eyeonsticks Loc: Clororado

I have a Nikon 85mm Macro lens, will the Nikon slide copying attachment work without modifications?

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

I've never done this, and likely never will, but a quick Google search landed me on this statement that I hope you find helpful.

The 60mm Micro is ideal for slide copying. I've used it with the D1X and D2X bodies to copy slides when I didn't need full film scanner resolution and needed to do them quickly. [I use a copystand and a flash panel for this setup.]

But, to which "Nikon Slide Copying Attachment" are you referring?

If you're talking about the slide holder for the Nikon bellows/rail macro focusing system, then the 60mm will work fine.

If you're talking about the "attach to the lens" slide copy attachment, that won't work with the DX format DSLRs. That particular slide copy attachment was designed specifically for full-frame 35mm film cameras and for specific use with the old [now discontinued] 55mm Micro lens. Using that attachment with a DX format DSLR will only allow you to capture a "cropped" image of the slide.

Leitz Loc: Solms

There is a difference between the 60 and 85mm Micro-Nikkors. In other words, they are not the same. Or to put it another way, one is longer than the other. Or to put it still another way, one is shorter than the other.

eyeonsticks Loc: Clororado

The slide copying attachment is the ES-1. The lens is a DX format.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

The ES-1 was designed for the 55mm micro with a film (FX) camera. (I used to have one)
Using an 85mm on a DX body is going the wrong direction, if you could even get it to focus. The ES-1 has a limited range of adjustment.

blackest Loc: Ireland

It may not be straightforward but it may still be possible. The slide copier was designed for 1:1 copying so the recorded image was exactly the same size as the slide image.

Problem here is you want a 36x24 slide to be recorded on a 24 by 16 sensor which is around 1.5 : 1 (or should that be 1: 1.5 i never remember which).

now if the slide copier sits into the lenses filter thread you will need to pack it out so the slide is further away. This can be done with a number of step up and down rings. I made a copier with a tamron sp90 a 1.5x teleconverter (tubes can be used instead) + some plastic pipe and a slide holder. This device may be easier to adapt. It's fairly likely that the macro lens can focus close enough. There is a bower slide duplicator which works with an ordinary lens but it uses a macro lens (close up lens at its base) with a macro lens that can be removed as it isn't needed. I worked with that one and it needed best part of an inch of rings to move the slide far enough away.

So it can be done if you can get the lens and slide in the right position relative to each other and the sensor. If the slide copier is not too expensive it can be worth a try and if it works it works. It can be sold on when the slides are copied or even if the op can't make it work. Someone will buy it for around the same price.

It can be a bit of a game you can be missing the edges of the slide (which makes for easier post processing and you get the full resolution of the sensor) If you get the full slide plus a little bit of edge you lose a bit of resolution as you crop.

It'll be fun :)

No one seems to have made a slide duplicator for a crop sensor camera so it does mean messing around to get a working setup. But once made it will be fast.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Blackest,

Sounds like there is a market.
Have any machining skills?

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Don't know how many or what size of these you would need but you can buy tubes with 52mm male/female threads to move the ES-1 away from the 85mm lens.
https://www.amazon.com/Photo-Plus-52mm-Diameter-Extension/dp/B009VPPZYQ

The closest the 85mm focuses is a bit less than a foot.
You don't need 1:1 to copy the slides to your DX sensor, so the ES-1 would be father away, I suspect making it fairly unwieldy. You can get an idea of the distance by framing the slide with that lens.

blackest Loc: Ireland

I've used step up and step down rings, but i recently got a metal lens hood 52mm for the lens end but what i didn't realise until i got it was a 58mm thread at the open end, I would have to have a play but its pretty close to the width of the closeup lens from the Bower (the less cheap lens elements the better).

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

The closest focusing distance is nearly 290mm from the focal plane. To fill the DX frame, a 35mm slide will be about 170mm from the front of the lens, as viewed on my Fujifilm S3 Pro..

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Doesn't sound too awful.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Should be doable.

brent46 Loc: Grand Island, NY

This is how I do it. D7100 with 28-105 D Macro and LED bulb. Difuser is just paper. Results are excellent and it is fast.

cthahn

Try it. It does not cost anything and you might learn something.

eyeonsticks Loc: Clororado

Thanks to all that replied.