Just in time.
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These beautiful blossoms line the streets here but sadly last no more than a few days. I was lucky to snip one off a local tree and carefully conveyed it to the studio for some Helicon work:
Leica SL2-S, 135mm Elmar lens head at f/4 on the Leitz Focusing Bellows II, LED ring light. ISO 400, 1/30th second. Composite of 48 (!) images focus stacked in Helicon Focus.
Proof of concept.
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In Part I I detailed the hardware requirements to use an ancient Leica Bellows II for the M mount with a 135mm Elmar lens head and a variety of extension tubes, all used with an LED ring light.
I just ran a first test, using a pine cone as the subject.
Here’s the setting:
The Leica SL2-S’s exposure mode was set to Manual so that the same exposure would be used for the multiple images required for focus stacking in Helicon Focus. I set the LED ring light to maximum brightness and, after establishing critical focus at f/4 on the base of the pine cone using the handy magnification feature of the camera’s EVF, I proceeded to take 17 images of the pine cone. The focus for each was varied a small amount using the secondary rack and pinion rail of the Focusing Bellows II. This has a handy tightening lever which was set part way to prevent the lens assembly from drifting on the lower rack. While the sweet spot for the 135mm Elmar if f/8 to f/11 I used the maximum aperture of f/4. This would constitute a critical test of the focus stacking software. The shutter speed was 1/250th and IBIS was turned on. ISO was 2200. Though I used Auto ISO it is better practice to use manual ISO to ensure constant exposure across the range of constituent images.
The images were imported to Helicon Focus (v 9.0.2) and combined into one image, sharp overall.
Here is the result in LR Classic, top left, followed by the 17 constituent images:
Here is the final result.
Check the large version and you can see that my focus on the base of the cone was incorrect, denying optimum results from Helicon Focus, but as a proof of concept for the rig and the application this is a promising start.
How to change focus when taking multiple images for focus stacking:
Changing focus using the extension of the focusing bellows is decidedly sub-par. A minuscule change in the bellows extension results in a large change in the plane of focus. By contrast using the lower rack of the Focusing Bellows II to move the camera/bellows/lens assembly nearer to – or further from – the subject is relatively insensitive to the change in the plane of focus. As an example, a subject depth of one inch at life size may require three to four dozen changes in the position of the camera, meaning three to four dozen exposures, easily done with the lower rack, where changes of as little as one millimeter are easy to accomplish. This is virtually impossible to achieve using the variable extension of the bellows itself.
If you are using a bellows without a lower focus rack, Novoflex makes one but as with most of their products the pricing is plain silly. The sole advantage I can see is that the rack range is 14.8″, which is large. Instead, check eBay searching for ‘Macro Focusing Rack’ and you will find many choices for under $50. But better yet spring for a Leitz Focusing Bellows II and experience the ne plus ultra of German mechanical engineering for a modest outlay.
The ancient and the new.
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The goal:
Having resolved to do some serious macro work in the studio, I ruminated on how to effectively use my hardware resources. The idea of going with an AF L mount macro lens was discarded as being too costly for a few snaps. An alternative approach using either a Leica 100mm f/4 Macro-R lens, either in a focusing mount or in the lens head version + bellows was also too costly, with a likely investment of $500 and up, including a R-to-L adapter.
The hardware:
Then it struck me that my Leitz 135mm f/4 Elmar from the mid-1960s has a removable lens head which can be easily installed on a focusing bellows and the bellows, with a Leica M bayonet on the rear, will fit into Leica M-to-L adapter. I don’t need AF or auto-aperture in this application as the magnification capability of the SL2-S’s EVF is very accurate for manual focusing and the EVF screen’s brightness automatically adjusts regardless of the aperture dialed in. Further, the simple 4-element design of the Elmar is known to be a sound choice for macro work, performing well in the close-up range.
Leitz made a large range of close up and reflex box tools for both the screw and bayonet mount Leica bodies, as best illustrated in this Visoflex III table of the period. The Visoflex was a simple, if rather clunky, mirror box, converting an M or Barnack body to single lens reflex use:
The 135mm Tele-Elmar lens head illustrated above has a slimmer optical unit barrel than the earlier 135mm Elmar, whereas the thicker barrel of the Elmar dictates use of an adapter, so I first procured the adapter #16472 ($25, not shown above) to fit the lens to the bellows, then added two extension tubes for really close work, numbered #16471 ($29). These can be stacked – the thread diameter is 33.8mm, smaller than the 39.0mm Leica Thread Mount. A pristine Bellows II was added, in mint condition, in its original box with instructions, no less, for $77. The bellows came with the 16558 front adapter.
The Leitz Focusing Bellows II assembly:
This bellows is a standout because not only does it provide bellows focusing, with a maximum extension of 97.0mm, it has a separate rack and pinion drive to move the whole assembly back and forth. That drive travels up to 25mm. This is a feature missing from both the earlier Bellows I (though that model does extend to 135mm and a hard to find separate focusing rack was made). The separate rack means you can adjust focus without changing the reproduction ratio by moving the whole camera/bellows/lens/ring light assembly to and fro. Some Nikon bellows also had this killer feature (the PB-4 which added tilt and shift and the PB-6 are examples), making sizing and focusing a breeze. The Leica Bellows R also includes a lower rack.
With 97.0mm of bellows extension and 29.8mm more from the two 16471 extension tubes (they can be stacked and are very robust, as is the whole assembly) I have a total extension which can deliver life size images with the 135mm Elmar. The 135mm focal length is especially handy as it means a greater subject-to-lens distance making for ease of illumination. For illumination I bought this inexpensive LED ring light for all of $31 plus a 39-49mm filter thread adapter as the Leitz lens’s filter thread is 39mm in diameter and no such adapter comes with the ring light. This added $10 to the cost. The ring light is not as bright as a ring flash but much easier to work with, as it delivers continuous lighting, and the SL2-S’s IBIS will take care of any camera shake.
Adapters required:
(a) For the lens head on the Focusing Bellows:
(b) For the Focusing Bellows on the M-to-L adapter on the SL2-S body:
This adapter cost $75 on eBay all the way from China and is required for one simple reason – the Focusing Bellows II will not mount directly on the Leica M-to-L adapter as the focusing rail protrudes too far back, interfering with the body. This 16mm extension tube permits mounting of the Focusing Bellows on the Leica M-to-L adapter mounted on the camera body. It’s not cheap but is made up to Leica quality standards.
Reproduction ranges:
These data will convey the exceptional flexibility of the combination(s) possible with the 135mm Elmar/16mm extension tube/Focusing Bellows/16471 extension tubes. Reproduction ratios are shown, so 1.0x is life size, 0.5x is half-life size and so on:
Stated differently these various combinations span a focus range from infinity to life size.
Lighting:
The LED light is made by JJC, the same company which made the excellent film scanning device I used with the Nikon D800 to make high quality scans of my films and slides:
The ring light ($31) comes with a host of different filter thread diameter adapters (49/52/55/58/62/67mm – each slips into the rear of the unit with a tight and satisfying ‘click’) and uses four AA batteries, one in each ‘wing’. It has adjustable lighting power using the rotary On/Off switch. I note that there is also provision for a 9 volt DC power supply through the provided socket, but no transformer is included. In practice using disposable or rechargeable batteries means one fewer cable to trip on. The light is well made and with batteries inserted weighs in at just 7.95ozs/225grams, so it will not tax the lens and body. An additional 49mm to 39mm step up/down ring is attached to fit the LED light to the 39mm filter thread of the 135mm Elmar optical unit – $10.
The assembled outfit:
The number of adapters notwithstanding the whole assembly is exceptionally rigid with no play or wobble to be found.
The minimum bellows extension is 53mm, as shown below.
Fully collapsed the bellows has a 48mm extension so only 5mm is sacrificed with this combination.
The 16mm M-to-M extension tube comes with engraved pits for 6-bit coding. I have coded it ‘001001’ for the 135mm Tele-Emarit which works well with the Elmar.
Cost:
My total investment is $255 and most of this hardware is easily resold at cost upon project completion. The Leitz bellows and adapter rings for the lens head are abundantly available on eBay, which offers a veritable cornucopia of choice despite the fact that the Leitz components are mostly 60 or so years old. All these parts are inexpensive and you will not find better mechanical engineering than existed in 1960s Leitz hardware.
The Bellows II in use:
It’s impossible to convey just how well engineered the Bellows II is. Both rack-and-pinion drives are beyond smooth with zero backlash and such is the rigidity of the design that nothing wobbles or shakes. German mechanical engineering at its finest.
Focus stacking:
Using the magnification feature of the SL2-S to focus the 135mm Elmar in macro mode is very simple and it’s child’s play to nail focus on a flat subject perpendicular to the camera. But most subjects are anything but flat and the very narrow depth-of-field in the macro range dictates the use of multiple exposures, differently focused, with the images combined in the excellent Helicon Focus application, which can be used as a plugin with Lightroom Classic. Since I wrote that piece in 2009 Helicon has adopted a subscription model (sigh!) but remains the breed standard and is recommended without reservations. The lower rack-and-pinion stage of the Bellows II makes changing focus/camera-to-subject distances very easy between shots. If you are using a regular macro lens then there is a large selection of focusing rails available at all price points.
Manual exposure is used to avoid density changes from image to image.
In Part II I will publish a ‘proof of concept’ result.
Note: Use on a digital Leica M body:
This kit can be fitted to a Leica M digital body and focused using Live View. However, you must use an M-to-M adapter ring between the rear of the Focusing Bellows II and the camera body. Fail to do so an the rear bellows plate will block the lens release button making removal of the bellows from the camera impossible without dismantling the bellows.
Spring is here.
Leica M10, Light Lens Lab 50mm SP II.