ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Bored in the evening so decide to do a little macro work, problem, no lens for a dying Canon Rebel XT. Bought a $5 enlarger lens from Ebay and glued a canon bayonet fitting on one end of an old bellows unit and a flange from an enlarger on the lens end , got an ear of dried mondo grass from the yard , used a 60 watt tungsten bulb in a reflector to back-light the grass and here is the results, not deadly sharp but acceptable for a first attempt! 2 secs approximately at f22 or thereabouts. Ian
Comments gratefully received!

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Enlarging lenses are flat-field, just like true macro lenses. Love the corner-to-corner sharpness! Back-lighted mondo grass makes an interesting study in texture & contrast.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

You'll have to get bored more often, Ian! Very nice work. I'll have to wait for another day to criticize.
Thanks for sharing!

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Very nice!! And very ingenious. How much fooling around was it to do this Ian? And was it hard to line it up so everything was square( for a better word)?
Erv

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Very Nice, looks fairly sharp to me... I have hear of using enlarging lenses on bellows but have never known anyone who has done it.

ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Well at least the King of macro likes the effort, Thanks , I am humbled!

The subject caught my eye as I walked bye it and the sun was low and behind the grass so it picked itself as a victim, snipped it off and took it home. Thanks for even looking and for the comment! Appreciated!
Ian

tinusbum Loc: east texas

looks good,a bug would look better because its not so busy.i have a 50mm enlarger lens i was going to try for macro but havent yet tom

ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Thanks Danilo for taking time out to look and comment. It happened to get cold last night (60 degrees no less haha) so was trapped indoors. Thanks again, Ian

ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Its very strange but apart from the occasional grasshopper there are not to many bugs for the catching. People here are fanatical about pest control and anything that moves is either sprayed or moves down to Merritt Island and Canaveral National Seashore!

I am itching to get some bugs to make some ultra close ups of. Would like to try focus stacking too but am too impatient I think!

Where are you in East Texas. I own some land on Lake Livingstone in the Waterwood Sub division!
Ian

ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Neighbor took these pix of my "Lash Up"

Last nights pix were done on the Canon and bellows. The Sinar with the Canon glued on the rear plate.

ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Thanks Erv.

Few people know this but I am deaf which is not a problem to me, everybody else except ~T~ shouts at me anyway, but more importantly I only have one eye, which is difficult because I have no depth perception. I make up for the problem by tending to over examine things for level and plumb. My pet hate is verticals not being vertical and I am tempted like crazy yo correct every photograph of that pesky clock tower in Pisa! I am regretably not like you, My experience with woodwork or DIY stuff is that if it cannot be undertaken with a club hammer and 6 inch nails, it just aint gonna get fixed! I am in awe of the carvings you make and the patience you were endowed with.

My answer to most questions when people ask about exposure is the hole in the lens about this round (Demos with fingers) and about one thousand two thousand each one thousand being a second. Comes from using MPP cameras, (the English version of Speed Graphics, until digital cameras were invented my average exposure was F32 or F45 and for as long as it took on the shutter, I only ever used FP4 (125 ISO) film or Panatomic X (25 ISO) so your talking to a photographic dinosaur! And "sweet spots" never lick photo chemicals or negatives. And as for the expression "Glass" I never met a photographer who used glasses to take photographs we used lenses. haha. I always wonder who came up with these "In Vogue expressions, you never hear about using a tin can to take photos so why do we say buy the "best glass?" Sure spend your money on the best lenses!

Sorry I prattlled on!


Ian
(but better)

GPappy Loc: Finally decided to plop down, Clover, S.C.

I also have started collecting a few enlarger lens to attach to my bellows. My wife and I are currently working our way across the US in our motor home. Gonna spend a few weeks in SC. Once we get settled, I plan/hope to have the chance to get it together and play with the set up. Will start posting them then.
Thanks for being bored.:-)
Nice shots.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

I've got several enlarger lenses that I've used on an old T mount bellows.The longer focal length enlarger lenses can still focus to infinity surprisingly...I've got a Rodenstock Rodagon 135mm f5.6 as well as a 50mm El Nikkor. I've also used a "Spiratone" 75 mm macro bellows lens with good results.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Another "cheap" way to obtain macro images is to get one of the old "slide duplicators" off of eBay, cut the slide holding unit off of the end (make the cut just past where the glass element is in the tube)...I've seen results from several of these "hack" jobs & was impressed with the results...

Robbie7 Loc: Northampton. England

Hi Ian :-) thanks for posting, I gave away my enlarger to a local camera club, when I went digital. Being of the old school I wish I hadn't now could have had a great time after this post..regards ps: thinking about it I may just visit a few sale rooms and see if I can pick one up..