Need help choosing a macro lens.

Hi all,

I was looking for advice on macro lenses. I should probably say what I'll be using it for!

Yesterday I was looking online for scanner info, as I shoot 120 film. It seemed that the good ones (dedicated film scanners not flat beds) cost over a grand (£1000). Which is a bit too rich for me. I'd rather spend that kind of money on lenses. However I came across a lot of articles showing how to scan using your dslr.

Even though I don't have the right equipment I thought I'd give it a go with what I had, to see if it was a route worth exploring.


The actual image I took my scan from.

This is the photo I used. I had my neg lying on my ipad and took the photo using my Df with 50mm f/1.8 at the MFD. With a massive crop and no more than a minutes worth of processing in lightroom I got the following image...


Not too shabby considering.

Obviously I need a lightbox and copy stand and a mask cut to block the rest of the light. Plus a cleaner environment and using the proper technique rather than the quick test I did. But it gives me hope.

Now to the lens choice... I guess the minimum focusing distance doesn't really matter as the light source is coming from behind the subject. So no worry about shadows or blocking the light. Ideally manual focus, unless the advice suggests otherwise. I'm not sure if it needs to be 1:1 as I'm not scanning 35mm negs so won't be able to fill the frame anyway.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

cheesebgt said:

Obviously I need a lightbox and copy stand and a mask cut to block the rest of the light. Plus a cleaner environment and using the proper technique rather than the quick test I did. But it gives me hope.

Click to expand...

In addition to the mask, you'll need a way to keep the negative or transparency flat.

cheesebgt said:

Now to the lens choice... I guess the minimum focusing distance doesn't really matter as the light source is coming from behind the subject. So no worry about shadows or blocking the light. Ideally manual focus, unless the advice suggests otherwise. I'm not sure if it needs to be 1:1 as I'm not scanning 35mm negs so won't be able to fill the frame anyway.

Click to expand...

Almost any medium or short macro lens will work for this. 1:2 is sufficient even for 645 film. If you plan to use the lens in other ways, I'd suggest choosing your lens based on those "secondary use." For a manual focus macro lens, I can personally recommend a Tokina 90mm f/2.5 or 105mm f/4 Micro-Nikkor, but there are few bad choices among macro lenses. I've also had luck using a 60mm f/2.8D.

Since you have the Df, any of the old MF 55mm Micro's on a copy stand and nice thin piece of glass to hold negs. flat would work great. The photo you posted looks pretty good.

--
Robert A F

Robert A F said:

Since you have the Df, any of the old MF 55mm Micro's on a copy stand and nice thin piece of glass to hold negs. flat would work great. The photo you posted looks pretty good.

Click to expand...

For a setup with backlighting, I'd suggest staying with lenses with multicoated optics. I'm also hesitant to recommend the 55mm f/2.8 AI-s due to issues with sticky aperture blades.

The problem with using a piece of glass to hold down a larger negative is that it can create an interference pattern often called "Newton Rings." The typical approach to overcome this is to use a lightly etched piece of glass designed for this purpose. Unfortunately, such "anti-newton" glass is a bit dear; figure on paying around $40 for a 4x5" piece.

Why not a good flat bed? They have come a long ways! I use one on my old 6x7 film.

Nikon Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 Ai at $100(maybe less) vs. Epson V600 scanner at $200(maybe more).

Lenses have other uses, scanners are relatively boring.

I have had no problem with my 55mm 2.8 having a sticky aperture. The anti Newton Ring glass comment is valid.

Thank you for the replies. Its given me some stuff to think about.

The suggestion of flatbeds is not a bad one. But I think once I've got set up ready I'll be able to scan far fast with a dslr and probably get very similar results. Plus, as has been said, I can use the lens for other stuff too and not just scanning.

I've already got a lightbox coming. I remember that I had a £50 voucher that I won from B+W magazine, so I used that. A friend has lent me an old 28-105 afd that has macro capabilities, so that can tide me over for a bit. Just got to get a copy stand. Oh and I'll nick some glass out of me photo frames for now.

Once again, thank you.

Just been trying out the 28-105mm AF-D. Not to bad. But I am definitely going to get a prime Macro.




Bronica etr using fuji pro400h.

Looks like your project is going well. Thanks for the follow up post.