Books on Macro Photography for Large Format
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Books on Macro Photography for Large Format
Can anyone suggest a good book (books) on macro LF Photography?
- rjlittlefield
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Piel, welcome aboard!
It would help if you could tell us more about your interests and background. How large is "large"? Digital or film? Exactly what equipment do you want to use? What and how large are the subjects that you want to photograph? What are your experiences doing macro photography using smaller cameras?
--Rik
It would help if you could tell us more about your interests and background. How large is "large"? Digital or film? Exactly what equipment do you want to use? What and how large are the subjects that you want to photograph? What are your experiences doing macro photography using smaller cameras?
--Rik
- rjlittlefield
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Let me add one more question to the list: What advantage do you hope to gain by shooting large format macro?
The reason I ask is that for small subjects, the main limitation these days is the unavoidable matter of diffraction: the wave nature of light limits how much resolution you can get on subject. This limitation, as well as the corresponding tradeoff between resolution and DOF, is just the same for small and large sensors. Large sensors do have some secondary advantages such as lower noise and larger dynamic range (in single exposures), but they also come with higher costs such as $$ for equipment and physical size for large extensions. For most people and most purposes, these issues favor using smaller sensors for macro work, hence the relative lack of information on large format macro.
--Rik
The reason I ask is that for small subjects, the main limitation these days is the unavoidable matter of diffraction: the wave nature of light limits how much resolution you can get on subject. This limitation, as well as the corresponding tradeoff between resolution and DOF, is just the same for small and large sensors. Large sensors do have some secondary advantages such as lower noise and larger dynamic range (in single exposures), but they also come with higher costs such as $$ for equipment and physical size for large extensions. For most people and most purposes, these issues favor using smaller sensors for macro work, hence the relative lack of information on large format macro.
--Rik
I'll be interested to hear what Piel says. Here's why I'm interested. For low m, up to about 2x or 3x, I think we would get better resolution with a larger sensor, or with a regular sensor moved across the image to produce tiles that could be stitched into a large-format image. These could be stacked by rear-standard movement, which is better than moving the whole camera when m is not very high.
We can get around the traditional problem of huge bellows draw by using coupled (stacked) lenses, no extra extension needed.
We can get around the traditional problem of huge bellows draw by using coupled (stacked) lenses, no extra extension needed.