.

Height range at a glance

These figures summarize the supplied measurements, not the mechanical travel or maximum capacity of the stand.

Planning an 8×10 setup?

A 78 cm stand can accommodate an 8×10 film-digitization workflow with a suitable macro lens and capture method. We recommend one of these two approaches:

Single-frame capture: choose a 50–60 mm macro lens to capture the whole sheet with less vertical clearance than a longer macro lens. Check framing and clearance with your camera and complete holder-and-light arrangement.

Stitched capture: use a conventional macro lens around 100 mm to photograph overlapping sections of the film, then stitch them into one image. This allows an 8×10 workflow on a 78 cm stand without needing to fit the entire sheet into a single capture.

A specific 70 mm single-frame reference: our separate full-frame + Sigma 70 mm test required approximately 77 cm with the film placed directly on the light panel, or an estimated 78–79 cm with support glass and spacing. That arrangement also called for approximately 13–15 cm of camera-to-column clearance. These figures apply to that particular whole-sheet setup—not to the shorter-lens or stitched approaches above. Check the finished arrangement before relying on a 78 cm stand for this 70 mm single-frame configuration.

Before you choose

• Identify your camera and macro lens.
• Specify the actual film frame size and whether you want borders or sprocket holes.
• Include the holder, light, support glass and any spacers in the height calculation.
• Check the stand’s available head-mounting positions and camera-to-column clearance.

For help checking a borderline setup, send these details to info@superstable.shop.

Compare stand construction in the C2 Pro vs C3 Ultra guide, then choose your alignment controls in the Leveling Head Buying Guide. Configure your components in Build Your System or start with Complete Systems.