p.2 #1 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
Any older ~50mm manual focus macro lens is optimized for flat field work — Canon, Nikon, etc. My copy setup is an ancient slide rig and rail, with an nFD 50mm macro, and it is easily adapted to any mirrorless system.
p.2 #2 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
spinosaurus wrote:
I just bought here on FM a 90mm f2.8 CA Dreamer Macro Laowa lens for ca $300 and have used it a few times now to copy slides and it does a very nice job, better than the 55mm Micro Nikkor I used previously. It actually focuses to 2X not just 1X so is also a very nice macro lens. I do use an odd set up for copying as I don’t have a copy stand but I can focus very accurately using the Sony manual focus magnification. Good luck finding something that works for you.
Interesting! Better in what way? If positioning the camera pointing downwards - do you get any focus creep at that position?
p.2 #3 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
The Nikkor 55 has a very good reputation, but it's manual focus. I've compared that to a Tamron 90mm and both are good. You might find this interesting.
p.2 #5 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
The Laowa lens does not focus creep when pointing in any direction and it has a flatter field of focus than the micro Nikkor. I have also used an old 65mm Leica Elmar which does a decent job if you close the aperture to ca f8 but the new Laowa seems better than that if getting micro contrast which is important in copying small slides and trying to enlarge them. The one thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to lessen the grain of slides other than from Kodachrome. They are fine up to about 13x19” but cropping and enlarging starts to show the grain rather prominently and since it isn’t luminance, the noise reduction doesn’t work on it. It may just be me though that is not that fond of the grain. Anyway, from my experience the Laowa works better than the older macro lenses which likely are not optimized for a flat field of focus.
p.2 #6 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
BTW, One of the nice things about the Laowa focusing to 2X is that you can do some cropping of slides and negatives by going past 1X and cropping what you want compositionally.
p.2 #8 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
Just wanted to say that the ttartisan 100mm 2.8 macro has been excellent. I’ve been scanning both 120 and 35mm film with if, and results have been stellar.
p.2 #10 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
bemei wrote:
You might find the Sigma 70mm Macro used at that price. Otherwise the Mamiya 80mm macro is a fantastic lens which easily holds up to the above Sigma, albeit without AF and it only goes to half size without a spacer ring. It has a useful lock for the focus so that the focus doesn't drift due to the lenses weight when on a copy stand.
+1
I use the Sigma 70 macro that I bought here for that price to scan film. Works great. I find the working distance of 70mm to be better than the 120mm macro I was using before.
p.2 #11 · Recommendations for budget macro lenses for scan setup
I use a Rodenstock Apo Rodagon 50mm f/2.8 enlarger lens on a bellows on my Sony A7R II and get very sharp results. It is much better than an Olympus Zuiko Macro an as an Olympus bellows marco lens, both from the 1980s.
Enlarger lenses are not optimized for 1:1 work but this one delivers at f/8.
