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Macro lens for film scanning – Pana 30mm vs Oly 60mm

Started Apr 7, 2016 | Discussions
BorisGil Forum Member • Posts: 56
Macro lens for film scanning – Pana 30mm vs Oly 60mm

Good day,

I'm looking for a macro lens for film scanning (negative BW). Would either of the two lenses be better than the other for that purpose? It seems to be a close call resolution-wise, based on online reviews.

Has anyone had experience scanning film with either of those?

Thanks in advance.

Panasonic Lumix G Macro 30mm F2.8
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TheEye
TheEye Veteran Member • Posts: 4,883
Re: Macro lens for film scanning – Pana 30mm vs Oly 60mm

I have been successfully using the 60 mm for this purpose. The lens also allows me to crop into a 35 mm neg/chrome. Image quality is in my opinion impeccable.

There are a quite a few threads on this forum about copying 35 mm film. People have shown various functional setups. Sorry, I did not bookmark them, but you can find them by searching.  These threads are always interesting and full of good information.

Trevor Carpenter
Trevor Carpenter Forum Pro • Posts: 19,436
Re: Macro lens for film scanning – Pana 30mm vs Oly 60mm

I use the 60mm and it works extremely well with extension tubes and the Nikon ES-1

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 Trevor Carpenter's gear list:Trevor Carpenter's gear list
Panasonic G85 Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 OM-1 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm F2.8 Macro Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 O.I.S +1 more
dcuttler Regular Member • Posts: 361
Re: Macro lens for film scanning – Pana 30mm vs Oly 60mm

BorisGil wrote:

Good day,

I'm looking for a macro lens for film scanning (negative BW). Would either of the two lenses be better than the other for that purpose? It seems to be a close call resolution-wise, based on online reviews.

Has anyone had experience scanning film with either of those?

Thanks in advance.

Why bother, when you can purchase used film scanners for so little money?

I recently purchase a Plustec 8100 35mm film scanner in mint condition with all the accessories off craigslist for $100.00.  It works very well using vuscan software. You cannot buy either of the lenses you mentioned for that price.

 dcuttler's gear list:dcuttler's gear list
Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Canon G9 X II Olympus PEN E-P5 Olympus OM-D E-M10 Motorola Moto X (2014) +2 more
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