CEJ Loc: Cresson,Pa

Looking into setting up a studio to shot macro, the question is do I go with extension tubes or bellows? Any thoughts?

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

In general, it will depend on your other equipment (primarily lenses) and the amount of magnification you seek. You may well end up with both, used together or separately.

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

In the first instance, you can use a reversing ring, which enables you to utilize your existing lenses.

Mount the reversing ring on your camera body, then mount your lens by the filter thread onto the reversing ring. It is a bit fiddly, but the results can be rewarding. This is the most cost effective way to start in macro.

Secondly. extension tubes, generally comes in three sections at differing lengths depending on manufacturer.
There are no optics and you can alternate the differing lengths of tubes.

Manual (the cheaper option) has no electrical contacts, the more expensive has the contacts.

The bellows approach can again be more fiddly.

A purpose made macro lens, offering a one to one ratio (1:1) true macro is the most expensive.

They come in different focal lengths depending on manufacturer, typical lengths can be 50mm, 74mm, 100mm, 150mm.

The longest focal length enables you to get close without being physically close and enables you to focus on insects without scarring them away.

The choice is down to you and your budget

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

What will you be shooting? How much distance do you have between camera and subject? What magnification do you need? What camera and lens do you have?

alf85 Loc: Northumberland, UK.

Try here.

http://www.beautifulbugs.com/beautifulbugs/howto.htm

Leitz Loc: Solms

You may use either. If you are using a macro lens head, an enlarging lens or a reversed lens, a bellows is more convenient, allowing a stepless range of extension. Extension tubes are fine with a macro lens that has a focusing mount. The camera, subject, magnification, distance, lighting, &c., have no bearing on which type of extension to choose.

CEJ Loc: Cresson,Pa

I have one macro lens an AF-S Micro NIKKOR 85mm 1:3.5 ED, looking to shot down to 1mm in size saw as small as an aphid, in a studio setting with a light box.

CEJ Loc: Cresson,Pa

I have one macro lens an AF-S Micro NIKKOR 85mm 1:3.5 ED, looking to shot down to 1mm in size saw as small as an aphid, in a studio setting with a light box. D200 back.

CEJ Loc: Cresson,Pa

thank you book marked the sight to come back to

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The easy solution is to use a set of Kenko auto extension tubes - you can find them used for around $120 on eBay or new for around $200. You will retain automatic functions. If you need to get closer, then you should get one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIKON-PB-4-Bellows-Focusing-attachment-w-swing-shift-adjustment-Near-Mint-PB4-/291320198396?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item43d40974fc

Nothing compares to the PB-4 - it is simply the best bellows for Nikon mount ever made. The only thing that would make it better would be if it had tilt in addition to swing and shift.

CEJ Loc: Cresson,Pa

thank you. when the weather breaks yard sell off the stuff in the spear bedroom and start on the studio.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

I would check the UHH True Macro forum. There are several guys on there who have extensive studio set-ups. If you are really going to go indoors, you might consider focus stacking as an option. And yes these guys stack live critters. Check out f/stop22's stuff or APeeR's. OrionMystery is fairly new to the forum (from Malaysia). His work will amaze you.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The Nikkor 85mm f/3.5 Micro AFS lens is a "G" version, which requires electrical connections to the camera in order to set the aperture. It will not work with a bellows, but will work with extension tubes if they have the electrical contacts.

However, if you want to frame an object that is 1mm in size, and have it cover most the frame, there is a huge problem! Your cameras have APS-C, aka "DX", sensors that are roughly 24mm wide and 16 mm high. To project a 1mm object to cover 10 of the 16mm of sensor height means a 10:1 magnification. That is not trivial.

Your 85mm f/3.5 will focus down to 2.8 centimeters, or just over 1 inch from the object. At that distance it provides 1:1 magnification. There are two things to realize... getting closer by use of more extension is not boing to help, and you will not get 10:1 magnification from that lens.

I suggest you consider using a bellows and one or more appropriate lenses. For 10:1 look at microscope objectives (and the necessary adapters needed to use them). Objectives made by Unitron and Nikon do not require chromatic correction in the ocular, so they make good camera lenses. Get objectives marked as "M" or "Plan", which are meant to be used with metallurgical microscopes. The ones marked as something like "160/-" are finite tube designs. The "160" is the tube length in mm, the "-" means no slip cover. If it is marked with an infinity symbol, "oo/-" then it will need to be in front of a "relay lens". The relay lens can be an older AiS Nikkor 200mm f/4 (available on eBay for less than $50). Low cost used Unitron objectives in 2.5x, 4x and 10x can be found on eBay, but make sure the front element is not damaged. Nikon lenses are more expensive, but various CF and CFI lenses can be found for less than $150 new.

A suitable bellows would be a used Vivitar with focusing rails. These are available on eBay for $30 and the focusing rail the same or less. The bellows is a T-mount. It requires adapters to the camera and the lens, but you can use just about any make of lens too. It also will require a short extenstion tube between the camera and the bellows.

That isn't the end of this adventure though... because at 10x magnification you do not get enough depth of field to work with! With an f/stop of f/11, at 10x magnification, the depth of field is something like 0.3mm. It's 1.3mm at f/22. All pretty critical. And the solution (with bugs that don't move) is focus stacking.

There are several programs, some a no cost, that will do a good job of focus stacking. Except that taking the stack is very very tedious! You might want 100, or even more shots to combine for a single picture. The answer is not inexpensive either. Take a look at

StackShot -- Automatic Focus Stacking

It isn't inexpensive though, the focusing rail plus controller costs $550 and it's easy to add a couple hundred extra for accessories.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The PB-4 is indeed fantastic. It has the smoothest focusing rails of any that I've ever owned.

But the OP would be better served with a Vivitar Bellows. It isn't as smooth, and it has no swing or shift ability. But for the OP's purpose that makes no difference.

The front mount on the Vivitar is a M42 T mount thread, and adapters are available for various lenses in addition to Nikon. Pentax and Minolta are two that come to mind because of the huge supply of used macro lenses in those mounts, many of which are less costly than Nikon mount lenses.

Not to mention that the price of a PB-4 is 10x the cost of the Vivitar...

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Yes it can, and you can set the aperture manually if you are reversing the lens:

Fotodiox Aperture Control 52mm Filter

http://www.fotodioxpro.com/camera-photo-accessories/for-macro-photography/fotodiox-52mm-macro-reverse-ring-kit-with-g-and-dx-type-lens-aperture-control-52mm-lens-cap-and-52mm-uv-protector.html