Lenses for Scanning (film digitizing)

Peter1111 · 2026-04-10T16:27:22-0400

silvergelatin said:
Looking for a new lens for scanning 35mm film on a full frame Sony. Since I started using an RGB light source, my Sigma 105 Art lens sometimes shows color vignetting, and generally requires a lot of software correction, so I’m looking for something more optically compatible. I tried a 55/2.8 Micro Nikkor and a 60mm f4 Rodagon (non-WA). The latter was flatter, but neither is as snappy as the Sigma.

Ideally, I would grab an Apo Rodagon D or Apo Componon, but since those are unobtainium where I live, I’m looking for alternatives. Has anyone used the Voigtlander 65mm Apo Lanthar for scanning? I know it is reputed to be excellent in general, but scanning is a special set of constraints. I know it needs some extension to get to 1:1, but that’s no problem. How is the flatness? Any quirks? Other ideas?

Canon MPE 65mm Macro lens. This is the most affordable route with very high quality. This lens is amazing!

xkaes · 2026-04-10T17:39:33-0400

Peter1111 said:
Canon MPE 65mm Macro lens. This is the most affordable route with very high quality. This lens is amazing!

It's surprising that in this auto-everything world, that they would produce a lens that lacks auto-focus. For me, macro and auto-focus are not very compatible, but this NON-auto-focusing lens goes for $1,000. You can get a lot of great, non-auto-focusing, macro glass for a 5% of that.

silvergelatin · 2026-04-10T19:10:34-0400

250swb said:
The simple answer to everything is to buy or already own a 1+1 macro lens, job done, adapter is in the post, light source sorted and a copy stand enabled. How to make it more complicated probably just read the next post.

That worked fine until I added the RGB light. I cannot claim to fully understand the cause, but it must have something to do with how the different wavelengths are projected into the sensor. There is another thread about it here where a different user with the same light has similar color vignetting. But the RGB light is such a massive and fundamental upgrade in image quality, I think it’s worth going down the lens rabbit hole for a bit.

Lenses for Scanning (film digitizing)

Peter1111

xkaes

silvergelatin

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