Need help with a lens please

Just bought that first macro lens? Post here to get helpful feedback and answers to any questions you might have.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

Quinton
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:10 am

Need help with a lens please

Post by Quinton »

I need some help purchasing a lens for my new PB4 bellows.I know I want a 50mm but macro,non macro,auto focus or manual. :oops:

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23603
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

An excellent lens for this use is the EL Nikkor 50 mm f/2.8, reversed. This is an old enlarging lens, manual aperture with a simple mechanical ring. You will need a reversing ring and a step ring (40.5mm?) to fit the old front of the lens. The lens should be $50 or less on eBay; the rings less than $10 each.

Avoid the EL Nikkor 50 mm f/4. That is a simpler optical design that has much less resolution.

--Rik

Craig Gerard
Posts: 2877
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 1:51 am
Location: Australia

Post by Craig Gerard »

Quinton,

Which lenses do you currently own?

In an earlier thread you posted a link to some images you had taken; but I can no-longer find the link?

It may be a case of purchasing a reverse mount adapter as Rik has suggested; you may already have a suitable lense. We need to know what lenses you have on hand.

Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

Quinton
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:10 am

Post by Quinton »

Craig Gerard wrote:Quinton,

Which lenses do you currently own?

In an earlier thread you posted a link to some images you had taken; but I can no-longer find the link?

It may be a case of purchasing a reverse mount adapter as Rik has suggested; you may already have a suitable lense. We need to know what lenses you have on hand.

Craig
This should work.http://www.photopoints.com/main/photos/ ... x?ID=12608

Craig Gerard
Posts: 2877
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 1:51 am
Location: Australia

Post by Craig Gerard »

Quinton,

Yes, that link works. Thankyou.

Regarding lenses.

A brief look at the EXIF information associated with some of the images, informs me that you are using a Nikon D700; you have a 28mm, 105mm and 500mm lense; but you also appear to have a variable zoom lense.

Do you own a 50mm lense?

If you own a Nikon Micro Nikkor 55mm/3.5, for example, you could reverse mount that lense on the PB-4 bellows.

Alternatively, Rik's suggestion regarding the use of a reverse-mounted 50mm enlarger lense is a good solution. The EL-Nikkor 50mm/2.8 is a good lense (reverse mounted) for use with a bellows.

Here is one example of such an arrangement.

Image


Image


Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

Quinton
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:10 am

Post by Quinton »

Thank you very much for the extra help.At this moment I seem to have more questions than answers.Do I have to use reversed lenses at this point ?

Well I just jumped off the cliff and ordered a Nikon Normal Macro 55mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor AIS Manual Focus Lens

PaulFurman
Posts: 595
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:14 pm
Location: SF, CA, USA
Contact:

Post by PaulFurman »

Reversed generally works better for non-macro lenses at more than 1:1 (1x) magnification. For a macro lens designed for 1x or .5x, you may be able to go up to 3x without reversing. Here's some discussion about the 55mm and similar lenses.

For bellows, you're already going to have about 50mm of extension so enlarger lenses work nicely, lacking focusing helix.

DaveW
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:29 am
Location: Nottingham, UK

Post by DaveW »

Reversing conventional lenses for use at higher magnifications.

How it was originally explained to me was that normal lenses are designed to have their rear element nearer the film/sensor than their front element is to the subject.

At 1:1 both subject and film/sensor are about same distance from the lens elements. At greater magnifications the subject is closer to the front lens element than the film/sensor is to the rear one, so turning the lens around (reversing it) restores the ratio of the distance from that lens element the lens designer had computed it for.

No doubt somebody will put me right if I have it wrong?

DaveW

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic