Newbie seeking advice on scanning both 135 and all 120 formats

Digital Camera Scanning
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I’m a fan of the OLD 55mm f/2.8 or f/3.5 Micro Nikkors. They are actually MACRO lenses — for some inexplicable reason, Nikon never admitted that. With either, you will need the extension ring to obtain maximum magnification.

Another excellent alternative is an enlarger lens on a bellows. For five years in the 1980s, I used a Bogen 60mm Wide Angle enlarging lens. It did a great job copying 35mm and all 120 film formats. The lens, bellows, and adapter rings I had came with a Bowens Illumitran 3C, which was a great slide copying rig.

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Thanks Mr Burk, I have invested in an FD50mm Canon lens so I’ll give that a try first. I had heard about The Nikkors bot f/2.8 and f/3.5 variants, but will see how I get on first.

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OK, the story so far:

I now have a Canon FD macro 50mm lens, a 25mm extension piece should it be needed, and a Urth adaptor to X Mount.

I’ve also bought a lifetime license of Filmlab negative to positive conversion software as I don’t need the hassle of learning LR.

Having dug into my loft, I’ve found a Meopta Opemus 6 enlarger which will take a camera mount (reproholder OP # 392 821 550 122) but I can’t find one anywhere on the net.

I decided I might fill the backplate where the negative holder/bellows attaches with JB Weld as there’s deep socket on the holder, then drill and tap it to attach a metal plate onto which I can attach a camera holder.

My question is: how high must the camera need to be for both 135 and 120 film formats, say lens to Valoi negative holder?

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Imaging ratio of a 6x9 negative on 120 film and an APS-C type sensor is roughly 0.3
Imaging ratio of a 645 negative on 120 film and an APS-C type sensor is roughly 0.4
For smaller negatives, the ratio grows and at a certain point, you’ll need the extender.

You should see where said ratios take you on the barrel of your lens.

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Many thanks digitizer

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Sounds like a plan. You know you need extension rings or a bellows, if it’s a standard 50mm, right?

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Hi Mr Burk, in addition to the Canon Extension Tube FD 25 Canon FD Mount piece I mentioned?

I also have an 11mm and 16mm JJC tube set should I need more, but I’m guessing with the above lens plus 25mm extension, that should be enough.

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That setup should work fine!

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They called it the Repro-Arm I think. Today I came across someone who did his own CAD for a replacement, had it machined in China for about $30. It was for a ‘5’ but it seems that it must also fit your 6. I’ll try and find it again, think it was on FB. Maybe you’ve seen it anyway.

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You can fit the 25mm but you won’t need to extend the lens so much. Fully extended the lens would only need around 10mm extension on APS-C to copy 35mm (0.67x). For 1:1 on full frame it needs the full 25mm.

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Harry, that’s the correct part number alright. I’d be interested to find out about that.

Having said that, I’ve used the old JB Weld to create new metal-drill-then tap technique before, and successfully too.

It would not hold the camera out from the enlarger column as a much as the original part will though, but because of the tilt of the column, I suspect that won’t be a problem.

Tomorrow I hope to get a photo posted so it can be seen.

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It’s basically to make a metal version of this 3D printed offering as far as I can see:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4968376?shem=rimspwouoe ,

There’s a link in this FB thread from the ‘Darkroom Photography’ group.

Your column slopes at an angle so ideally you would fit a macro focusing rail to that, something like a Novoflex Castel Q or a Nisi.

Alternatively it looks as if you can remove the head and make a plate to sit the camera on top of the Meopta focusing bellows:

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The Novoflex and other above my paygrade, so I’m doing what I said, photos requiring posting but can’t see an “attachment” tab, any help appreciated.

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Novoflex focusing rails can be surprisingly inexpensive used, they’ve been making them for many years and it’s a fairly niche item.

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image
image1920×3410 2.99 MB

image
image1920×1081 1.26 MB

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Here you can see the top of the enlarger head column with head removed and also where I’ve filled it in with JB Weld.

Next step, obtain 100x50x50x3 box section, drill it and tap into the cured JB Weld to secure it to column and the attach camera.

Will up lopad photos when done.

Nothing will stop this being used as an enlarger if I want to later.

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20260531_122405
20260531_1224051920×3410 3.25 MB

20260531_122413
20260531_1224131920×3410 2.7 MB

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Ok, hardware done. As I mentioned, I have bought subscription to Filmlab as I’m not doing this professionally, really just digitising so old negatives can be put onto a digital photo frame for my 87 year old mum (and one for myself).

Who knows, I may want to improve on my setup further down the line?

One doubled question I do have is: what should I buy to remotely trigger the camera, and I have a remote 12" monitor, would that aid in focusing in on the negative if connected to micro HDMI on the Fuji?

Thanks for all your help so far, I’ll now experiment with the different formats (especially the 6x9 as the Opemus 6 will not allow me to print that size of negative).

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I used JB Weld stick which didn’t tap as well as the regular JB Weld “liguid” tubes, a point to note.

In the end I had to wick some runny 502 super glue into the threads and fixed it with activator. Once set, I retapped it with the 4mm tap.

I went 4mm because if one tap went bad, I could always go up to 5mm.

All bolts, and the quick release camera clamp were attached with blue loctite

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Practical solution: your add-on also holds the strap of the camera :wink:
When you tether the camera, every extra loop can get in the way…

I used tethering for my Canons and found that focusing gets more difficult because of reaction times. I now focus manually - with a lens that can’t autofocus - and fully zoomed in live view.

BTW: Some lenses change focus when stopped down. Better check that with your gear.

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