Category Archives: Leica

All about the wonderful cameras from Wetzlar.

200mm Micro-Nikkor AiS IF on the Nikon PB-4 bellows

Leica, Macro, Nikon lenses

A handy combination.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

Read about the 200mm Micro-Nikkor AiS IF here.

Read about the Nikon PB-4 bellows here.

Unlike the optical unit of the 135mm Leitz Elmar or the 100mm Macro-Elmar-R, both of which permit infinity focus all the way down to a 1:1 reproduction ratio, the optical unit of the 200mm Micro-Nikkor AiS IF is not detachable. But that does not disable it for higher reproduction ratio macro photography. The focus range of the lens mounted directly on a camera body is from infinity to 1:2, or half life-size. So I thought it would be interesting to see what that focus range becomes when the lens is mounted on the PB-4 bellows, which requires no adapters.



The 200mm Macro-Nikkor AiS IF on a fully
extended Nikon PB-4 bellows on the Leica SL2-S.

a) With the PB-4 collapsed and the lens set to infinity, the reproduction ratio is 1:2, or half life size. That’s exactly as close as the Micro-Nikkor can focus mounted directly on the camera without the bellows.

b) With the PB-4 fully extended and the lens set to the closest focus distance the reproduction ratio is 3:2 or 1.5 times life size. If needed the lens can be reverse mounted on the PB-4 using the Nikon BR2 or BR2A reversing adapter, which it fits directly, owing to its 52mm filter thread size.

Thus the combination of Micro-Nikkor without or with the Bellows PB-4 gives you a continuous focusing range from infinity to 1.5 times life-size. Nice.

Tha above image also shows the subject to lens distance at the closest focus distance, which is 11″ with the lens hood retracted, making proper lighting a simple matter.

So this is a handy combination of a state-of-the-art bellows with a tack sharp macro lens. Some images to come, later.

To keep weight down I removed the tripod collar from the Micro-Nikkor. It also bears adding that this is not a lightweight rig so a solid tripod with broadly splayed legs and a heavy duty ball head are called for.

Alfalfa

Leica, Macro

Picked on my morning walk.

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Gorgeous colors in a very small bloom.




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With the bloom just 3/4″ across I used the 80mm El Nikkor reversed on the Nikon BR2A ring for best resolution, all on the Nikon PB-4 bellows, making for a twice life-sized image on the sensor.

Leica SL2-S, 80mm El Nikkor f/5.6N reversed at f/16, PB-4 bellows, 3 strobes, 10 images focus stacked in Helicon Focus.

Spiraea

Leica, Macro

Using Helicon Focus’s Retouching feature.

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Click the image for a larger version.

Because of the depth/tilt of the subject I used the tilt and shift functions of the Nikon PB-4 bellows to get the top and central bud/flower groups sharp:

With subjects like this with considerable depth and complexity Helicon can struggle and may render ghosted images in certain areas. The app has an excellent retouching tool which permits selection of the sharpest constituent image for that area and allows you to brush over the area with ghosting, replacing it with the correct/sharp area from the single constituent image. I had to use that tool on a couple of the leaves here which Helicon originally ghosted. It takes less time to do than to describe and is a unique feature of Helicon specifically aimed at stacked images, and not something that is available in regular processing apps like Lightroom. If you look at the leaves just above the central petal group in the enlarged version you can see a couple of ghosted areas I omitted to remove.

Here’s the setup – the camera is turned together with the bellows through 90 degrees on the tripod, whereupon the bellow’s swing front panel becomes a tilting one and the shift becomes rise/fall. Then tilt and rise are applied. The 135mm Leitz Elmar used here has a decently broad image circle, allowing this approach without robbing edge definition so long as the tilt is not too extreme. The shift function also helps by restoring the image toward the center of the image circle. Very cool and you can focus stack with far fewer images than would otherwise be called for. The 80mm El Nikkor with its larger image circle would have been a better choice for tilt and rise use, but the greater working distance of the 135mm Elmar makes lighting easier.



Tilt and shift.

Leica SL2-S, 135mm Elmar at f/16 on the Nikon PB-4 bellows, 3 strobes. 30 images focus stacked in Helicon Focus.

Yellow Daylily

Leica, Macro

From the garden.

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In the larger version you can clearly see two tiny bugs. As they move between exposures I edited out all but one occurrence before focus stacking. The 135mm Leitz Elmar optical unit does an outstanding job here – not bad for a 66 year old lens. Absent the bug removal the image is straight out of Helicon Focus.

Leica SL2-S, 135mm Elmar head in 16580L M39 adapter at f/11, Nikon PB-4 bellows with M39-to-Nikon F adapter. 75 images focus stacked in Helicon Focus. Three strobe lights, ISO 100.

Here’s the lighting setup:



Macro lighting setup.

The umbrella top light casts illumination into the innards of the flower, the main umbrella light is at the left and the naked strobe at the right confers the ‘Dutch master’ sidelight effect. These are 40 year old Novatron strobes, still as good as new. They can be found for pennies on the used market. I allow four seconds between images which ensures constant color balance and exposure. Do it any faster and you run into issues, even though the strobes recharge in one second.