MANUAL MACRO LENS

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 849 Location: Reading UK

Some of the Tamron SP lenses (e.g. 90mm f2.5) were flat field, designed for copying, imaging stamps. etc. A good performance across the frame is what you need.

kebuldaj · Joined: 13 Feb 2021 Posts: 12

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 849 Location: Reading UK

Another thing to consider is where you are going to do the copying. It needs to be as dust-free as possible.

connloyalist · Joined: 22 Jul 2020 Posts: 345 Location: the Netherlands

Would someone with macro experience like to hazard an opinion on the Olympus OM 50mm 3.5? I am curious what the general opinion is on it.

Regards, C.

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 849 Location: Reading UK

Ray Parkhurst · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:41 pm Post subject:

One thing that the MTF curves don't show is LoCA. I've often gone with one of my 55 Micro Nikkors only to find the CAs unacceptable. You may say that with slide copying, CA is not so important since the subject is a perfectly flat slide, and if that were the case it would be true, but in fact a slide while copying will have some tilt due to fixturing, or mounting, and the result is that one area of the slide will have a magenta hue, while another has a cyan hue. You can see this effect in Mark Goodman's review on coinimaging.com that was linked above, in the face detail photo of the silver coin. Silver is close to true grey, and yet you can see the area in front of Liberty's face has a magenta hue, while her cheek has a cyan hue. You don't want your slides to have these hues, and hence a lens with less LoCA is preferred.

The 75ARD1 I recommended above is indeed a good lens, with low LoCA, but it's not necessarily the "best" lens for this purpose. The best lens for 1:1 is the 105mm Printing-Nikkor, but unfortunately it won't fit in the stated budget. However, there is another lens that will "just fit" the budget...the Nikon 8000/9000ED. The Nikon 8000ED and 9000ED scanners are excellent and would do the job for you, but are of course much more expensive than the stated budget and outside the scope of your request. However, folks have been removing these superb lenses from defunct scanners for macro use, and they are available on used market. For a long time you could get them for ~$100, but now they are more in the $400 range. They are "nearly" as good as the 105PN, so are actually quite a bargain. Superb sharpness and apochromatic correction make these a perfect choice for the application. Nikon thought so as well since they put them in their flagship scanners.

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 849 Location: Reading UK

Ray Parkhurst · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:05 pm Post subject:

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 849 Location: Reading UK

Ray Parkhurst · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:22 pm Post subject:

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 849 Location: Reading UK

Blazer0ne · Expire: 2024-12-07

xaprb · Joined: 28 Jan 2021 Posts: 171

As far as I know the Laowa 100mm f2.8 is designed for DSLRs with a longer flange focal distance. It will probably be fine, BUT if you want to be optimally future-proof for a future full-frame camera, I assume you will probably use a mirrorless, and there are macros designed to work better with that shorter flange focal distance. How much image quality difference it will make, is a question for someone smarter than me, but I'm sure it makes a difference to the size and weight of the macro lens, if nothing else.

Ray Parkhurst · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 6:25 pm Post subject:

michelb · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 6:43 pm Post subject:

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Just to add to the full frame vs crop sensor discussion, the way I see it, what is most important is sensor resolution. Okay, some may argue that full frame sensor resolution is superior because the sensor is bigger, but I suspect the difference between full frame and APSC is small. So anyway, sensor resolution is very important. Take, for example, a couple of Sonys -- the aII is it? the one with a 24mp resolution sensor? And the NEX 7 (and one or two other APSC unitis) with a 24mp sensor. When exposing the image to the entire frame, this is providing 6000 x 4000 pixels of resolution, which rivals the expensive Nikon Coolscans.

Assuming a lens such as the 55mm f/2..8 Micro Nikkor (my favorite), when using a crop body camera, one will need to add a 1.4x teleconverter somewhere in the light path to boost the image size up to 1:1. When using a full frame camera with this lens, a bellows (or extension tubes) will provide the necessary magnification. Nice thing about a bellows though is many have accessory slide stages that make duping slides simple.

Finally, I think it is important to show just what sort of results one can get with the rig I use, which is the 55mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor with my NEX 7. Here are a few examples, some of which I've posted here at the forum before.

All slides are Kodachromes. My NEX 7 was set to ISO 100. The 55/2.8 was set to f/8 for the dupes. I used a Nikon SB-24 flash to provide the light for the exposures. Images were reduced to 1600x1000 for posting here.

Beach Rocks, Ventura, California. Canon F-1, Vivitar S1 28-90

Camelia, Canon F-1 and Canon 50mm macro on Kodachrome 25 with Canon Autobellows

Sentimental Jourrney B-17G, Canon F-1, Vivitar S1 28-90

Hollywood Camera Crew, Canon F-1, Vivitar S1 28-90

xaprb · Joined: 28 Jan 2021 Posts: 171

Perhaps off-topic, and I hope itâ€™s OK to mention this, but I just happened to notice a copy of the Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 Close Focus lens on Shop Goodwill. This is one of the â€œcult classicâ€ Vivitars that is moderately scarce (but not exactly rare) and coveted. I paid $150 for mine. This oneâ€™s likely to go for a lot less because nobody seems to have noticed it, and/or a previous owner engraved something on the barrel, but if the lens is in good condition that shouldnâ€™t matter to the photos. Itâ€™s being sold by the Seattle arm of Goodwill, and from previous experience I believe their staff know photography equipment pretty well and would mention if thereâ€™s an actual problem with the lens.

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3202 Location: The Netherlands

xaprb · Joined: 28 Jan 2021 Posts: 171

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I have a copy of the Vivitar CF 135. It may not have a flat field, but honestly I've seen that feature important primarily when shooting flat objects, like photos or documents. Real life is 3D, so if taking pics of items in the real world, not having a flat field isn't gonna matter. As for its 1:2 focusing ability, this doesn't disqualify it from being a macro either. I own at least 8 macro lenses and only one focuses to 1:1. But Vivitar must certainly have been cognisant enough of things, since they're the owns who called it a CF lens.