Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED Lens Mounting

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Macro_Cosmos
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Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED Lens Mounting

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

I'll abbreviate "Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED Lens" to Scanner-Nikkor 8000. Actually, I'm lazier than that, let's just call it SN8000.

By sheer luck, I picked up this dead Nikon scanner on a Chinese flea market website, and got the seller to just send me the lens to relatives in China. According to his photos, the lens looks nice. If it's actually not, I can't do anything but lose this gamble.

I'm currently wondering about the mounting options. The lens is just literally a cemented cylinder. All the optics I assume are cemented inside, which means it's almost impossible to service. (Rebuilding it with a new housing... could work in theory?).

I also have a Nikon Rayfact lens, which is similar to the PN 95mm, but it's optimised for a fairly large range of magnifications. Information can't be found on Nikon's site, it's likely a special order. The line scanner that came with it is tossed out.

Mounting that lens wasn't easy. I ended up just applying tape around the cylinder and shoving it into a junky wobbly imprecise m42 CCC (cheap Chinese crap) focusing helicoid.

Here's what it looks like: (Middle one, the lens does have threading)
ImageLaowa 25mm 2.5-5x Ultra-macro Size Comparison

I've found some information online, and it seems that the same method could be used. Perhaps I should use tape and force the lens into a 52mm threaded cylinder, then connect it to my SM2 tubes (from thorlabs). The SM2 features x0.5 threads, it will fit onto the x1 threads, just can't go any further.

Speaking of those tubes, maybe I can just force the lens into an SM2 tube and connect it to my bellows via an adapter. These tubes aren't cheap at all though, especially with shipping and state robbery I mean GST... so it has to be worthwhile in terms of pictorial results for me to use them.

Anyway, all this imagination is futile since the lens is still in transit some 9000km away from me. I'd like to see all the successful mounting techniques, so I can decide what to buy.

Any help would be great! Thank you!

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

I mounted my Scanner Nikkor from the Coolscan 8000 by carefully epoxying an adapter ring as seen here:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 3efbb11b5c
The fit is very good.

Macro_Cosmos
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Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Lou Jost wrote:I mounted my Scanner Nikkor from the Coolscan 8000 by carefully epoxying an adapter ring as seen here:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 3efbb11b5c
The fit is very good.
Ah, that will work too! I don't want a destructive adaption though. I'll find other methods when the mental glass chunk comes.

Also seeing that you sold it for $300, I'm pretty confident now. Worse case scenario is breakeven, in case I don't like it. Looking at the 1:1 test photo, not a lot of confidence has been installed in me :oops:
I do have a BR2a 52mm reversing adapter which should fit on the SM2 tubes (threads won't match but it will fit shallowly). Maybe I'll use that and some electric tape.

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

It's a good lens, exceptionally free of chromatic aberrations. Printing Nikkor is better though.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

T-mount adapters typically have "rotatable" M42 mounts with 3 mounting screws which can be removed, leaving a nice place to mount the SN8000. I have a Fotasy T2-EOS adapter which has the exact right diameter M42 groove mount to fit my SN8000 lens. You will make 3 little marks where the screws dig in, but oh well. I assume most T-mount accessories use the same mount but you should check to make sure. Raf also makes an adapter that works well for this, though it's a looser fit than the T2 adapter.

Macro_Cosmos
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Post by Macro_Cosmos »

ray_parkhurst wrote:T-mount adapters typically have "rotatable" M42 mounts with 3 mounting screws which can be removed, leaving a nice place to mount the SN8000. I have a Fotasy T2-EOS adapter which has the exact right diameter M42 groove mount to fit my SN8000 lens. You will make 3 little marks where the screws dig in, but oh well. I assume most T-mount accessories use the same mount but you should check to make sure. Raf also makes an adapter that works well for this, though it's a looser fit than the T2 adapter.
Thanks! That seems like the way to go then. What's the diameter of the barrel and how much extension did you use to achieve 1:1? I heard it's optimal repro ratio is exactly that. Was hoping for 1-3x though but oh well.

Thanks!

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Macro_Cosmos wrote:
ray_parkhurst wrote:T-mount adapters typically have "rotatable" M42 mounts with 3 mounting screws which can be removed, leaving a nice place to mount the SN8000. I have a Fotasy T2-EOS adapter which has the exact right diameter M42 groove mount to fit my SN8000 lens. You will make 3 little marks where the screws dig in, but oh well. I assume most T-mount accessories use the same mount but you should check to make sure. Raf also makes an adapter that works well for this, though it's a looser fit than the T2 adapter.
Thanks! That seems like the way to go then. What's the diameter of the barrel and how much extension did you use to achieve 1:1? I heard it's optimal repro ratio is exactly that. Was hoping for 1-3x though but oh well.

Thanks!
I don't think you want to go very far from 1:1 with this lens, similar to the 105PN, but unfortunately I did not measure the total extension required for getting there. I used bellows to do my initial testing on the lens, and checked it at ~0.7:1 and it was extremely sharp across APS-C, but that's as far as I've gone so far.

jcb
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Post by jcb »

I had RafCamera make an adapter for me (49mm to Thorlabs S2 male a hair width less than 52mm so a 52x0.75mm ring should be easy to get from him). He has them on his website.
Held in place with 3 screws, the lens can be adjusted inside the ring so that the sagittal orientation mark can be positioned optimally. The diameter of the ring fits just around the lens so that it can be put in place and removed but with no extra room for the lens to wiggle.

dolmadis
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Post by dolmadis »

Could you provide some more details please because I can't locate these on Raf's site. Many thanks.

BR

John

jcb
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Post by jcb »


dolmadis
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Post by dolmadis »

Thanks. He has a lot more adapters than when last I looked.

Unfortunately Out of Stock.

I will email Raf.

BR

John

jcb
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Post by jcb »

There was still one in stock when I copied the link. Maybe someone else on the forum was looking for one...

Macro_Cosmos
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Post by Macro_Cosmos »

That's really nice!
My SM2 system is on the way. I ordered an SM2-M42x1.0 (female) from thorlabs, which should allow me to mount practically anything I want with the correct M42 adapter. I just ordered a T2(M42x0.5?)>M42x1.0 adapter from China with the 3 screws. I'm thinking of wrapping the lens in electric tape and securing it with the screws, then mount it onto the SM2 setup, adjusted at optimal magnification.

I'll post my findings when I get around to doing so. I personally think the 95mm f/4 I have would beat this scanner lens -- we will see.

RobertOToole
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Re: Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED Lens Mounting

Post by RobertOToole »

Macro_Cosmos wrote:
I've found some information online, and it seems that the same method could be used. Perhaps I should use tape and force the lens into a 52mm threaded cylinder, then connect it to my SM2 tubes (from thorlabs). The SM2 features x0.5 threads, it will fit onto the x1 threads, just can't go any further.
Male SM2 will thread into M52 female but not the other way around.
Macro_Cosmos wrote: Speaking of those tubes, maybe I can just force the lens into an SM2 tube and connect it to my bellows via an adapter. These tubes aren't cheap at all though, especially with shipping and state robbery I mean GST... so it has to be worthwhile in terms of pictorial results for me to use them.

Anyway, all this imagination is futile since the lens is still in transit some 9000km away from me. I'd like to see all the successful mounting techniques, so I can decide what to buy.

Any help would be great! Thank you!
I've been using thorlabs SM2 system for about a year now, I have posted info on it a couple of times on the forum.

I found a cheap 52mm adapter that slides over the lens for $7, I drilled and tapped set-screws for safety.

Image

You can see more about the adapter here: https://www.closeuphotography.com/scann ... r-ed-lens/

My favorite solution is the SM2 treaded sleeves.

Image

Image

Image

More on that here: https://www.closeuphotography.com/52mm-setup

Let me know if I can help with anything related to Thorlabs of Scanner Nikkors.

Robert

RobertOToole
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Re: Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED Lens Mounting

Post by RobertOToole »

Macro_Cosmos wrote:The lens is just literally a cemented cylinder. All the optics I assume are cemented inside, which means it's almost impossible to service. (Rebuilding it with a new housing... could work in theory?).
Missed this one.

FYI. This kind of lens is calibrated at the factory for optimum performance. Each lens cell is set in the optimum position in relation to the others.

You can easily break the thread-locker that is applied but if you disassemble the lens, you lose the calibration.

Robert

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