Manual macro on the cheap.

[Don Hoey]

Christine,

Tomorrow I will reverse a 50 onto another 50 and 105 to see the level of magnification and if there is vignetting how much. So hold on until then.

As I discovered this evening for an experiment of Daves set up, 50 reversed on a 200 gives huge magnifiction. 5 1/2 mm is all you will see in the long side of the viewfinder.

The pogram works well but I have only done staight stacks. I will post screen grabs of the route I took.

The prog is quite complicated so I just took the easy way out once I had found it.

Don

[Adey Baker]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Dave,

Adeys suggestion is probably the best. Link to the Manfrotto page for details http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/...id=107&idx=116 . It takes a moment to load.

Alternative without micro positioning is 357 UNIVERSAL SLIDING PLATE link http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/...id=107&idx=115

The 357 is cheaper but not as effective as the 454 particularly at these magnifications.

Don

Anyone with a set of bellows may be able to adapt them as a focussing rail.

I have a set of Olympus OM bellows which haven't seen much use in recent years but by adding the 'Focus Stage' and removing the actual bellows bit you have a first class unit to fit many cameras.

Finding a focus stage for sale is the hard bit - I eventually homed-in on one (new!) at B&H in New York at a very reasonable price. B&H seem to have a bit of a 'mixed' rating from customers but I ordered my unit on a Thursday morning and it arrived the following Tuesday morning. This was a few weeks ago when the exchange rate was about $2 to the £ and the total cost including quite a lump for postage was £44

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Christine,

I will post screen grabs of the route I took.

Don

The images were taken in RAW and converted to Tiff 8bit as I don't think the program can handle 16 bit. I guess they could just have easily been Best Quality JPEGs. The important thing is that they are in the same folder. I numbered them 1, 2, 3, 4 etc as I converted them so they would load sequentially.

Open CZM and select File - New then navigate to the folder containing the images. Hold down Control key and select all the images you wish to stack. Once selected go to Macro and select - Do Stack. Then sit back while the program does the stack. Once stacked save for Photoshoping.

Don

[Saphire]

Thanks for that Don, I can't wait to give it a try tomorrow, I will try first with the bellows for the macro.

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Saphire

Brilliant Don, I have downloaded the program to have a go it looks like it works well. I have got the 58-58mm adapter ring now so will have to have a go at getting some close-up. I might have to buy another Canon 50mm lens so I can reverse onto that, it will be much easier to find focus than the reversed lens on the 75-300.

Christine,

Here are a set of full frame pics to show the magnification effect of reversing a 50mm lens on another lens. 50 on a 50 shows serious vignetting. A steel ruler marked in milimeters was used so you can see how large or should I say small the field of view is.

Pic 1 : 200mm f4 with reverse 50mm f1.4
Pic 2 : 105mm f2.5 with reversed 50mm f1.4
Pic 3 : 50mm f1.4 with rversed 50mm f2
Pic 4 : The lunatic fringe and just for fun, 200mm f4 with reversed 24mm f2.8. Focussing this is a nighmare.

Don

[Saphire]

Thanks Don, that been a big help, saves me some money and we could do without extra expense at the moment. The magnification looks great with the 200mm and reversed 50mm, I will set my 75-300 to 200 and see what I can get.

[Dave Smith]

Thanks for the links Adey and Don. I've put the 454 micro positioning plate on my "must get when the cash is available" list.

Dave

[Adey Baker]

Originally Posted by Adey Baker

Anyone with a set of bellows may be able to adapt them as a focussing rail.

I have a set of Olympus OM bellows which haven't seen much use in recent years but by adding the 'Focus Stage' and removing the actual bellows bit you have a first class unit to fit many cameras.

Finding a focus stage for sale is the hard bit - I eventually homed-in on one (new!) at B&H in New York at a very reasonable price. B&H seem to have a bit of a 'mixed' rating from customers but I ordered my unit on a Thursday morning and it arrived the following Tuesday morning. This was a few weeks ago when the exchange rate was about $2 to the £ and the total cost including quite a lump for postage was £44

I'm reliably informed that 'Mr Cad' in Croydon www.mrcad.co.uk have a s/h focus stage in stock for anyone with a set of OM bellows that they want to use as a focus-rail. No idea of the price, though.

[Leif]

Originally Posted by Adey Baker

One focus rail option is the Manfrotto 454 'Micro Positioning Plate' here: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/bi...rotto.html#acc Scroll down to the section marked 'Camera Brackets, Mounts, etc.'

I ordered one from these people:

http://www.digitaldepot.co.uk/acatal...cessories.html


They are a bit cheaper. I also ordered a Kirk quick release platform, and I'll get a Chinese AS plate.

[Dave Smith]

Originally Posted by Leif

I ordered one from these people:

http://www.digitaldepot.co.uk/acatal...cessories.html


They are a bit cheaper. I also ordered a Kirk quick release platform, and I'll get a Chinese AS plate.

Thanks Leif. I have just taken delivery of a 454 from WE, but no doubt others will be interested.

Dave