How to use ES-2, Nikon's Film Digitizing Adapter
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- Becky Danese (@rebecca_danese on Instagram) shows you how to turn your film negatives into digital photos!
In the video:
Nikon D850
AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED
ES-2
Video Production: Fotini Tasiopoulos
Thanks for watching!
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I just watched someone else's video on the same topic and he had major issues with a colour cast that he then had to correct . He was using a softbox as his light source. Your video is much clearer and professional. I will be following your recommendation to use daylight. Many thanks for this helpful video.
I have used thid for many years, in the beginning for making slidecopies, and negatives from slides, and later for digitizing film of different types. A very good way to get old negs and slides digitized!
Thanks! Saved me getting the instruction manual out 😋👍🏻
Thank you so much for this Becky. I have re-watched this as I have started using the ES-2 (bought from GoW when it was released but put away for a quiet time...) for the first time for colour negatives. It works incredibly well. I am using a Df followed by photoshop, but would love more advice / short video on processing with either photoshop or NX-D. Thanks again
Thank you Becky, very helpful.
You are so welcome!
Becky - you are gold! Clear and concise instructions in beautiful English. Nikon - come on! How about putting some of your technological know-how into something that has a powered, neutral light source as part of the adapter? Natural light might be ok for a quick snap of something you want to put on social media, but for anything half serious that is just not going to cut it for those of us who prefer to shoot film.
Thank you, Mart! Yes, I think a natural light source if you're in a pinch, but a good daylight lamp or lightbox for everything else :) We use adjustable mini LED panels which do the trick nicely.
I’m not in the market for something like this, but have to say what a fantastic bit of kit & really well presented video. Cheers guys & I hope you & your families have a great Christmas & a prosperous New Year.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year, Mark & Sue!
Fab video thanks. Just picked up a FM2 (I won't say from where :) ) and have a Z6, so will get the FTZ adapter and the older 60mm macro. Edit and now ordered from you :)
great video, would be nice to see the process of negative scanning on a p b-5 bellows system as this does accept a negative holder at the end of it, and what lenses this is capable of using for the digitising process, ie: can you use a 105 macro, a 200 mm prime,etc.
Nice job.
New subscriber here. I love your interesting and very informative video. I have a question: I have a Nikon D 3500 but with an old 55mm f3.5 manual macro nikkor, is it possible to use this combination with the ES-2 adapter? Thanks in advance.
Works well with my Sigma 70mm macro on my 5DMkII
Can i use the micro 60mm D version on an apsc with the ES2?
for negatives, which side for emulsion side?? Does it matter?
Nice video. Thank you. Nikon states that the ES-2 is compatible with the Nikkor Z 50 mm MC 2.8 lens. I believe you previously answered 'yes' to someone's question of using the ES-2 on a Z 7. Although at that time I don't think the Z 50mm macro lens was available as I believe you indicated they'd need the FTZ and 60mm F mount macro. All that said, if you have the time and inclination Becky I would be really curious to know how good a job the Z 50mm MC does with the ES-2 on a Z 5 body. The Z 5 being the camera I have.
(As an aside, I think the Z 5 is possibly over looked and under appreciated. I understand it doesn't have capabilities that it's more pricey siblings have but it's still a great camera unless you genuinely need the capabilities the others provide. I moved from a D700 to the Z 5; as great as I think the D700 was and remains, the Z5 to me is quite an upgrade.)
Thanks for all the great content you and Konstantin share. I hope you get a chance to see this note and take the ES-2 for a test drive on the Z 5 with Nikkor Z 50mm MC and let folks know how well you think that set does or does not perform.
Richard Reddy
I have 105MM 2.8mm Nikon lens. To use ES2 with it I will need an extention tube, can it be available in the market.
Do you have to shoot jpeg if you're converting slides? I ask as one of the attarctions with this method would be the ability to adjust colour temperature if I can shoot a .nef.
I've been copying lots of 35mm slides in DNG. I think the jpeg is necessary for the negative conversion using the D850.
Hello! I am trying to digitize Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides from the 40's-60's. I have a Nikon d40 which I know isn't the best, but I am considering getting a used Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens and slide adapter (or the ES 1 I imagine for my lens?) to do this. Do you have any tips on a light source or set up I should use for these slides? I look forward to this method because I felt my EPSON scanner did not accurately scan the color from these slides. Any suggestions on settings to use of your camera for slides? I do not have the money to get this done professionally but from what I've read you can get really good copies this way. Thank you so much.
Kait
Hi Kait! I would go for using a 40mm f/2.8G Micro lens or a 55mm second hand if you prefer the older style of lenses, along with an ES-1. The 40mm will be the perfect fit while the 55mm images will need a bit of cropping afterwards. For light source generally a small LED panel or just good bright daylight will do the trick. It will be a little trial and error at first but if you're using a stable surface then you can shoot at a mid range aperture(f/5.6) and the lowest ISO you can manage so you can adjust your shutter speed based on those settings. Hope that helps!
@@graysofwestminster Thank you so much for your help! :)
This is fantastic demonstration. Can we use this adapter on Z7?
Definitely! With the FTZ adapter and a 60mm micro :)
Which FX-Lens could i take? 105 mm, 58 mm, ... ??
A Nikon LS5000 Coolscan produces a 4000 dpi image of a 35mm slide measuring 4000 x 6000 pixels at around 21 mbs. A camera scan with the ES2 and D850 produces a 8256 x 5504 pixel file at 45 mbs. Does this mean the camera scan image is better than the scanner file?
Does it make a difference which side of a film strip or transparency faces the lens when copying?
The emulsion or dull side should face the light source. Leaving the shinny side facing lens.
That's a really well-presented video, Becky. I have a DX camera (D7200), a 40mm macro lens and the ES-1 so will that combination work? Can you also clarify what the best light source would be please, as I think ordinary indoor lighting would be the wrong colour?
Thanks Chris! The D7200 + 40mm would work just fine for the ES-1 (and ES-2). A 'daylight' lamp is ideal if you don't have good natural lighting, or if you want to copy slides later on in the day when the light is less generous. Hope that helps!
Would a 40mm macro work with a full frame DSLR? I have a 7500 at the moment but hope to move to full frame in due course. My maths says that I’m totally stuck in that if get a 40mm macro for this then it won’t work once I have moved to full frame. I guess I am going to have to wait to convert my extensive slide collection until I’ve gone FX 🙁
@@mrLebesgueintegral Not necessarily - the 40mm will be quite tight (it will crop out any of the extra space around the slide, and possible a small portion of the edges) but I know several clients who have used it successfully. The other option is to use the 60mm on your D7500, which will also work just fine, and because it's an FX lens it will then also work on a future body. :)
Thank you. I already have a 105 macro, which is great for creepy crawlies but I guess isn't much use for slides!
@@mrLebesgueintegral there is a way around it, using various extensions from the front of the 105mm so that the ES-2 can be separated from the front of the lens far enough to focus. Drop us a message through the GOW website and I'll send you over the details if you'd like them :)
Can You use an Sb-26 or similar instead of the led?
Sure but I find I still need a light source for focusing.
I’ve been using the ES-2 for some time now and have made a few discoveries along the way that might help.
Natural light is better so I use mine on a tripod with a radio-controlled shutter release. I have tried with an electronic flash and a strobe with a soft box but the problem with those is getting an evenly balanced light source across the sensor. Smaller light sources like those tend to be concentrated on the centre of the frame which causes some vignetting. The vignetting is easy to fix afterwards but it’s less hassle just to point your camera at the sky.
It’s also worth experimenting with overexposing you shots by a stop.
I find the D850’s negative digitiser very useful for getting a quick look at my negatives so that I can decide which are the ones I want to work with. Having done that I then go back to the camera and shoot those frames again only this time I don’t use the negative digitiser. I just shoot in RAW and invert the images in Photoshop (which is very easy with monochrome.) The reason I do this is because the image quality is a lot better than the JPEGs that the negative digitiser produces.
That said, the ES-2 a good accessory. So much more convenient than a scanner and if I really want a good quality scan or a print made I can always go and have that done professionally.
Some excellent additional info, Andrew - thanks!
@@graysofwestminster This is a brilliant kit to bridge the gap between analog and digital...
It's probably a good piece of kit, but it would involve my having to buy the 60mm macro lens, which for me would be an unnecessary piece of glass, so a year or so ago, I bought a Plustek scanner which does the job admirably. I would have preferred one of the no-longer made Nikon scanners, but even second hand, they are still quite costly.
Indeed! And also running the software can sometimes be tricky. Glad to hear the Plustek scanner does the trick though as I have often wanted to recommend an alternative scanner!
My camera is a D5200. Is there anyway I could do this with an AF-s Micro Nikkor 40mm 1:2.8G And if not, which lens should I buy??? I only plan on doing slides. Thank you in advance and Happy New Year
Yes, absolutely! The 40mm is perfect for this set up :)
@@graysofwestminster I forgot to ask. Will this work with the ES1 since I'm only doing slides? Or, would I need an adapter for length??? Thanking you in advance.
@@barbaradumler6503 The ES-1 will absolutely still work with this set up, no need for an adapter :)
Hi Becky, and others. I have two questions:
1) How would you describe/compare the resulting image files from this ES-2 method with those using the once popular Minolta 5400 scanner (that I'm familiar with) or an equivalent Nikon slide/neg scanner?
2) Can the ES-2 get good reproductions of Kodachrome 25 and 64 slides? (By 'good' I mean suitable for magazine reproduction - say half-page or even full-page sized).
These days the quality of a file from a D850 is, I would say, comparable to most scanners. I'm not sure about the Minolta I'm afraid but have files from an old Coolscan V versus the D850 and found that the D850 files have a slight edge. That could be a personal preference of image of course, but hope that helps.
Thanks for that. I'm shooting with a D750, so would expect half the resolution. I'm sure there will soon be people out there with my set-up who will report back on how they're faring with the ES-2.
Can you use it on a Canon?
Did you say that the D810 cam process slides(positives) without using Photoshop?
Alas, no. You would need a post-processing software for the conversion with a D810 - anything that can reverse tone curves will do it.
@@graysofwestminster Thank you
A modified ES1 as you said. At least Nikon is trying. I'm one of the thousands that Nikon hosed when the LS8000 scanner died along with Windows XP. Fortunately I still have an XP Pentium based with fire-wire and my LS8000 is humming along nicely. Just keep in mind it is a picture of a picture, you may have to adjust contrast levels. I have both Nikon 40 & 60mm macro lenses although both are older models. Please clarify for me that when the ES2 first came out it was ONLY for the 850. I'm pretty sure that was the case when I priced it upon the initial release. Are you sure it'll work with other Nikon DSLRS? I have 7100's.
I use the ES2 with a D700. Mainly for slides and b/w. Not briliant because the D700 only yields c 4000 px wide. Maybe when D850s price-drop a bit...
Most definitely :) Used it with both the Z 6 + FTZ and also with the D750 with great success, converting negatives in Lightroom afterwards.
Hello, I'm a professional photographer. I still shoot in film and I wonder what is worth na digitization on the D850, which I have. What is it worth compared to an epson v850 scanner? Does it allow you to make large prints without being ugly?
Well, the good news is that the D850 prints can quite literally blow up to billboard size. The film quality becomes the limiting factor there though, as not all original film slides/negs are going to be able to resolve that level of detail when being enlarged digitally to that size. That would apply whether using a separate scanner or the ES-2 though I'd say. It's all down to the quality of the original film, how well it was processed etc.
Same here. :) I have digitised hundreds of my films (from F100, Rollei, a vintage Zeiss 9x12 cm bellows camera etc.) using 1) my Nikon D750, 2) Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G MICRO at F/8 , 3) a radio-triggered flashlight in TTL or - usually - manual mode, sometimes with bracketing 4) a DIY diffuser, made of layers of styrofoam and opaque glass - I tested it for hotspots to make sure the light is perfectly even. I am yet to experiment with some lens, to mimic the condensed light in an enlarger. As the film holder I use the removable part of my enlarger. A few years ago I compared my setup against the (then) best Nikon flat-bed film scanner (i worked in a photo department of a press agency where we used these scanners to digitise millions of old photos) and the results from my setup were much better. Plus the end result is a set of NEFs that I can process at will in LR/PS. I created a set of presets to streamline the process. For 120 and 9x12 negatives, I make 23 MP "thumbnails" or - if I need a larger resolution - I take a series of pictures and stitch them in PS/LR - as if it was a panorama. A 9x12 negative has more than enough details for a 100 MP digital file. Now I don't use colour films (only B@W). If I did, I would probably place the Colorchecker card in one of the frames for each film.
Cute.
Good introduction to using the Nikon ES2 digitiser. You may be interested in Vincent Versace’s video, which goes into the process in more depth and also details how to use the digitiser to produce raw files from slides and negatives.
Thank you :)
It's quite a high price for a few pieces of plastic, though.
Can I use this system with a DX sensor like my D500? Awesome 👏 video
Hi Juan! Yes, Absolutely you can use it with a D500 and ideally a 40mm f/2.8G DX Micro, otherwise the 60mm lenses will work too.
Grays of Westminster thank you so much for the feedback gonna try it since to be easy. Just starting shooting film and I found that scanning process is a tedious process
you are a little wrong, with slide film the negative conversion is done chemically in the developing stage, thats why there is a special chemistry set for this film ( e-11?) , it develops into positive and into a transparency ready for projection ALL in the one process, so all that is required is any lens inversion of the image left or right ,or any vignetting etc, the lens puts into the image from taking the copy.
Sounds about right, Andy, yes! :)
Why would you need to stabilize the camera. Since everything is attached to the lens, I don’t think u would that...
Because small vibrations from within the body can still cause the image to come out slightly blurry, unless the camera is stabilised and a remote release is used. You can also get around this by using exposure delay mode and just propping the camera on a table top :)
Not enough info
Awesome but it will not do the job of a dedicated film scanner.
True. Horses for courses as always :)
Yes, a dedicated DRUM scanner would be much better. But MUCH slower and MUCH dearer that a full-frame DSLR (leaving alone Nikon D6 and the like). But results from any flat-bed scanner (that you can buy for 2K dollars or so) would be FAR inferior. Not to mention that converting one frame to a 20-40 megapixel RAW file would take ages using a scanner (BTW, most scanner produce only TIFFs or JPGs), and a few seconds using a DSLR. Of course you should shoot RAWs (not JPGs) and proccess them in Lightroom/Photoshop.
This video is very well done! However, the whole process is absurd & ridiculous. It is similar to Toyota inventing a Prius with an internal combustion engine that burns petrol & the sole purpose of the engine is to drive a generator that charges the battery which provides the power to an electric drive system. If the battery dies the car stops.🤣🤣
Quite a lot of misleading advise, eg you should work with raw.
Hi there, not sure which bit you're referring to? At 3:50 Becky talks about having to use jpeg with the D850 otherwise the negative digitiser function won't work on this particular body.