After a couple of years of attempting completely different movie labs, with the endless pondering in regards to the high quality of their growing course of and scanning setups, I lastly determined to easily do it myself at residence. Acquired all of the chemical substances, instruments and scanning equipment, solely needed to choose a pleasant Macro lens to go along with it.
Looking via web sites and boards, all the pieces was pointing me to my native lens producer 7Artisans and their 60mm Macros, usually beneficial as the perfect finances place to begin for movie scanning at residence. And so they even made two generations of this lens, the larger and barely cheaper Mark 1 or the sleeker Mark 2, I simply needed to choose one. However whereas I used to be seeing numerous critiques for these two lenses, I couldn’t discover any correct advice for which one is best for movie scanning. And that brings me right here.
On this quick article, I’ll concentrate on these lenses purely for the aim of scanning 35mm movie. I don’t care which one balances higher on a small digital camera, which one casts shadows on a closeup of bees or which one has higher bokeh, that’s lined by different individuals across the net.
Go to the official web site for full specs of 7Artisans 60mm F2.8 Mark 1 and 7Artisans 60mm F2.8 Mark 2. Present pricing places Mark 1 at 159 USD, with Mark 2 being a little bit bit dearer at 179 USD. However Mark 1 can usually be discovered at a reduction. Please notice that these lenses are designed for APS-C or smaller sensors. My testing was completed with the M43 Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II digital camera.
Sensible Variations
Mounting lenses on the digital camera, we have now to begin with the distinction in weight. Older 7Artisans 60mm F2.8 Mark 1 is sort of a bit greater and heavier at 550g, in comparison with leaner Mark 2 at simply 340g, representing 60% of additional weight. On my setup, utilizing fairly a sturdy Coman TG340CT tripod, I haven’t observed any points with the additional weight and I imagine individuals with good copy stands will even face no issues. However some budget-oriented customers with much less sturdy tripods would possibly have to hold this further weight in thoughts and compensate for it with a better shutter velocity/ISO, brighter gentle supply or distant launch and longer shutter delay.
Framing the negatives, we have to discuss focus respiratory. Mark 1 proves to be fairly problematic on this side, with every focus adjustment at Maco ranges inflicting a big shift of the focal size and the general framing. Each single time I used to be establishing the lens, I needed to spend a couple of further minutes in a seemingly endless cycle of regulate focus – regulate distance, regulate focus – regulate distance, time and again. Perhaps this may be acceptable for customers with only one movie measurement and a completely set copy stand, however for my setup with a tripod and completely different codecs, it proved to be fairly an annoyance. As compared, Mark 2 exhibits just about no focal respiratory and makes establishing and framing a lot simpler.
Adjusting the main focus, we’ll see the primary class the place 7Artisans 60mm F2.8 Mark 1 beats its newer sibling. With its focus throw round 225 levels, I discovered Mark 1 to be clearly the higher alternative for crucial specializing in the movie negatives. Mark 2 gives solely 135 levels of focus throw and whereas it’s nonetheless a cushty vary for correct focusing at our magnifications, it merely by no means felt as precise, as exact because the Mark 1. At this level, I need to praise each fashions for easy and well-dampened focus rings, general matching the nice customary set by the most recent releases from 7Artisans.
Optical Variations
For the principle comparability, I used a roll of Fomapan 100, shot in Nikon F4 with 105mm F2.5 and 50mm F1.8 D lenses, at residence processed with semi-stand Rodinal growth. The digital camera used for scanning was an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, taking pictures Uncooked and with fundamental inversion completed in DXO PhotoLab software program. Each Macro lenses had been centered on the middle of negatives, aperture set at F5.6, which confirmed to be the sharpest aperture in my testing and one thing that’s frequent on M43 sensors in my expertise.
Wanting on the testing pictures in regular conditions, each lenses present good-quality scans, with first rate sharpness and distinction. To be used at customary viewing distances or for posting on social media and web sites, I imagine both of them would serve very properly. I even shared the scans with our pictures membership and there was no clear consensus on which of the lenses produced higher outcomes.
In detailed pixel peeping on my greater monitor, I began to see variations between the 2 lenses, exhibiting a transparent sample over a number of frames. Mark 2 at all times appeared a bit sharper within the middle and was constantly offering higher even sharpness throughout the entire body. Solely on the outer edges did the Mark 1 typically present a bit cleaner picture and even then I wasn’t positive if it wasn’t brought on by a slight misalignment between negatives and focus airplane.
Total, I’m actually proud of the standard of the scans I received with these finances Macro lenses. They simply beat any of my earlier makes an attempt with extension rings on M43 lenses and I’d additionally choose them over Fuji SP-3000 scans offered by my native movie labs. The one time I received higher scans was with Canon 6D Mark 2 and 100mm IS USM Macro, however at that time, we’re speaking a few approach completely different worth vary than these finances 7Artisans.
Conclusion
In the long run, I picked the 7Artisans 60mm F2.8 Mark 2 for my residence scanning rig. Whereas I appreciated its higher optical efficiency, the convenience of fast framing on my tripod setup additionally performed a big function in my determination. And I’ll by some means study to stay with its much less exact focus ring.
However Mark 1 nonetheless gives an excellent different, particularly if it may be bought at a reduction. Generally I see it out there for as little as 100 USD, at which level it may be a big saving in comparison with the Mark 2 and perhaps the most effective finances scanning choice.
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