New Nikon ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter & Slide Scanner Announced

edge100 said:
My tutorial: http://www.mfphotography.ca/michael...-guide-to-scanning-film-with-a-digital-camera
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Michael, thanks for the tutorial and the handy Photoshop action. This works pretty well, well enough in many cases. In my experiments, I think the color mask is a lesser issue, the tonality is more of an issue, and a non-linear inversion helps. See this thread for details and examples, and this short thread for specifics of non-linear inversions.

Since this thread started with the Nikon product, I won't go further here.
 
A Welcome Option For Film Photographers

A Welcome Option For Film Photographers

Dwig said:
Optically, it would work with any Nikon FX DSLR. You might be able to fudge it on a DX model with an appropriate lens+extension choice, but only maybe.
...
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This.

I don't see any electrical connections for the ES-2 unit.

Maybe any lens with a 62mm filter size would work with the ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter. At worst, all you really need is a "compatible" Nikkor-Micro lens. Any digital camera that uses or adapts to the F mount could be fine.

While automated mask correction is convenient, mask color-cast correction is quick and easy with PS. I am certainly unskilled yet I can color balance any negative in a few minutes.
  1. Invert it.
  2. Bring the orange negative into PS.
  3. Create a curves layer.
  4. Go to the red channel and alt-click on the black slider and move it until it just starts to clip or slightly before that. Do the same for the white slider.
  5. Then do that for the B and G channels.
  6. The center adjustment slider below the histogram controls contrast

Or, Nik Color Efex Pro has a couple of powerful presets for color negatives.

I don't understand how a back-lit sensor is a requirement for photographing film. Anyway, Back-lit CMOS sensor technologies are ubiquitous. However, back-lit CMOS sensors have superior signal-to-noise ratios – which is an advantage.
 
back-lit isn't necessary, but it *is* a feature/buzzword that Nikon wants to mention at every turn. :)

The key for the 850 is how well they've done the software. Clicking a shutter button and having good color in a fraction of a second sure beats minutes in PS.
 
I wonder why no one 3d printed\engineered an adapter (in the past I mean) that goes on, say, an old mf macro nikkor and has a flash attachment to use on slrs. could be a cheap solution (f you own a camera)
 
Michael I. said:
I wonder why no one 3d printed\engineered an adapter (in the past I mean) that goes on, say, an old mf macro nikkor and has a flash attachment to use on slrs. could be a cheap solution (f you own a camera)
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They didn't have to. The Nikon E-S1 is a perfect slide stage for the Micro-Nikkor 55 series lenses. Been available since the 1970s at least. The innovation of the latest kit includes the negative carrier ... which anyone who needed one has created to work with the older stage.

It's easy to get a flash or other light source balanced and the exposure set for use with it.
 
Michael I. said:
i mean a rig that would adapt these things to a complete kit. could be a viable kickstarter project i think
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The 'rig' would be what many of us are using right now. The Nikon ES-1 slide copier, macro lens, a film holder and a flash.

My Nikon 60mm macro lens had a 62mm filter thread so I use a step down adapter 62-52mm (the lens' filter thread is 62mm, the Es-1 is 52mm).
You could use the slide copier on any camera/lens combo with the correct filter adapter (if needed). Do not need a Nikon camera.

Not sure how a kickstarter project would make sense when you can source the items online in 2 minutes, plus it wouldn't know what lens you are using.
 
ColSebastianMoran said:
Michael, thanks for the tutorial and the handy Photoshop action. This works pretty well, well enough in many cases. In my experiments, I think the color mask is a lesser issue, the tonality is more of an issue, and a non-linear inversion helps. See this thread for details and examples, and this short thread for specifics of non-linear inversions.

Since this thread started with the Nikon product, I won't go further here.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I've got a rather large batch of film scans coming up, so I'll try to test this soon.
 
Huss said:
The 'rig' would be what many of us are using right now. The Nikon ES-1 slide copier, macro lens, a film holder and a flash.

My Nikon 60mm macro lens had a 62mm filter thread so I use a step down adapter 62-52mm (the lens' filter thread is 62mm, the Es-1 is 52mm).
You could use the slide copier on any camera/lens combo with the correct filter adapter (if needed). Do not need a Nikon camera.

Not sure how a kickstarter project would make sense when you can source the items online in 2 minutes, plus it wouldn't know what lens you are using.
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I'm sure this has been mentioned somewhere already, but what are you using for a film holder with your ES-1?
 
Ken Ford said:
I'm sure this has been mentioned somewhere already, but what are you using for a film holder with your ES-1?
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I use this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/35-mm-film-...975073?hash=item41cdb39ea1:g:u2MAAOSwuxFY0oA-

The ES-1 is about $60. The new ES-2 is $140. The new Nikon film strip holder is $36, vs $24 for the one I use. That actually makes the Nikon one a very good deal, as it holds multiple in place while with mine I need to take it out and move the film (even though that only takes a few seconds).

But the problem that I have with the Nikon strip holder is that it has preset and fixed barriers to isolate each image. Which is great if that matches the film spacing on your film strip. But my cameras - Nikons, Minoltas, Leicas etc - all have varying film spacing. While they are consistent on the film, they vary from camera to camera. So unless your film/camera combo matches up exactly to this film holder, it would be an issue.
 
edit: just noticed on B&H. That $140 for the ES-2 apparently includes both the new film strip holder, and the slide holder. So I think that makes it a really good deal as all this is designed from the ground up to work together.
I'm going to try it out on my D750.

Also, if the negative conversion works well on the D850, it makes it a fantastic deal for film users that also want a digital camera. Nikon has seen the demand for this and incorporated it. It would be fantastic if they could make this a software update available for the D810 and D750. But I'd doubt they would do that.
 
Thanks, Huss! I think I'll want and see how usable the new ES-2 is with my existing gear - I have a D300, a D700 and a Df, plus a 55/3.5 Micro Nikkor.
 
Ken Ford said:
Thanks, Huss! I think I'll want and see how usable the new ES-2 is with my existing gear - I have a D300, a D700 and a Df, plus a 55/3.5 Micro Nikkor.
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No prob Ken. The ES-1 is actually designed for the 55mm Micro lens, as it has the matching 52mm filter threads. The ES-2 has 62mm threads.
What that means is that you'd need a 52-62 step up ring. Not a big deal, I need to use a 62-52 for the ES-1 to work w/ my 60mm lens.

But what it does do is mean that you have to fiddle a bit with focus and the distance of the holder (simple push/pull adjustment) as now you are throwing min focus off with the added thickness of the step ring to get the correct image size/focus. When you use the native combo - that does not need a step up or step down ring, it is designed for min focus distance. Just set it there, no fiddling.

So while it works totally fine (I'm of course using a step down ring), I'm tempted by the ES-2 just to make it even simpler as it is meant for my 60 Micro Nikkor lens. Plus the film holder. Either way, I think it's fantastic that Nikon even has this on its radar. I'm very impressed by them with this.
 
Huss said:
No comment? You asked for it.
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Hard to tell. This images present hard contrast with almost no gradation of tones. The only part with half tones is mans skin. Blue clipped in shadows unfortunately. Artificial objects in the bottom part don't leave clues of what color they are actually. Basically the only other detail leaving clues are sunny lit tree leaves. Those are somewhat reddish to my taste. The image is ok overall. If I was working on it I would make leaves greener and use red channel as a mask to recover blues in mans shadow skin tones.

36353275220_5375248fee_b.jpg


man_in_the_garden.jpg
 
In case anyone wonders, I've added third image - optical print made with Beseler Dual Dichro S on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Lustre paper.

I'll stop here, since there sims to be many other threads dedicated to DSLR scanning on this forum.

scanner
4629.jpg


DSLR scan
DSC04840_Edit.jpg


print
kodak_colorplus_print.jpg
 
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