Nikon F-Mount to enlarger lens with bellows?

[SeanEsopenko]

I'm probably not the first person to think of this. I currently have an omega 4x5 enlarger with a dichroic head. Is there a way to reverse mount an enlarger lens then mount a DSLR to the lens for film capture?

What's the mount called for a standard enlarger lens? I think knowing that would help me find an adapter for that to my D800's F mount. It sounds like a fun little, non-serious experiment that wouldn't cost me much to try out.

[vinny]

you could just buy an f mount ext tube and epoxy that to your lens board or cone. that'd be cheap

[SeanEsopenko]

It's a turret, not a lens board, so I'd rather not epoxy something to it. I was hoping to figure it out with threaded adapters and the likes.

[Dan Fromm]

The Nikon BR2 and BR2A Inversion Rings (that's Nikon's name for them) have 52 mm male filter thread on one end and male F-mount on the other. To reverse mount an enlarging lens on an F-mount camera, you'll need a filter step ring with male threads on one end to fit the lens' filter threads and female 52 mm filter threads on the other. Your D800 wants a BR2A.

Hint: you'll need more than this to use an enlarging lens as you want. In particular, something, e.g., a bellows to allow focusing.

Your question is pretty confused. You say you want to mount a reversed enlarging lens on a D800, then ask what the standard enlarging lens mount is. The enlarging lens' mount isn't used when it is reversed.

Some, not all, enlarging lenses are in LTM. To attach one facing normally to an F-mount camera you'll need an adapter threaded LTM in front and with an F-mount. I use one of several Novoflex NIKLEI (plain, -K, -P) to mount lenses in LTM to Nikon bellows.

Small format question. You should have asked it in the lounge.

[Bob Salomon]

Rodenstock has a Retro ring for enlarging lenses with a 40.5mm front thread. The back side of the ring has the standard 39mm Leica thread. To mount a Nikon lens to it you would need a 39mm Leica thread (female) to 52mm filter thread (male). Some companies call this type of ring a Coupling Ring and other manufacturers call it a Stacking ring.

[SeanEsopenko]

The Nikon BR2 and BR2A Inversion Rings (that's Nikon's name for them) have 52 mm male filter thread on one end and male F-mount on the other. To reverse mount an enlarging lens on an F-mount camera, you'll need a filter step ring with male threads on one end to fit the lens' filter threads and female 52 mm filter threads on the other. Your D800 wants a BR2A.

Awesome, that's the info I was looking for :D and it's only about $30 from ebay.


Hint: you'll need more than this to use an enlarging lens as you want. In particular, something, e.g., a bellows to allow focusing.

Yeah you're right. With the 4x5 film loaded in the enlarger I'd have a bellows for between the lens and the negative/positive but I'd have to mount a bellows between the enlarger lens and the camera. It'd have to be very very short (similar to


Small format question. You should have asked it in the lounge.

I'm figuring out how to capture (scan) large format film using a DSLR. What makes this have to go in the lounge? Maybe it should go in the same section as scanning does but I don't see this as "small format" since it's capturing 4x5 negatives/positives.

[Drew Wiley]

Just mount your DLSR or whatever on a decent copystand. Instead of using copy lights put you LF neg or chrome atop a high-quality small lightbox. Diffusion should be even, and if copying in color, CRI should be high.

[Nathan Potter]

As Dan points out you'll need a focusing mechanism (bellows or helical) between the D800 lens and the negative in the enlarger. The adapters are available as pointed out, but you need to consider vignetting problems if the enlarging lens is too long in focal length.

Seems a reasonable idea using a D800 where the 1 inch hight sensor at about 5000 pixels will deliver a scan resolution of 1/4 that (1250 spi) referenced to the negative. Probably not quite as good as an Epson V750 although with a condenser head you'll get inherently high contrast.

If you can get this to work I'd like to see a detail from a copied negative.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Dan Fromm]

I'm figuring out how to capture (scan) large format film using a DSLR. What makes this have to go in the lounge? Maybe it should go in the same section as scanning does but I don't see this as "small format" since it's capturing 4x5 negatives/positives.

You should have told us what you were trying to do.

If you'll search, you'll find a number of long-running threads on making an LF film scanner that contains a DSLR. Look for the discussions.