Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/08/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I would think that the most convenient bodies for a macro shoot (on a tripod) would be those with a Live View Mirror Up mode like the Nikon D3/D300 - there might be others bodies that offer this. I know its very useful on the D300, using the 55/3.5, 60/2.8 or 180/2.8 (with extension tubes). Cheers Jayanand On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 12:56 AM, Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>wrote: > At 06:53 PM 7/31/2008, leo wesson wrote: >> >>> I don't understand it. All of the acronyms sound like secret society >>> talk. >>> >>> If I want to do closeup stuff with my M8, what do I need? >>> Can I use any of my m lenses? >>> >> >> >> The OTZFO and the like are not acronyms: they are catalogue code-words >> used by Leitz from before World War I until 1958. The rationale behind >> these was to save money back when salesmen sent in orders by telegraph and >> were charged by the word. Leitz started to change this to a numeric >> system >> in 1936 but the switch was killed off by the advent of World War II and so >> the code-word system survived until 1958 before the progenitor of the >> current "computerized" system was adopted. (Zeiss Ikon always used a >> numeric system, incidentally, though it changed its system in the 1950's; >> Carl Zeiss Jena used catalogue code-words through World War II.) >> >> I have never seen an M8 so I do not know its basic dimensions. I >> understand that a Visoflex III will fit an M8 with the 90-degree VF but I >> am >> not certain whether the shutter release marries up. (For that matter, a >> 1936 PLOOT would work, with a double cable release, though you need an >> adapter to fit the LTM cable-release fitting to the M8.) >> >> For close-up work, a Viso III and Bellows II would be ideal. A Viso III >> also allows telephoto work as far out as you care to go: I regularly >> shoot >> with my M6 on a Questar 3.5 with a 2X Dakin Barlow for a total focal >> length >> of 2600mm. That is a LONG optical beam, though, so a SOLID mount is >> needed! >> >> With a Bellows II, you ought to pick up an LTM 39mm by 26 turns-per-inch >> Whitworth) to M42 adapter. One of the successors to Edmund Scientific (I >> constantly confuse the two) sells an M42 to "Royal Screw" (the Objective >> Thread of the Royal Microscope Society, still the standard microscope >> objective thread to this day) adapter. With this combination, you can >> then >> mount all of those lovely Mikrotars and Luminars and Photars and >> Micro-Tessars and Micro-Summars and Milars to your camera for macro- and >> microphotography as now exists only in your wildest dreams. >> >> Next, we'll get you into the Aristophot system, and you'll be doing >> digital through your microscopes ... >> >> Marc >> >> >> msmall@aya.yale.edu >> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! >> >> > > The M8 works well with the Aristophot, and easier than ever with film. The > Aristophot sometimes came with a special version of the Viso III which > allowed readily interchangeable screens, mostly to allow clear screens for > aerial focussing. This also makes it easy to mask off the sensor size. > > The Viso III arm can be adjusted properly for shutter release on the M8, > and if you are willing to allow a slight shutter lag, you can get auto > metering as well, as the M8 can then get the exposure information after the > mirror goes up and before the shutter opens. It's pretty easy to set up. I > use the bellows II with a number of lenses and the 65/3.5, 135/4 TE and > 135/2.8 in short mounts as well as the 400 and 560/6.8. Works fine, except > the 65 is especially handy with the aperture preset. So the downside is the > aperture preset thing, but the upside is that you have auto exposure > (manual > is clumsier) and the kit is quite small. > > Cheapest, workable setup is the Viso III with 90 degree prism (make sure > the prism is for the Viso III; the Viso II 90 degree prism works with M > cameras up to the M6 classic except the M5; the Viso III prism works for > all > M cameras) with the 16464/OTZFO focussing mount and 135 Elmar or Tele-Elmar > head and some 16471/OTRPO extension tubes for extra close work. > > I have some SLR macro lenses; specifically the 55/3.5 and 200/4 > Micro-Nikkors and Canon 60 and 100 macro lenses. In the end the combo that > gets most used is the AI Micro Nikkor 200/4 on a Canon cropped sensor body. > That gives me a 320mm equivalent angle of view. I find that to be > preferable > to having an auto diaphragm (and, irrelevantly, auto focus) with the > shorter > focus 100mm Canon macro. > > The combo that gets used next most is the M8/Viso III/65 Elmar. > > And then, if the little stuff is really little, and can be pinned down, I > bring it inside and introduce it to the Aristophot with the Photars.... > > > > -- > * Henning J. Wulff > /|\ Wulff Photography & Design > /###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com > |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >