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 Replies: 37 / Views: 14,256 |
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Pillar of the Community
  United States
4038 Posts |
I'm still making progress with the Printing Nikkors. One big problem with them is difficulty in mounting to a camera since they have weird threads. I finally had some adapters custom-made and received them over the weekend. The adapter is 55mm outer diameter, same as the smooth parts of the 105PN, so matches pretty well. One end has female M45x0.75 threads for the lens, while the other end has M52 threads for fitting onto Nikon reversing adapters (ala BR2, etc). I found a M52-NikonF reverse adapter on ebay ($5 each) that has a wide knurled section that matches the PN well. Now I can mount the lens properly. Here is a pic of a 105PN with M45-M52 and M52-NikonF adapters in place.  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Noting the extra length of the whole assembly brings a question to mind - what lens-sensor distance does a lens of this type require?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
I have not measured it but I believe it needs around 100mm. The bottom lens is nearly flush with the inside-most threads on the 52mm end, so the adapter only adds a little to the length on sensor side. I need to mount this on a bellows or long helicoid to get enough extension. I don't have it pictured, but some of that extra length can be achieved by mounting the lens reversed. The topmost trim ring is removable and reveals 45x0.75mm pitch threads to mount the lens with...Ray
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
I haven't owned many toned coins, so never really got around to refining my axial technique. I worked a bit with one, though, and determined that optimizing the light source to the technique would provide pretty nice results. I'm thinking something close to a coherent beam of about twice the diameter of the subject, maybe a little greater. Possibly two, on goosenecks, so the angle of attack can be varied to equalize illumination over the face of the coin. Axial lighting doesn't have to be absolutely perpendicular to be effective, nor does the glass have to be at 45 degrees - to get the results below, I pulled the light source off-center and tilted the glass until I got what I wanted. This was a dark coin until I lit it properly, and then it exploded. 1853 Half Dime, in a PCGS slab:  Note, I was at the focus limit of my lens to get an image as large as I wished. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
I assume you are all familiar with Mark Goodman, author of the book "Numismatic Photography". He has been doing a series of Macro Lens measurements and has measured a pretty big group of lenses so far. I'd love to be able to quantitatively test my lenses, but I don't have the facilities or knowledge to do it so I loaned him one of my 105mm Printing-Nikkor lenses to measure. He has just completed the measurements, and as expected, my assertion that the 105PN is the World's Best 1:1 Macro Lens was confirmed. Take a look at the measurements and review at: http://coinimaging.com/printing-nikkor_105.html...Ray Edited by rmpsrpms
07/24/2011 4:03 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
I thought I'd share some experiments with axial lighting that I just tried. Here is a recent photo with the new RSD setup:  And here is the same coin with axial lighting:  The axial lighting brings out colors nicely and gives a "look" that is very different from the RSD setup, though it has more shadows. It's actually so different that it's tough seeing they are the same coin! Anyway, this is the best I seem to be able to do with axial lighting alone. I'm thinking of mixing axial with RSD or direct lighting. Maybe a task for tomorrow. Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.comEdited by rmpsrpms
08/18/2011 12:21 am
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
That's a very interesting result, highly attractive but radically different than RSD. I prefer RSD for detail and clarity, but the axial lighting has a character all its' own.
Do you, by chance, have any toned silver which is the "poster child" for axial lighting? RSD is good enough at bringing out color without the tradeoff of shadowing, that I wonder how well it would work on a nicely-toned Morgan, for instance.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Mark Goodman has updated his review page on the 105mm Printing Nikkor to include his latest comparison graphs. The graphs show that the 105PN is better than the "outstanding" level across a wide mag range. Here is the link to the updated review page: http://coinimaging.com/printing-nikkor_105.htmlContact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
There's one on ebay for $1700 right now. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
SuperDave...in a thread some time ago, you stated that we still didn't know just how good the 105PN was since all my comparison photos were with the Nikon camera, blurred by shutter shake. Well, I finally got around to making a comparison. It was at request of one of the forum members over on Photomacrography.org. He requested I compare the 105mm Printing Nikkor with the 105mm Apo EL-Nikkor and the 110mm Rodenstock Scitex S3. Here is a link to the results: http://www.photomacrography.net/for...06391#106391With the T2i, the 105PN absolutely shines. It surpasses the other lenses hands down! In previous tests, I didn't see that much difference between the 105PN and 105AEL, and I believe the ambiguous results were due to camera limitations. |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
That lens is simply nuts. Can you shoot that same coin with the 75ARD and post the two shots here? Not for any reason except I want to gaze at them.  The T2i may not push these lenses to their limits, but it's very, very darn close. It reaches toward 3000lph, easily the equal of the full-frame sensors on the market. You'd have to shoot film to push a lens any harder than it can. There's a 105PN at absolute auction on ebay right now. Would that I had the available cash to get in on the action.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
I do plan to add the 75ARD1 and 75ARD2 to the tests, as well as 90ACHM and possibly the 95PN. Maybe later this weekend, I still need to mail my taxes.
You are right about the sensor resolution definitely pushing the lens. The pixel size to get 18MP in APS-C is quite small and reduces the diffraction limit for the camera compared to earlier models with larger pixels. What I was referring to was simply that it is APS-C rather than FF so it doesn't cause problems for the lens due to sensor coverage, corner sharpness issues, field flatness, etc.
Ray
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
What I was referring to was simply that it is APS-C rather than FF so it doesn't cause problems for the lens due to sensor coverage, corner sharpness issues, field flatness, etc.
Ah. True that. Another argument in favor of APS-C. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
I did some tests on a wider range of lenses and published again on photomacrography.net, same link as above. I tested the 105PN, 105AEL, and 110RS3 again and added 95PN, 90ACHM, 75ARD1, and 75ARD2. I only did the tests at 2x magnification because the 95PN and 75ARD2 were optimized at 2x, while the 105AEL is only rated from 2x...20x so I wanted to fit within the accepted range of each lens. As it turns out, the 105PN was still the clear winner among all these lenses, though at the center the 75ARD1 was second in line. Interestingly, the 95PN was not as good as the 75ARD1 at the center but better at the edges, similar to the 75ARD2...Ray
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Posted 07/06/2011 11:01 am
