Macro Photography forum?

[catem]

Yes, thanks to Sean and David - it's good to have everything in one place and easy to find!

Cate

 

[Carol]

May I add my thanks to Sean and David. Your work is much appreciated.

 

[Tom Hicks]

Anupam, congrates on getting this forum started. I think it will take off and be a very active forum for APUG. You have your work cut out.

For others that don't know me , I started and moderate the macro forum at www.fredmiranda.com . Yes there will be the same questions asked over and over again . And with over 18,433 post later they are still being asked . I started a Macro resource link on the forum where we put links to all types of macro , equipment , articles etc . even with that and directing members to it , they still ask the same ? over and over . Most younger photogs seem to be to lazy to do the research on their on even when they have the greatest resource right onder their fingers , (Anupam I think is one exception to this ,because one of the times I was in contact with him he was in the library.
unlike the old guys where we had to go to the library for research, they tend to ask and hope other will do the research for them . there is no way around this sorry to say . Most beginners in macro photograph don't want to put in the time or investment to experiment and learn from their on mistakes. I found the best way to teach macro was for me to take the initiative, produce some work, post it and have them ask how I did it , posting pics of the setup , stiring there intrest , then challeging them to do the same , with monthly assignment. Through these assignment , and experimentation , we all learned .

Writing article, giving tips and posting shots of setups and pics are always helpful.

Examples :

Basic Composition
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/tomhicksBasicComposition.html

Seeing Photographs
Dead Link Removed

Macro for beginners
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/tomhicksmacros.html

Good luck to everyone here , and thanks to the those involved in getting this going, Anupam don't be a stranger, come see me . I mostly lurk here , I have a renewed intrest in the analog way of photography, so I will be popping in to learn as well .

Good luck,

Tom Hicks
www.natureswildscapes.com

 

[roteague]

Examples :

Basic Composition
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/tomhicksBasicComposition.html

Seeing Photographs
Dead Link Removed

Macro for beginners
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/tomhicksmacros.html

Thanks Tom, I enjoyed the articles and the images contained in them.

Not to distract from the value of what you posted, but unfortunately, ShutterFreaks seems too much like a digi lovers paradise for my tastes - every person in the "Our Team" page has the same story "photography came alive when I went digital". Do you happen to know of any of web site that focuses on macro, and whose main point of reference is film, not digital?

 

[Tom Hicks]

Thanks Tom, I enjoyed the articles and the images contained in them.

Not to distract from the value of what you posted, but unfortunately, ShutterFreaks seems too much like a digi lovers paradise for my tastes - every person in the "Our Team" page has the same story "photography came alive when I went digital". Do you happen to know of any of web site that focuses on macro, and whose main point of reference is film, not digital?

Robert I don't know of any, but please remember that everything in macro is basicly the same be it for digital or film . I will try to put in what I know and may start some threads here , on rev of lens and post pics of the setup. hope this helps .

Amupam has started something great here , we just all need to nurture it and watch it grow.

Tom

 

[hortense]

APUG FORUM SHAPED UP

Don't know what to say now that we are all straight on this forum!
However, Welcome to your new forum. I expect to learn a lot. Just got 16mm and 32mm Hasselblad tubes. What I am trying to learn is how to mount delicate/awkward specimens on some sort of pedestal or whatever. Lighting. I use soft window light but should use a gauze tent.

 

[roteague]

Robert I don't know of any, but please remember that everything in macro is basicly the same be it for digital or film . I will try to put in what I know and may start some threads here , on rev of lens and post pics of the setup. hope this helps.

Thanks Tom, I am looking forward to your contributions. I recently purchased a book "Close-Up & Macro - A Photographer's Guide" by Robert Thompson, and am truly interested in the process. One thing in particular that I am interested in is doing macro with Large Format, although I am not adverse to doing it in MF or 35mm.

 

[Ole]

... Just got 16mm and 32mm Hasselblad tubes. ...

By pure coincidence I just got a pair of MF tubes too - 14 and 42mm tubes for Bronica ETRS. I'm going to have fun. And do lots of old mistakes all over again.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

Robert I don't know of any, but please remember that everything in macro is basicly the same be it for digital or film . I will try to put in what I know and may start some threads here , on rev of lens and post pics of the setup. hope this helps .

Amupam has started something great here , we just all need to nurture it and watch it grow.

Tom

One big difference is that with LF film you need more magnification to fill the frame! I cannot recall seeing anyone but scientific specialists practising macro photography at anything bigger than 1x to 1.5x life size. LF macro is a different world, covering the range of roughly 1x to 10x life size. Compared with smaller formats, it can be very cheap - lenses such as the Tominons sold for the Polaroid MP3/MP4 sell for not too much, no other special accessories are required, just a means of focusing by moving the whole camera (or the subject - otherwise you will go insane!) - and the brightest cold light source you can find! And of course a good working knowledge of exposure increase factors as a function of bellows extension!

Regards,

David

 

[Tom Hicks]

One big difference is that with LF film you need more magnification to fill the frame! I cannot recall seeing anyone but scientific specialists practising macro photography at anything bigger than 1x to 1.5x life size. LF macro is a different world, covering the range of roughly 1x to 10x life size. Compared with smaller formats, it can be very cheap - lenses such as the Tominons sold for the Polaroid MP3/MP4 sell for not too much, no other special accessories are required, just a means of focusing by moving the whole camera (or the subject - otherwise you will go insane!) - and the brightest cold light source you can find! And of course a good working knowledge of exposure increase factors as a function of bellows extension!

Regards,

David

David, I forget you guys shoot alot of MF and Lf , that's above my head, and have no clue to the challenges ya'll face in that world . but if I hang around here I know I will learn and look forward to it. I have a limited knowledge of macro that I can share but it will be 35mm based.

Tom

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

A 35mm SLR is certainly the ideal choice for live insect macros, but for static subjects MF and LF have their attractions, and we've had a few threads on those subjects.

Generally you can use the same lenses for all formats, since coverage is huge at macro distances.

I've got one 4x5" macro shot in the gallery with a photograph of the setup in the comments. I know non-subscribers can't see the full sized image, but maybe you can see the comments for the technical info--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[David H. Bebbington]

...
Generally you can use the same lenses for all formats, since coverage is huge at macro distances.
...

You CAN, but I would always expect a 35 mm macro lens to be optimized for 1:1 (and be quite good a reasonable way either side of this). The Tominon lenses I mentioned I believe are optimized for roughly the range 1:5 to 1.5:1 (like enlarging lenses). True LF macro lenses look like (and as far as I am aware are) microscope lenses with iris diaphragms and are the only ones I would trust for magnifications above 2:1.

 

[Anupam Basu]

I will probably be giving LF macro a shot with my enlarger lenses if I can figure out what to use for a shutter. I am guessing the hat on lens approach should be feasable at effective apertures of f22-32 with moderate light and slow film.

-A

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

You CAN, but I would always expect a 35 mm macro lens to be optimized for 1:1 (and be quite good a reasonable way either side of this). The Tominon lenses I mentioned I believe are optimized for roughly the range 1:5 to 1.5:1 (like enlarging lenses). True LF macro lenses look like (and as far as I am aware are) microscope lenses with iris diaphragms and are the only ones I would trust for magnifications above 2:1.

Yes, I would agree with that.

My best macro lenses for LF are a 25mm Luminar and 35mm Canon FD Macrophoto lens, both in RMS mount. Despite the fact that the Luminar is legendary, I think the Canon is a bit sharper and contrastier.

But still, the Tamron 90/2.5 Macro holds up pretty well in medium format (I have a custom FD/Bronica adapter for macro). I haven't figured out how to mount it conveniently to test it for LF.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

I will probably be giving LF macro a shot with my enlarger lenses if I can figure out what to use for a shutter. I am guessing the hat on lens approach should be feasable at effective apertures of f22-32 with moderate light and slow film.
-A

The Tominon lenses I keep on mentioning have a fine 40 mm thread that screws right into a #1 shutter (I have a Copal). A black object in front of the lens (don't think you'll have room for a hat!) can be used as a "shutter", the only trouble is you will probably have a distance of 100 mm or less between the lens and the subject and any object such as a piece of black card will cause a draft and make subjects like plant leaves vibrate!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Your exposures will be quite long if you use natural light, so you can just remove and replace the darkslide. If you use flash, you will probably need multiple pops, and if you dim the ambient lights, you can just leave the shutter open while the flash recycles.

 

[Dan Fromm]

You CAN, but I would always expect a 35 mm macro lens to be optimized for 1:1 (and be quite good a reasonable way either side of this). The Tominon lenses I mentioned I believe are optimized for roughly the range 1:5 to 1.5:1 (like enlarging lenses). True LF macro lenses look like (and as far as I am aware are) microscope lenses with iris diaphragms and are the only ones I would trust for magnifications above 2:1.

David, I've had all of the MP-4 Tominons but the 105. Polaroid's MP-4 documentation quoted optimal ranges for them that were in fact the magnifications they could attain on an MP-4. That is, usable, not best. FWIW, as I measured the 17 is best at 20:1, the 35 at 18:1 (as high as I tried it), the 50 at 9:1 - 12:1. My tests on the 75 were abbreviated, better at 4:1 than at 2:1. All best wide open, so after verifying that I recorded nothing. Didn't try the 135 seriously, there are better lenses than it. If I had to have only one of them, it would probably be the 35.

I've also had all of the Luminars. One big surprise there, I found a reversed 25/1.9 Cine Ektar II was better at f/2.8 than all of the 25/3.5 Luminars I've tried at f/3.5 from 10:1 up. All got worse when stopped down farther.

The biggest surprise I've got so far, and I'm ashamed of myself for having taken so long to try it, is the 55/2.8 MicroNikkor AIS reversed, at f/4, and set to its mount's infinity stop. It beats a wide-open 63 Luminar, actually two of them, from 2:1 up. But the 40 Luminar is a bit better.

Second biggest surprise is that a 4"/5.6 Enlarging Pro Raptar facing normally is very competitive with a known good 100/6.3 Luminar in the range 1:4 to 4:1. Wide open from 1:1 up, at f/11, f/16, f/22 at 1:1 down.

Readers, as a matter of practice the Tominons are very usable lenses, not to be scorned. But there are better.

Ted Harris, please set us all straight.

Cheers,

Dan

 

[Dan Fromm]

I will probably be giving LF macro a shot with my enlarger lenses if I can figure out what to use for a shutter. I am guessing the hat on lens approach should be feasable at effective apertures of f22-32 with moderate light and slow film.

-A

Anupam, as David Bebbington pointed out Tominon macro lenses for the MP-4 system are threaded M40x0.75 to screw into the front of a #1 shutter. Diaphragmless MP-4 Copal #1 Press shutters pop up fairly often on eBay, are not too expensive.

www.skgrimes.com will make a female M39x1-to-male M40x0.75 adapter to order. IIRC, they're a special order but cataloged item at www.srbfilm.co.uk. There's always glue, darkroom tape, ... I suggest adapting to #1 because, well, there are all those cheap ex-MP-4 #1s.

If you can find or have a 105/5.6 Componon and a #00 Synchro Compur, the cells go straight into the shutter and the spacing is correct. I have both, have done the experiment.

Good luck, have fun,

Dan

 

[Anupam Basu]

Tominon

I actually picked up the 75mm tominon locally for a few bucks but it's shutter is shot. But I have promised myself I won't do macro in 4x5 until I get a grip on 'normal' shooting with a view camera - it's a question of discipline. Now let's see how long that promise holds up.

-A

 

[Alex Paul]

Hi folks... Anupam just shared the name of this site and though I do shoot digital I still have and use my trusty F2. I am excited to see that film purists still exist and I for one love film which I know in the eyes of many makes me a dinosaur too .... Anyway great to be here and I look forward to many useful exchanges ....Alex

 

[roteague]

Hi folks... Anupam just shared the name of this site and though I do shoot digital I still have and use my trusty F2. I am excited to see that film purists still exist and I for one love film which I know in the eyes of many makes me a dinosaur too .... Anyway great to be here and I look forward to many useful exchanges ....Alex

Don't worry about sounding like a dinosaur, there are a lot of us, who actually don't own a digital camera. Welcome aboard, I hope you enjoy our community.

 

[mark]

Digital cameras? Never heard of 'em.

 

[naturephoto1]

I have a battery of macro lenses that I can use with both my Leica R series cameras and my Linhof Technikardan 45S. I have to try these with the Linhof. I have both the Leica R bellows as well as the old Spiratone bellows that allows for all the movements of a large format camera on both standards. I have a series of adapters to use these lenses and extension tubes for the both bellows for the Leicas and also adapters to use all the lenses (but the Leicas) for 4" x 5" . The adapters were made for me by SK Grimes and I have the Linhof Macro tube with the Compur 0 Shutter. I will also have to get a #1 copal shutter. Lenses that I have include: Canon 20mm and 35mm Macrophoto lenses, Leitz f2.5 25mm Photar, Schneider f4.0 M Componon, Rodenstock f4.0 1X 75mm Apo Rodagon D, Rodenstock f4.5 75mm 2X Apo Rodagon D, Leica f2.8 60mm Macro Elmarit, and the Leica f4.0 Macro Elmar Bellows lens.

Rich

 

[Daniel_OB]

Roteague
"It seems like more and more, macro is now done digitally."

Could you please get time to explain where you got this from? Or I am missing something.

Thanks
www.Leica-R.com

 

[Dan Fromm]

Daniel, I b'lieve that nearly all of the people who show off their macro work here shoot digital. Those of us who shoot film and don't ever digitize are underrepresented.

It also seems to be true that beginners are much more likely to start with digital than with film. Digital gear is easier to stumble across.