I think vignetting is also a factor though it rarely gets reported, I think the Sigma 105mm ART is better than the 70mm ART in this respect.
Since you have both the 55mm Micro-Nikkor f2.8 & 60mm AF Micro-Nikkor f2.8 in your list I wondered if you found the 60mm to be noticeably superior optically for 1:1 35mm full frame copying. I have the 55mm f2.8 and though good it’s a little weak in the corners on full frame compared to an 80mm Componon-S enlarger lens, not by much though.
I use an iron pipe, floor flange, Superclamp, and NEEWER mini ball tripod head with my Lumix camera and electronic shutter on 2-second self timer. I have ZERO issues with digital camera shake.
I would use whatever macro lens you have. If your camera has 16 MP or better, you’re getting all the details out of most 35mm films. You’ll have more issues with things like slide film curvature, dust, and illuminant quality than you will your lens.
The rig shown above captured this from a 35mm Ilford XP1-400 negative made in 1981:
Came across this YT video presented by Kazutu Yamaki, CEO of Sigma Corporation, at the launch of the 105mm DG DN 105mm f2.8 ART. 26m 28s of detailed information rather than marketing flimflam concerning their aims for the lens, its optical perfomance relative to both its predecessor and the 70mm ART Macro (3m 50s) and the particular lengths they went to optimise 1:1 optical performance and also remove longitudinal chromatic aberration for use with their 1.4x and 2x converters (10m 33s). Impressive stuff.
@Harry Thank you for this link where Kazutu claims the 105 better than the 70, (straight from the horse’s mouth)!
And also the link to “photomacrography forum” tests where posts claim the Sigma 105 out-resolves the Sony a7Rv! The pixel shift sure makes a great improvement in their examples, and here was I thinking pixel shift a waste of time!
@niels.shoots.film I also use the auto focus on the Sigma 105mm ART it is very useful when adjusting the enlargement factor when setting up or changing film format. The manual focus is also very useable. This lens also works well with a 10mm extension for focussing closer than 1:1 on mounted slides.
@Digitizer I agree, very solid camera support certainly is essential.
That composite on the last page is the first time I’ve seen pixel-shift shown to be a demonstrable improvement, in particular from single shot to 4 shot (Bayer-cancelling) mode. I’m not sure about the 16-shot mode though, the spacing between the black lines no longer seems to be equal, or rather they don’t have equal emphasis, if you see what I mean. From the comments there does seem to be some disagreement, artefacts etc.
So I ended up getting the Sigma 105mm and it is indeed incredibly good. I’ll link some scans I just did with the new lens and an A7r4. I used the included lens correction profile in Lightroom and converted using NLP.
Thanks everyone for their input! I hope everyone had a good holiday!
EDIT: This was Portra 800 in case anyone was curious.
I have both lenses and in all honesty the image quality is effectively the same with 35mm film. At f8 you’re not going to see a difference. I ended up sticking with the 70 because it works better with the Valoi Easy 35 (smaller overall setup).
Update from 01/04/2025. I should confess my ignorance. It looks like the 105 is superb lens and given that its internal focusing the length of setup is not an issue. I stand corrected . Sorry for the confusion.
I actually had the 60mm first, which is good at the center but has lots of chromatic abberations and softness on the edges regardless of f-stop.
I got the 55mm lens later because I started using the Cumulus scanning system for medium format and i needed a shorter focal length lens to use that system. i thought this would be my “cheap” medium format setup.
In my tests the 55mm and the 60mm perform very similarly. i dont think its worth upgrading from the 55 to the 60.
@shoochyu your scans look incredible! great results!
Do you happen to have a Vlad’s Test Target to scan and share?
Thank you!
Unfortunately I do not. I was looking to get one but it would be very expensive to due to where I live.
