Kenco used to make a really nice monorail bellows, and I see some on E-Bay as well. I tend to shy away from them because extension tubes with a good macro will trump a bellows in consistency. Additionally, you don't have to worry about pinholes in the bellows itself messing you up. And most people who use a bellows actually use an enlarging lens and not a macro or standard photo lens to shoot with because of its' design to project sharply across a flat field- ideal for macro work. The extension tubes will have a known exposure factor too, and particularly with digital, you have to be exact in your exposure if you want the highest quality results. I consider digital to be more critical in exposure than even slide film. And as far as the lighting goes, lighting is lighting is lighting... If you set up strobes that are 4:1 on a big subject, it will be the same in smaller versions as well. DOF and subject cooperation (I was a photojournalist, and we don't manipulate... hahaha!) can be tough in macro/micro work and patience is always a good thing to have on-hand during these sessions. If you're shooting for a particular look and don't want everything to be in focus, DOF can be critical and with extension tubes, even more difficult to predict. There are several good DOF calculators- some of which can calculate for extension tubes with a particular lens as well. May be worth a look on the internet for these. Most, if I recall correctly, are free or cost very little. And remember too that DOF splits- 1/3 of the DOF will be BEFORE the point of focus and 2/3 afterward. So, if you're getting very critical with the focus, you can predict what will fall within your DOF by being very exact with the Point of focus. Hope this helps. Mark Lent -----Original Message----- From: owner-photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ADavidhazy Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 11:05 AM To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students Subject: Re: "Super" macro...Andy? I agree that extension tubes might be the "ticket". The thing to realize is that once you start to go to magnifications bigger than life size (and even those approaching life size) the process becomes quite a bit more complex and demanding in terms of lighting, subject manipulation, focusing and DOF issues, etc. I was going to also mention bellows ... it seems that bellows systems are not made anymore. Anyone can corroborate this observation? andy On Sep 13, 2010, at 11:30 AM, Mark Lent wrote: > You should look at extension tubes. They will work with your current > lenses, > and good extension tubes will work with your meter as well, although > will > cost almost as much as a good macro lens. > > Mark Lent
