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any experience with lens extension tubes?
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Jan 12, 2013 00:44:13   #
Andy Scuba Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
 
pounder35 wrote:
Andy Scuba wrote:
pounder35 wrote:
Andy Scuba wrote:
pounder35 wrote:
Andy Scuba wrote:
Extension Tubes are limited... Try bellows.
I've always prefered to work with bellows and they are often available secondhand for reasonable prices. That's why I have two and link them together with an extension tube between, to get in real close.
The key to success is the lens. It is not advisable to use a zoom. (Too heavy and optically rubbish). Macro lenses are costly... so what's the cheap alternative... I use an enlarging lens. My local camera shop was delighted to sell me this El-Nikkor 80mm lens as nobody uses a darkroom enlargers any more and it is better than a macro lens since it is designed for the kind of lens to film plane distances I am using. Also it has a minimum aperture of f 45 (yes, forty five!) so I get maximum depth of field possible. This is very important for closeups.
Don't worry about manually adjusting the lens stop, its no hassle. Who cares about electrical connections. Just use a very good TTL flashgun, but remember to have it at least a foot away from the subject. Camera should be set on manual at 1/60 sec and any aperture number you want so long as the flashgun and camera body agree. The real aperture is not relevant and the TTL intelligent flash will adjust the light output at the film plane. So you can't go wrong.
Bellows also have the advantage of racking the whole setup back and forth on the lower track, so you can adjust the camera to subject distance without touching the focussing.
If you are lucky you can buy a focus-slide which does the same thing for a camera with extension tubes.
Extension Tubes are limited... Try bellows. br I'v... (show quote)


Now that's a hell of a setup! :lol: What in the world do you shoot with that much extension? I'd love to see some samples. I have used bellows in the past but had forgot about them. I don't even know what I did with the ones that I used on my old Canon F-1.
quote=Andy Scuba Extension Tubes are limited... T... (show quote)


Dear pounder35 (You must be a fellow fisherman :)

I use this extension rig for low power microscopy particularly for fancy illumination setups are required. For instance, the first picture below shows a polarised light transmission photo by straight forward transmission illumination through the subject. (Salicine Fusion Crystals). The second shot that captures the edges of the crystals was shot with strong side-lighting using the bellows. It makes the crystals more three dimensional. Many microscopic subjects need to be taken through the bellows arrangement simply because they do not transmit light sufficiently well and/or are awkward to mount on a glass slide.
This aspect of photography is very esoteric and few people try it. I put up a page of Polarised Light Work, but it has failed to awaken much interest since not many people in the whole world do this for fun… despite the fantastic patterns and colours.
See this link… http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-82084-1.html
quote=pounder35 quote=Andy Scuba Extension Tubes... (show quote)


That's a little more "close up" than I need. Fascinating though. :thumbup:
quote=Andy Scuba quote=pounder35 quote=Andy Scu... (show quote)


Actually its not all that high a magnification, remember the lens is 80mm and has not focusing extension in itself since it is designed for the focussing bellows on an enlarger. Why I mention it, is that you can get a very high quality macro photography setup for a low price, if you take this route.
1) Cheap
2) Wide range of focus and extension
3) Built in focoslide to move the whole thing back and forth
4) Better quality than any zoom or prime lens and better than most genuine macro lenses.
5) Lovely depth of field with f 45
6) Well-designed ten bladed iris diaphram (If you can find an 80mm El-Nikkor as I did). (This is important for flare control and other tech aspects that are too complex to go into here).
7) Excellent edge coverage as the lens is designed for 60 x 70 mm format at the film plane.
8) Obviously for food photography oa single bellows would be ample, but even with this you should be able to get down well below one to one and yet also focus at infinity... (Assuming you use a telephoto enlarger lens.)
--- I could go on but I think you get my point... There's a free article about close-up photography methods on my website under Close-Up Photography.
See... http://www.andy-underwood-author.com
quote=pounder35 quote=Andy Scuba quote=pounder3... (show quote)


I agree but if I remember correctly (doubtful) 50mm extension on a 50mm lens would yield 1:1 as would 100mm extension on a 100mm lens. So looking at the bellows setup with a 80mm lens it would seem to be extreme magnification.
quote=Andy Scuba quote=pounder35 quote=Andy Scu... (show quote)


You have to remember that a 50mm lens focuses to infinity when 50mm from its centre to the film plane and needs a further 50mm of extension to go 1:1 (ie 100mm total). In the same way the mid point of my 80mm lens is 160mm (nearly 6 and a half inches) from the film plane when focussed at 1:1 and of course an enlarger lens is a lot shorter in the body than a full 80mm portrait lens with its focussing mount. A single bellows is quite comfortable with an enlarging lens and as I've said can be focussed right back to infinity when there is still a couple of inches of bellows showing.

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Jan 12, 2013 00:56:31   #
ezirider Loc: Maumelle, Ark.
 
I disagree on the zoom, my lens is a carl zeiss len 16-80 with my sony a77,
You cant call carl zeiss lenes of any kind not good

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Jan 12, 2013 01:10:17   #
Andy Scuba Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
 
ezirider wrote:
I disagree on the zoom, my lens is a carl zeiss len 16-80 with my sony a77,
You cant call carl zeiss lenes of any kind not good


My favorite zoom lens is the AF MICRO NIKKOR 70-180mm f4.5-5.6 ED. and it does superb close ups down to 2:1 or 1:1 with the No 6T supplementary lens. However, it is a very expensive professional lens like your Zeiss lens, very few general purpose zooms are capable of macro photography (even those that claim this is the case!). Never-the-less a heavy zoom does not perform well on bellows or extension tubes nor are they usually bright enough (even the best zooms are only f2.8). I wouldn't be so rude as to call any one's lenses poor quality, but you do get what you pay for. If you ever get the chance... pick up an EL Nikkor 80mm enlarging lens and just hold it in your hand... you'll soon feel what a rugged precision lens feels like and it makes even the super expensive Nikkor Zooms feel tinny by comparison.

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Jan 12, 2013 03:00:34   #
ezirider Loc: Maumelle, Ark.
 
I worked as a medical photographer quit a few years and did a lot of film processing as well as darkroom work ( E6 + BW)at UALR in Little Rock, AR. So I know what you are talking about, but I have won some salon awards also and my boss would get flustrated with me after winning over his shots, and I was very unconventional or unorthodoxed in my methods until I purchased my first medium format being a pentax 645 super and a 67, he liked Nikon and I had a minolta 9000, when I won The salons. it wass the biological photograpers assoc. I hope this doesnt sound like bragging just giving some background.

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Jan 12, 2013 08:44:41   #
pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"
 
ezirider wrote:
They work great if you get a good one that works with the electronics of your camara, you just focus and move the camera back n forth use a tri-pod, see my bee photo under macro in nature, its x10 mag.


How do I find the other forums such as macro photography? I'm always in the regular photography forum.

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Jan 13, 2013 20:56:10   #
romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI
 
Anyone notice that the original poster LEFT after his one and only post. I wonder why?

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Jan 14, 2013 11:48:35   #
RickH Loc: Toronto, Canada
 
romanticf16 wrote:
Anyone notice that the original poster LEFT after his one and only post. I wonder why?


Because this thread has developed in a frankly ridiculous direction.!

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Jan 14, 2013 16:50:06   #
pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"
 
RickH wrote:
romanticf16 wrote:
Anyone notice that the original poster LEFT after his one and only post. I wonder why?


Because this thread has developed in a frankly ridiculous direction.!


They all do after a while. :thumbup:

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