Help with 'scanning' setup

Digital Camera Scanning
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I’m looking at ‘scanning’ some 6x17’s (Velvia 50, Ektar 100, E100). I formally owned a Heidelberg Tango Drum Scanner which is considered the holy grail of digitising film. Unfortunately it stopped working and I ending up selling it for parts given there’s no-one in Australia to repair them.

Given the above benchmark that I’m use to, I’m looking at the higher end of things. I currently have access to a Canon 5D MKIV, Fuji GFX 100s & Phase One IQ3 100mp. My preference would be to utilise the GFX 100s for this task as it’s the best combination of new technology/sensor size/user friendliness/colour. I would say that colour/gradation are just as important to me as sharpness.

Thanks to this forum I’ve discovered that scanner lenses are the go to for this type of work. I have rather limited understanding in this area and have no experience with bellows or focusing rails. I’ve been looking at both the Dimage 5400 lens and the Nikon Rayfact 2x (95mm, F2.8). From my research it would appear the image circle of the Dimage would be too small for the GFX 100s, will the Nikon Rayfact 2x (95mm, F2.8) be ok? Also I’d like to avoid focus stacking. Is someone able to confirm whether it will/wont be necessary?

Here are my current thoughts, I’d love to get some feedback/ideas.

Camera: Fuji GFX 100s
Lens: Nikon Rayfact 2x (95mm, F2.8)?
Copy Stand: Kaiser Copy Stand RS 1 with RT-1 Arm? (Open to suggestions)
Light Source: Undecided
Film Holder: Digital Transitions Film Stage? (Open to suggestions)

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Look at the EFH (Essential Film Holder). It’s 6x9, but you can make left and right exposures of a 6x17 and stitch them together in Lightroom Classic or Photoshop. I have one I use for 35mm and 120 6x4.5 and 6x6. It is reasonably priced, solid, keeps the film FLAT, and does not scratch film.

I use a Viltrox L-116 LED Panel (CRI 95).

I will probably add a Lumix GH6 camera body for its 100MP stills capability (It makes as many as 16 offset exposures using the IBIS system and merges them with artificial intelligence to create a 100MP file from a 25MP sensor). I’m using a Lumix 30mm Macro lens which is excellent.

The Fuji looks great. I won’t talk you out of scanner lenses either, because they are great. My experience is that camera to film plane alignment of the negative holder is critical, as is film flatness. The EFH solves the flatness issue.

Setup details are here:

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You are definitely looking for some high class equipement. Here are my thoughts on things…

Camera: Fuji GFX 100s
Great choice. Using a GFX50 myself. The 50 will outresolve the negatives already, so basically it depends on how big you want to print later. If printing is not your thing, the GFX50 is the better choice for colour vs. the GFX100. The 50 has been rated “exceptional” for colour reproduction. See “lens options” for further thoughts.

Lens: Nikon Rayfact 2x (95mm, F2.8)?
This is a beast of a lens, no doubts, but the Rayfact won’t work well for you for two reasons: (1) painful to work with at f/2.8. The DoF is razor thin, no margin for error if your film is not 100% flat (and by 100%, I mean no movement at all). (2) It has the wrong magnification ratio for your needs. Last but not least, I’m not sure the image circle will work with a digital MF sensor.

A better choice and designed for this matter is the Schneider Kreuznach Macro Symmar 120. There are different types, mainly differentiated by the fact that one line is made for consumers, the other for industrial use as line scan lens. Both have the same optical performance (the industrial version is cheaper used and easily available from South Korea)

Copy Stand: Kaiser Copy Stand RS 1 with RT-1 Arm? (Open to suggestions)
The RS1 is wonderful (as a bonus you may want to have one with microdrive, though not necessary), the RT-1 arm sucks. It won’t work for both the weight and the devices you’re going to attach to it. You may want to look for the RA-101 arm. That’s the rock solid thing in Kaiser’s line-up.

Light Source: Undecided
I went for the negative supply 5x7 99CRI. If you want to digitise your negatives as single shots, it will be too small for your needs. See below for further info.

Film Holder: Digital Transitions Film Stage? (Open to suggestions)
I’ve been looking for that thing too. It’s a dream device. Alternatively the Phase One Capture Stage (same same but different, Phase One’s holders looked better to me). After all, I went all in with negative supply (Pro 35mm and 120 holder + 5x7 99CRI Light Source).

Different lens options, depending on the capture process

  1. Capture as one negative (use the GFX100s)
    SK Macro Symmar 120 (version 0061/0161 / magnification 1:3)
  2. Capture to stitch (use the GFX50)
    SK Macro Symmar 120 (version 0059/0150 / magnification 1:1.33)
  3. Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon D 2X 75mm/4.5
    An alternative to the Schneider Kreuznach (v0059) with shorter focal length. Needs to be stopped down to 7.1 for the same performance as the SK. This Rodenstock is basically the lens that has been used in the Hasselblad Flextight X5)

I own both the SK v0059 and Rodenstock to do all my 35mm and MF digitisations (6x6, 6x7, 6x4.5).

Further devices I own to make this all work:

  • Novoflex BALPRO 1 bellow system
  • Novoflex PRO50 extension tube
  • Novoflex PROLEI lens adapter (to screw the SK Macro Symmar onto)

Hope this helps!

One more: Should you already have a setup in place, please share your devices here too. Happy to learn what you went for and get ideas of other people’s setup. Thanks!

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Forgive the late reply here. (Me first post as well!!!)

I’m just getting started into digitizing film and am seeking advice on how I would mount the lenses you mentioned (SK Macro Symmar 120 and the Rodenstock APO-RODAGON D 75mm f/4) to my Sony A7R IV? Or if it is even do-able.

I currently have the Sony 90mm Macro but was wondering if the lenses you mentioned would be a better choice in regards to image quality.

Thanks!!!

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Check out Robert O’Toole’s site:
https://www.closeuphotography.com/schneider-makro-symmar-sr-120
By the way, I also have the 90mm Sony lens, which is great for portraits. Unfortunately, it’s not great for digitizing and has a strong yellow cast.

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The Rodenstock APO-RODAGON D 75mm f/4 has a standard M39 enlarger lens thread, most bellows will have an adapter to take those.

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Thank you for your reply, Jan!!!

I checked out that website and it provides info. on other lenses as well that I did not know about.

More research for me!!!

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Thanks Mark, that’s great to know and I’ll definitely make a note of that when shopping for a bellows.

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