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Budget macro lenses


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My trusty NIKON 4000 ED scanner has bitten the dust, and I still have a lot of old 35mm slides and negatives that I'd like to digitize (is that a word?). Repairing the scanner is no longer possible. Consequently, I'd like to switch to the photographing route. Problem is I don't have the funds for an expensive macro lens. Does anyone have any experience with this lens. Might it be OK for slide and negative copying? The price is certainly right, and it actually gets some decent reviews. I'd be using it with a Sony a6000 (crop sensor).

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At that price, John -- I'd take the chance on that macro. Just over $100US. If I had time I'd buy one myself. But I've run out of time here.

 

A tangent to you post: do you think it's really worth copying old slides for digital stock? I did it at first and have had very little success with those images. Chuck has had good results, but many of his are of important people. 

 

And another tangent: aren't you happy you traded your NEX6 for the a6000. That is a terrific little camera! 

 

Edo

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22 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

At that price, John -- I'd take the chance on that macro. Just over $100US. If I had time I'd buy one myself. But I've run out of time here.

 

A tangent to you post: do you think it's really worth copying old slides for digital stock? I did it at first and have had very little success with those images. Chuck has had good results, but many of his are of important people. 

 

And another tangent: aren't you happy you traded your NEX6 for the a6000. That is a terrific little camera! 

 

Edo

 

I've got at least 1500 scans on Alamy, and many of them have done very well. Hardly a month goes buy without one or two licensing. So, yes, I consider the year (2008-9) spent scanning to have been very worthwhile. Many of the ones that I want to digitize now would be archival. I've had several good sales of archival images, so I would upload some of them here. However, I have other uses in mind as well. This stuff is all very time-consuming, of course,  but once the rain sets in, I'll have plenty of downtime. You're right about the Oshiro macro lens. I wouldn't be taking a big chance financially. No doubt amazon ships to Seville...

 

The a6000 is indeed a terrific little camera. I decided to keep the NEX-6 as backup. It still comes in handy.

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John, I have only a dozen or two scans on Alamy, and since that's nada I can't complain. All my chromes like everything else in my past life were abandoned after the fire and the selling of my rent-stabilized lease. Ever forward!

 

This is a favorite snap from the film era -- Rome in the '60s. 

 

 

men-pouring-bronze-at-a-foundry-in-rome-

 

Edo

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4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

John, I have only a dozen or two scans on Alamy, and since that's nada I can't complain. All my chromes like everything else in my past life were abandoned after the fire and the selling of my rent-stabilized lease. Ever forward!

 

This is a favorite snap from the film era -- Rome in the '60s. 

 

 

men-pouring-bronze-at-a-foundry-in-rome-

 

Edo

 

 Terrific lighting. Vermeer would have liked that one, even though he wasn't Irish (or Italian).

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An enlarging lens is designed for flat copy, a macro lens is not. The most common lenses for enlargers were 75mm for medium format and 50mm for 35mm negs. For your purposes,  75mm lens will give you a little more space between your .camera and your slide. You will need some sort of adapter to mount it on your camera. At a guess, 50 bucks should be plenty for a descent used lens. Rodenstock and Shneider were the best but there were many much cheaper Nikons which should do the job.

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I have also sold a few scans, both of B&W negs and colour trannies.

 

However my (Epson) photo scanner has also recently bitten the dust, and I have a couple of old enlarger lenses, from memory Minolta Rokkor. Need to find them.

 

Are there any budget setups ready made to attach lens and negative/tranny to Sony APS/C  bodies I wonder?  Need to consider lighting as well I guess, maybe LEDs, or ground glass daylight? 

 

With winter approaching this could be an interesting project.

 

This video covers a number of potential pitfalls

 

 

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A Minolta Rokkor should do the job. There are Bowens  Illumitons out there going cheaply but if you cobble together something yourself, make sure you leave a reasonable gap between the diffuser and the slide or you will bring any dust on the diffuser into focus. 10mm 1/4 inch or so.

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9 hours ago, Bryan said:

I have also sold a few scans, both of B&W negs and colour trannies.

 

However my (Epson) photo scanner has also recently bitten the dust, and I have a couple of old enlarger lenses, from memory Minolta Rokkor. Need to find them.

 

Are there any budget setups ready made to attach lens and negative/tranny to Sony APS/C  bodies I wonder?  Need to consider lighting as well I guess, maybe LEDs, or ground glass daylight? 

 

With winter approaching this could be an interesting project.

 

This video covers a number of potential pitfalls

 

 

 

Thanks for the video link. I got confused by all the necessary bits and pieces, though. The language barrier didn't help either. B)

 

My NIKON scanner still works sometimes if I give it a whack and say a few Hail Marys. Too bad no one can repair scanners any longer due to the lack of spare parts. It's a shame to have to toss such a useful (and expensive) piece of technology into the garbage bin.

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Nikon made the best scanners with the exception of Imacon but they got bored with the project and dropped any kind of support. So I will never buy any Nikon product ever again. Truth be I was mostly a Canon guy, but they screwed us over the FD lens mounts so who's left?  Pentax I guess? That's why I bought the K-5. Never tried an Olympus or Sony  but I can't afford  to buy them all.

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2 hours ago, Robert M Estall said:

Nikon made the best scanners with the exception of Imacon but they got bored with the project and dropped any kind of support. So I will never buy any Nikon product ever again. Truth be I was mostly a Canon guy, but they screwed us over the FD lens mounts so who's left?  Pentax I guess? That's why I bought the K-5. Never tried an Olympus or Sony  but I can't afford  to buy them all.

 

My Nikon scanner is built like a tank (sounds like one too), but this is the second time it has died. I had to spend over $500 CAN to have it repaired a few years ago. No support at all in Canada now. The scanner does (or did) deliver very good results when it's working, though.

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