Nikon ES-2

[Sandokan]

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Does anyone know if the Nikon ES-2 film digitizing accessory fits onto the Leica R 60mm macro? And if so, does it work well? I plan to use the lens with my SL or M10

[adan]

I cannot see any reason why not - probably needs an E55 (Leica lens diameter) to 62mm (Nikon lens diameter) front step-up adapter ring. And the Leica R 1:1 rear extension ring to get to "life-size".

These type of film holders for in-camera duping/copying date back decades and decades, and were often sold as third-party devices that came with adapters to fit any manufacturer's lenses. Not to mention Leica's own gizmos of this type. They are dead-simple devices mechanically: translucent plastic illuminator, film holding slot, metal tube.

It should be noted that the newest Nikon bodies come with a menu setting (firmware) to deal with the orange mask of negative color films - not sure if the SL has that option (the M10 does not). May (or may not) make getting the best color harder from neg films (but not slides or B&W negs).

But in terms of simply getting a correctly-sized, sharp copy of the film, that should be fairly easy.

[madNbad]

The ring diameter of the ES-2 is 52mm, standard for most manual focus Nikon lenses. A 52 to 62 adapter is included for attaching the unit to a 60mm AF Micro-Nikkor. There is also a tension screw to hold the expandable tube in place once you have established focus.

Edited March 8, 2020 by madNbad

[Ouroboros]

The ES-2 was devised primarily for use with the 60mm micro Nikkor G lens to take advantage of the slide/neg copying ability of the D850 to create high resolution files without the problem of orange mask removal in post with C41 negative films.

Unless you have a Nikon camera that has this firmware feature, any old cheap slide copier will do, but you'll have to deal with the orange mask yourself if you're copying C41 colour negative film. 

[zeitz]

A thread entitled "Lightroom preset for converting scanned KODAK 400UC negatives" was posted today on the Digital Processing subform.  The present is meant to work with scans that retain the orange mask from this type of Kodak film.  It should work well with whatever method you use to hold the negative for camera digitizing.  Some modification to the preset likely will be required for other types of orange masks.

[250swb]

For less than the price of the ES-2 you can buy a small copy stand, a light table, a cheap negative holder, AND a copy of Negative Lab Pro or Color Perfect for inverting colour negatives. Given the ES-2 still needs a good light source, and using a Leica and not Nikon body you would need the software anyway ('Invert Image' in Photoshop or Lightroom doesn't work very well at all) then basing your scanning around the ES-2 just becomes an exercise in spending money for the sake of it.