jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

I'm thinking of purchasing a vintage Canon bellows and a couple of adapters so that I can keep my macro lens stationary and move the camera when taking focus stacking images. I was looking at the Canon FD bellows (eBay) and discovered there are also old Canon FL bellows. The more I look at pictures the more it looks to me like the FL bellows may be better built than the FD bellows. Can anyone provide information about the relative quality and sturdiness of the FL vs FD bellows?
Thanks in advance.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

I know nothing, except that FL will be older than FD and FL costs less probably because its older.
Looking at the two, I would have thought the FD was sturdier. It travels on a wide flat rail while the FL travels along a narrower cylinder.

Finally, Photomicrography.net has a ton of discussions about using bellows for macrophotography including stacking. You can enter that and do a search for these types of bellows. It will take time to wade through the results. It may not answer this question, but you would see a lot of rigs that use bellows.

Dik

I thought keeping the lens stationary and moving the body for focus stacking would be a good idea, so I had a machinist friend make up adaptors to convert my StackShot to a motorized bellows.
Working at high magnifications, the amount of bellows extension required to stack focus a 5mm deep subject was huge, and the image size change with focusing was also huge.

I reverted to more standard techniques.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Here is some data on the success of different focus methods on differently sized subjects. This is from the Zerene Stacker web site. The argument attempted here is that what works best can depend on the size of the subject. I wonder why the outcomes for a given method is so variable, though. It can be see that 'rear focus' has the wider range of success. But other complications that can arise, I am sure. Among these are how vibration free is your rig, and how consistently you can move from focus point to focus point.

(Download)

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I shoot macro/micro sessions daily and I use a combination of devices including bellows at times. I have an old Nikon F series bellows and a Novoflex bellows. I also have true bellows lenses to go along with them for wider views and longer working distance. If you are using older bellows, assure yourself that there is no cracks, tears, holes or frailty of the bellows material for any leakage of light will spoil the results.

Both are convenient for dialing in magnification. I prefer using a helicoid mounted on extension tubes as my go-to variable length system for it mounts on my camera better and to me appears more rigid (the grip gets in the way of the bellows mounting so it needs to be extended past it) . I chose one that goes from 30mm to 90mm. I can use it alone or coupled with a set of three piece extension tubes so it provides me with many variables to choose from.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Thanks for the info Mark, I will definitely check out that website.
JackM

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Thanks Dik. I'm not planning to do any high magnifications, at least not for now. What I want to try with the bellows system is more in the 1:2 to 1:1 or slightly smaller range. I'm currently using the focus ring for these types of shots.
JackM

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Thanks sippyjug. I did take a look at a helicoid and it looks like it could possibly replace a bellows but the lens would be moving rather than the camera. I still want to look at a system where the camera moves and the lens remains stationary. I think it might work for me where I'm only going 1:2 to 1:1 or thereabouts.
BTW, I'm a huge fan of your macro focus stacking work.
JackM

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Thanks again Mark. I use Zerene and have seen this chart. It's what got me into the idea about using the fixed lens/moveable camera method. Right now, when I focus stack landscapes, I just use the focus ring. Same when I'm doing 1:2 to 1:1 close ups. I have a cheap bellows for my EOS but it's moveable only on the lens end.
JackM

pquiggle Loc: Monterey Bay California

I have used both the Canon FL and FD bellows units. I tried out both and bought the FL back when I was shooting film because it did not require a double cable release. Both are very stable.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

I have used both and still have an FD bellows which I acquired about 1983.
The dual cable release offers many more possibilities.
If you choose the FD, make sure the dual cable is included as it can be hard to find.
There were many more accessories available for the FD.