Enlarger lens for copy of negative and slide film

[lauge]

Because enlarger lens < 50€ macro lens > 150€ (that's about 25 rolls of the finest B&W film more) and bellows lenses are up there with the macros. I actually already have a macro lens that I currently use for the job but was suggested to use an enlarger lens with recently purchased bellows slide copier. Macro lenses and supposedly enlarger lenses are better corrected (flat field) than a regular lens so enlarger lens sounds most appealing but don't have any experience with enlarger lens, macro lens might be the way if copy unit can get far enough on the bellows rails? Oh, and digital can't be a banned word here ((?)SLR) I can see there is a nice gallery of peoples work :-)

[2F/2F]

Has anybody experience with copying film with an enlarger lens, bellows and DSLR? Any recommendation on enlarger lens for that setup is much appreciated.

There is an active thread about this on DPUG at this very moment.

You don't need bellows or an enlarger lens; it is overkill. Think about the magnification needed. Using FX format, a 50mm macro lens with a 50mm extension tube would be the most you would need, unless you were copying frames smaller than 35mm. You may not even need the extension tube if using APS-C format.

[tkamiya]

Let me see what happens if I do this...

DSLR
SCANNER

..... ducking for cover

[Chan Tran]

Speaking of enlarging lenses. I used the 135mm, 105mm, 80mm, 50mm and 40mm enlarging lenses on my bellow. I have choice of different focal lengths, very high magnification with the shorter lenses, results are very good and cheap.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Title updated, since the issue of using enlarger lenses for copying negs and transparencies is relevant to APUG, but digital copy work is better discussed on APUG's sister site, DPUG.org in threads like this one--

http://www.dpug.org/forums/f6/scanning-dslr-2185/

[lauge]

@Chan Tran, which of the focal length did you have most success with?

@2F/2F, yes, I started a thread on dpug after M.A.Longmore made me aware of it, don't know if it's rude to keep this thread alive but thought you might know a bit more about enlarger lenses?

[Chan Tran]

If I remember correctly the lens that I used back in the day was a 50mm lens for slide copying. The unit that I used looks kind of like this Beseler unit but it wasn't Beseler ( I can't think of the brand now).
http://www.angelfire.com/oh/ohiodeal...s/bes4102a.jpg
Today like I said I don't do slide copying any more, but for general close up I like the 105 and 80mm lenses best. The 50mm lens gets a bit too high magnification for most of my pictures. I used an F3 with the 6x viewfinder and Nikon PB-6 bellow. I get a 39mm screw mount to Nikon F adapter to mount the lenses. I don't reverse the lens. I may get better result reversing the lens but I have not tried due to the difficulty of mounting the lenses on the front filter thread.
The 80mm would give me a 1:1 magnification. The 105mm give me good working distance and can focus to about 30 ft. The 135mm I can focus all the way to infinity but magnification isn't very high at the close end. Good for flower shot or something like that. I rarely use the 50mm lens or 40 mm lens.

[Chan Tran]

Thinking about your problem at hand, what I would do if I have to do slide duplication with a 35mm SLR (no scanning) is:
I would remove the dichroic head off my Beseler CB-7 enlarger. Mount the tripod head on the enlarger column and mount the F3, 6x viewfinder, PB-6 bellow, enlarging lens on it. I would put the dichroic head on the baseboard upside down to use as a light source and thus I can dial in almost any kind of color correction I may need. I just need to find a way to hold the slide just above the color head. May be a mounted slide carrier and something to prop it a distance away from the light.

[2F/2F]

This is really sounding way too complicated for a simple 1:1 flat copy. A backlit copy stand, a camera, and a 50mm lens with a 50mm extension tube (or a lens that can get to 1:1 on it's own) is all that is needed.

[John Koehrer]

s'not flat copy, tis film.
The bellows will probably be overkill, but the enlarging lens will be much more compact and you don't need a stop down mechanism or helical.
Keep in mind that with a 50 to get 1:1 you are going to be 50mm from the (film) and also 50mm from the subject.