Category Archives: Photography

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.

David Hockney passes

Paintings, Photography

The greatest living artist.

David Hockney, Yorkshire born artist and some time Angeleno, has died aged 88. A two pack a day man he chose to disregard his doctors’ advice and outlived the lot. Clearly he had what I think of as the ‘Keith Richard gene’.

Acrylics, giant murals, iPad and iPhone paintings, Polaroids – Hockney did it all. And his sense of fun, his sheer joy of seeing, pervades all. After graduation from the Royal College of Art Hockney was soon selling his prodigious output, having always been a workaholic, and moved to Los Angeles the first chance he got. Heck, if you were from Yorkshire – what Monty Python once called ‘The Third World’ – you would have moved, too.

While Hockney denigrated photography as ‘not really seeing’ he was an adept user of the medium, never less than with this cover for a newly revitalized Vanity Fair:



Hockney’s shoelaces.

Then there’s this exceptional Polaroid collage of an intersection in the California desert:



Highway 138.

The book of that deYoung exhibition linked in the opening of this piece remains available and is a great introduction to (later) Hockney art.

Alfalfa

Leica, Macro

Picked on my morning walk.

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

Gorgeous colors in a very small bloom.




Click the image for a larger version.

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.

Linhof

Cameras

Large format, Leica quality.

Mention of my recently acquired Linhof Twin Shank Pro tripod prompts a further piece on the Linhof company.

The Linhof Company of Munich started business in 1887, which makes it the longest surviving camera producing business. They make medium and large format cameras to this day, and their web site is here. I’m not too sure who uses these large format film cameras any more as medium format digital easily manages to compete on output quality with far lower production costs and faster turnaround, at a comparable price. But they remain things of beauty.



The Master Technika Classic still made today.
$9,400, lens extra.

Back in the 1940-1970 time frame Leica made a bewildering range of accessories for their film cameras but they were mere pikers compared to the prodigious output of Linhof.

Click on this image to download their 1957 70th anniversary product catalog which is no less than 119 pages long:



The 1957 catalog. Click to download. 62mb so it may take a while.

In addition to a long section on the care and training of employees – right down to a picture of the resident nurse standing by to deal with machine shop injuries – there’s this wonderful image of a Leitz optical measuring machine:



The Leitz Contour Projector in the Linhof works.

Have fun perusing this wonderful journey into a past of exceptional mechanical engineering.

If 4×5 is something you want to experiment with be warned that used Linhof prices are high. A lower cost of entry – with similar functionality if lower engineering quality – can be found in the affordable Graflex range of US made cameras. I had a lot of fun with my Crown Graphic.