I’m looking into buying a macro lens for my actual photography work (to use ocasionally) but I’d like it to be as good as possible to scan negatives too.
Setup: for 35 and 120 I use the valoi 360 and for 4x5 I’m using a diy solution for now.
For support I use a DIY copy stand.
I need the lens to have AF. Image Stabilization would be nice but not needed.
I know the Sigma 105mm Art series macro is a beloved lens on this forum and the tests that I’ve seen seam to validate that. Unfortunately there’s no native EF mount version so It’s not an option for me.
The 70mm 2.8 macro Art comes in EF mount so it’s a more realistic option for me. It can be bought for around 500€ in europe.
I’d like to know if anyone has experience with the older version of the Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro (with image stabilization) and if it’s comparable to the newer version. It’s much cheaper and widely available in the second hand market. If there’s any other recommendations, feel free.
The late Robert O’Toole really liked the 105mm ART Macro, and before that the 70mm ART Macro was a favourite. I see that he also tested the previous 105mm Macro and he had good words to say about that also though I suspect that it cannot be quite as good as the other two for critical flat field film copying. Still he provided actual samples from his normal silicon circuit wafer to look at:
Thanks for the link. It seems to be a solid lens but the sharpness falloff at 5.6 and f8 is concerning. Also, there’s some CA, which I imagine most of the actual photography lenses have but still.
I was wondering if anyone has real world experience scanning negatives with this lens, since it’s a backlit and high contrast subject in which besides sharpness, the color reproduction, chromatic aberration handling and contrast are also important.
I’d like to get a 70mm Art but they are hard to find new and used are pretty expensive for EF mount specifically.
A canon EF 100mm 2.8 L is not out of the question either.
I have the older non-L variant of the lens including tripod adapter.
The lens delivers decent results, but is relatively difficult to focus manually. Autofocus and focus peeking aren’t good enough…with all brands, I presume. I also use a 7Artisan 65mm macro (2nd model) which was cheap and is easy to focus and easily sharp enough for my use. Manual focusing with a long focus throw and finder magnification help a lot.
I’d certainly have a look at the laowa 100mm lens and get the tripod foot with it. Attaching the lens provides better stability than a heavy lens dangling from a spring loaded bayonet mount.
Around 1:1 it was difficult to focus manually: it stopped, then you had to turn the focus ring back to dial it in again. Now there is more room to adjust, which is nice when copying negatives or slides.
Yes, I noticed that, particularly for mounted slides, getting a bit closer to avoid the mount edges. Understandable I thought, right at the end of focus range?
I added a 10mm extension which makes manual focussing a dream at 1:1 and a bit closer.
This would be when focusing on the lens presumably. Would it be possible to set focus on the lens and move the lens and camera together? Still, not necessary any more by the sound of it.
You probably could, but there is always some slack in my kind of setup (I use a vertical setup). I have to lock camera plus lens with a clamp. Moving the lens some mm (more likely less than that) up and down with the lens ring is much more accurate.
Thanks, I can see that method might not work for you in that case. In general terms focus snaps in and out much more precisely if the focus on the lens is fixed and both camera and lens are moved together relative to the target film. There are sound optical reasons for this but basically you are then just dealing with the very, very small depth of focus at that magnification.
If you focus with the lens at these high magnifications then both the distance between the lens and the film and the distance between the lens and the sensor change at the same time which introduces a certain vagueness.
Wow! Thanks for this post. I have had the 105mm Art for several years and never even gave it a thought of having firmware. Ran the procedure and discovered that I had V2 of the firmware, now I have V5! Embarrassingly, I have to admit to being an embedded software engineer for 40+ years.
Sigma is run by a very conscientious person, who feels responsible for his employees and the environment of his factory. You also see that in the way he takes care of his customers. I wish more companies do the same… In this way Sigma is run as the old Leica. The Leitz family did the same when they were at the helm of Leica many years back.
