The 50mm f2.8 Bronica Zenzanon-E reversed on bellows for 2.36-5.76x magnification with good working distance
HERE
The old 28/3.5 Nikkor wide angle, reversed on bellows ; great at 4.3x magnification
HERE
FAQ: which lenses are good at more than 1X in a bench setup?
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
Photos of Nikon CF Plan 2x, and CF N Plan 4x, 10x, 40x
and
Nikon CF M Plan 5x, 10x. 20x ELWD, 40x ELWD
ON THIS PAGE
and
Nikon CF M Plan 5x, 10x. 20x ELWD, 40x ELWD
ON THIS PAGE
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
- rjlittlefield
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Here is a related question that comes up occasionally.
They were originally designed to be used for making large prints from small film, hence "enlarging". A good example is the 50 mm f/2.8 EL Nikkor lens. This was excellent for printing 35 mm film (36 mm x 24 mm format) to sizes ranging from 6 inch x 4 inch snapshots up to say 24 inch x 16 inch large prints. For this use, it was important that the lens have flat field and deliver good sharpness corner to corner at magnifications in the range of 4-16X (film to print).
When this lens is reversed and used for macro photography over a small field, it probably out-resolves most crop-factor sensors at 2X and remains quite good even up to 5X. Beyond there, its aperture is too small to compete with microscope objectives and specialized high resolution macro lenses that are optimized to deliver higher resolution over a smaller field.
Compared to a lens "combo" (short lens reversed in front of long lens), it's impossible to say without testing whether a reversed enlarger lens will give higher quality. Some combos have excellent resolution and lack of chromatic aberration; some don't.
The main advantage of a good enlarging lens reversed on bellows is flexibility combined with high quality and low cost. The set in front of me right now gives field width from 18 mm down to 5 mm (using a 23 mm sensor). This is not as convenient nor quite as wide a range as the specialized Canon MP-E 65 (1X-5X), but on the other hand it's about 10X cheaper.
--Rik
Enlarging lenses are short-barrel lenses with manual apertures and simple screw mounts, optically corrected to work best at short distances by themselves with no other optics needed.I hear a lot about "enlarging lenses". What exactly are those things and what makes them better than say reversing normal lenses?
They were originally designed to be used for making large prints from small film, hence "enlarging". A good example is the 50 mm f/2.8 EL Nikkor lens. This was excellent for printing 35 mm film (36 mm x 24 mm format) to sizes ranging from 6 inch x 4 inch snapshots up to say 24 inch x 16 inch large prints. For this use, it was important that the lens have flat field and deliver good sharpness corner to corner at magnifications in the range of 4-16X (film to print).
When this lens is reversed and used for macro photography over a small field, it probably out-resolves most crop-factor sensors at 2X and remains quite good even up to 5X. Beyond there, its aperture is too small to compete with microscope objectives and specialized high resolution macro lenses that are optimized to deliver higher resolution over a smaller field.
Compared to a lens "combo" (short lens reversed in front of long lens), it's impossible to say without testing whether a reversed enlarger lens will give higher quality. Some combos have excellent resolution and lack of chromatic aberration; some don't.
The main advantage of a good enlarging lens reversed on bellows is flexibility combined with high quality and low cost. The set in front of me right now gives field width from 18 mm down to 5 mm (using a 23 mm sensor). This is not as convenient nor quite as wide a range as the specialized Canon MP-E 65 (1X-5X), but on the other hand it's about 10X cheaper.
--Rik
the best I have for the price (15 bucks) so far is a good old el-nikkor 50 4.
an old film container snaps right in the front as a shade,,just slice the bottom off..
mounted on a sony a55 with minolta bellows
unretouched stacked pics
an old film container snaps right in the front as a shade,,just slice the bottom off..
mounted on a sony a55 with minolta bellows
unretouched stacked pics
Last edited by SONYNUT on Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:20 pm, edited 3 times in total.
..............................................................................
Just shoot it......
Just shoot it......
Another cheap option is a reversed Olympus OM 50/1.8, examples
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4822
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4847
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5021
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5373
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5191
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4822
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4847
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5021
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5373
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5191
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- Posts: 5786
- Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:17 am
- Location: Reading, Berkshire, England