Nikon PB-6 bellows?

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:49 am

Here's all the old pre AI Micro Nikkor variants for comparison:-

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/co ... /index.htm

The AI versions are on the "Next" link at the bottom of the page.

DaveW

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:52 am

Rik,
Good, sound advice as always. Do you ever sleep? It exhausts me just thinking about the ground you have covered in the past week alone. It goes without saying; but some things should be said...It is sincerely appreciated...

DaveW: That Novoflex gear always gets me in. I don't know if it's the 'blue bits' and/or that the quality of their gear is also evident in the aesthetics of their design. A beautiful combination.

With regards to the PB-4, I'll have a good look around and see what I can find. I do intend to buy one; they still command a respectable price; but I've seen the technique used on a number of occasions now and believe it to be a desirable 'option' to have available.

I suppose Shift and Tilt lenses would require a new thread.

Craig

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:21 am

Hi DaveW,
Yep, I can see my lense on there - page 2 top left (Serial# 1104568).

*later note. I think mine is actually on the first page. It's late over here and I've been outside looking for signs of space-junk..

Craig

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:20 am

"It's late over here and I've been outside looking for signs of space-junk."

Hope you had your umbrella up then in case a bit dropped on you!

DaveW

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:15 pm

Thanks guys for your helpful answers.

A copy of Lefkowitz´s book is on its way to me. Hopefully it won´t get wet while being shipped over the big pond.

--Betty

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:18 pm

Hi Betty,
You might want to add 'Close-Up Photography and Photomacrography' by H.Lou Gibson to your set of reference books. It was originally published as 2 separate volumes, but is available in a combined edition that contains Vol1 & Vol2.

I found that the books by Lester Lefkowitz and H.Lou Gibson tend to compliment oneanother, with one going into more detail in some areas than the other and visa-versa. Each one also contains material that the other does not.

Another book I have found useful is 'Close-Up Photography' by Michael Freeman' ISBN 1-57990-544-7. This is a more recent release (nice and colourful) that brings digital photography into the picture and also has some chapters that deal with image editing techniques in Photoshop.

Craig

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:10 pm

augusthouse wrote:You might want to add 'Close-Up Photography and Photomacrography' by H.Lou Gibson to your set of reference books. It was originally published as 2 separate volumes, but is available in a combined edition that contains Vol1 & Vol2.

I think that Craig is talking here about Kodak publications N-12 (the combined edition) or N-12A and N-12B (separate volumes). I'm not sure how they'll be known to libraries or used book sellers. Lou Gibson's name does not appear on the cover or title pages of the copies in front of me at this moment, although they're clearly based on a lot of his work.

My copy of the combined volume (1977) is ISBN 0-87985-206-2; my copy of N-12A (1972) is ISBN 0-87985-023-X; and my copy of N-12B (1969) carries no ISBN.

They are excellent reading, by the way.

An interesting side note: it turns out that in N12-B, a bit of the math regarding optimum apertures is slightly wrong, an error inherited from Gibson's earliest work in 1960 and not corrected until 1984 in an article by Clarke. See this part of a topic in the old forum for more info about that.

--Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:13 pm

augusthouse wrote:Rik,
Good, sound advice as always. Do you ever sleep? It exhausts me just thinking about the ground you have covered in the past week alone. It goes without saying; but some things should be said...It is sincerely appreciated...

Craig, thanks for the nice words. I do sleep, about the normal amount I think, but it's true the hours turn out to be a bit irregular. A holdover, I'm afraid, from college days many many years ago.

--Rik

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:56 am

I have both the combined Kodak and Lefkowitz works and can recommend them. You used to be able to send for a 19 page pamphlet "Photomacrography: Mathematical Analysis Of Magnification And Depth Of Detail" Kodak Publication N-15 (1977) that was a companion publication for the Kodak book but I don't know if it is still available direct from Kodak, but they may photocopy it for you if not. I now see this pamphlet is described in the bottom paragraph on the back of the combined editions front cover

Another good book I dropped across in a secondhand book shop was "Photomacrography, An introduction" by William White, Focal Press, Boston & London, (1987) ISBN 0-240-51189-1. If you can't find it in second hand bookshops by a Web search you may be able to borrow it from your library if they obtain obscure books on loan from universities etc they do not have, as the British lending library system does on request. It is more like the Kodak book, being a bit more scientific photography orientated than the Lefkowitz one

DaveW

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:51 am

DaveW wrote:You used to be able to send for a 19 page pamphlet "Photomacrography: Mathematical Analysis Of Magnification And Depth Of Detail" Kodak Publication N-15 (1977) that was a companion publication for the Kodak book

I was never able to track down a copy of N-15. From second-hand descriptions, it sounds like a near copy of the June 1960 article by H. Lou Gibson, "Magnification and Depth of Detail in Photomacrography" (J. Phot. Scty. Amer., 26, 34-46). I have a copy of that article and relied on it for many years. Unfortunately it turns out to be marred by a mathematical error that erroneously implies fundamental advantages to larger sensors. That error was corrected by Clarke as outlined in the discussion that I linked earlier. In this case, more modern treatments are better even for the fundamental math.

--Rik

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:31 pm

Craig, Rik and Dave, thanks much for the reference to further literature.

I´ve ordered a copy of the combined edition of Gibson via our institutional library.
And today right on the shelves in the city´s public library I´ve found a translation of Freeman: The Digital Photography Expert. Close-up Photography, that nicely covers some aspects of studio lighting.

Thanks again
--Betty

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:36 am

Hi Betty,
They are the books. ENJOY!

Craig

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:57 am

A quick update on the bellows..............

I just got a set of Nikon PB-6 bellows through the post (sadly minus the bottom positioning block! but this is now on it's way) and I am very impressed with the engineering of this unit.
It puts my tatty old Russian set to shame.
Thanks for all your help.