Questions on Film Scanning Lens with a Nikon D3300

Hello All,

I am a new photographer and have gotten into 35mm film! I have questions about scanning with a Nikon D3300 camera that I have lying around. I already have pre-cut and developed 35mm film that I would like to get scanned. I thought my best option would be with the Nikon D3300 camera, for the present and the future. The problem is I do not know the lens or the lens adapters that I would need to accomplish this goal. That being said what recommendations would be best for accomplishing this goal? (I am only scanning 35mm)

Something along these lines could probably be adapted to the task at hand:

choiliefan said:

Something along these lines could probably be adapted to the task at hand:

nikon bellows with slide copying - Google Search

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Thank you for the response! I have been reading on the forums that a 1:1 ratio should be achieved between camera and photo. Do you know what lens could accomplish this along with the slide copying apparatus?

PhotoNewbie said:

Hello All,

I am a new photographer and have gotten into 35mm film! I have questions about scanning with a Nikon D3300 camera that I have lying around. I already have pre-cut and developed 35mm film that I would like to get scanned. I thought my best option would be with the Nikon D3300 camera, for the present and the future. The problem is I do not know the lens or the lens adapters that I would need to accomplish this goal. That being said what recommendations would be best for accomplishing this goal? (I am only scanning 35mm)

Click to expand...

Nikon make an adapter for just this purpose (the ES2), and both JJC and Valoi make sets of film holders and tubes for a similar purpose. The JJC adapter will fit the 40mm DX macro lens, and would probably be the cheapest option (I’ve used this with a D90 and D7100).

PhotoNewbie said:

I have been reading on the forums that a 1:1 ratio should be achieved between camera and photo.

Click to expand...

Only if the digital camera you're 'scanning' with has a sensor the same size as the negative you're scanning. The D3300 has an APS-C sensor, so you don't want 1:1 magnification, but a little less than that.

You can do this with a bellows setup and any suitable lens mounted on that (e.g. an enlarger lens with manual aperture) like @choiliefan suggests. Alternatively, you could take something like a 50/1.8 or so and use extension tubes, or you could use a dedicated macro lens.

For illumination, you could use a LED panel with a diffusor on top of it if the panel by itself isn't sufficiently diffuse. I often use milky plexiglass as a diffusor for various applications.

Positioning the camera and the film can be done either with some kind of rail system (search for a "slide duplicator"), a regular tripod or a copy stand (or an enlarger fashioned into a copy stand). There are all manner of ways to mount your film in a holder to keep it flat and stable, ranging from some cut cardboard to 3d printed gizmo's you can buy online.

What you choose depends mostly on your budget and how stringent your requirements are on image quality.

If you are interested in digitizing 35mm negatives a great source for information is YouTube. I am at present digitizing 1000's of my color and B&W negatives from 35mm to 645, 6x7, 6x9 and 4x5 and 1000's of 35mm color slides. I am using both my Nikon D600 and D7100 along with an LED light source, a copy stand, and 60mm f2.8 AF-D and a 105mm f:2.8 AF-D lenses. For 35mm I use a Bowens Illumitran and the D7100 and that works great for both slides and negatives.

I have the advantage of being a photographer all my life and had most of the equipment that I needed, but there are cheap ways to do this job, but you get what you pay for.

Thank you all for your replies! This has helped me out greatly, and thank you for taking the time out of your day to help a newbie like me!