NikonGear'23
Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: Kim Pilegaard on October 19, 2023, 19:37:13
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Two pictures of the lichen Xanthoria parietina at 3.4x enlargement. The pictures are stacked from 91 images resp. 135 images. Images made with a Z7 II, a 85mm f/1.8 S, a Nikon PB-4 bellows, the Novoflex retro adapter (to transfer lens information etc.), and the relatively new Castel-M focusing rail w/ Focus wheel and indexing steps (see the setup in the 3rd picture).
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Whilst your efforts are applauded, I personally would have used a different lens. The 85/1.8 Z doesn't like extension too much.
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Whilst your efforts are applauded, I personally would have used a different lens. The 85/1.8 Z doesn't like extension too much.
Thanks Birna. Yes, I remember you said that about the 85/1.8 Z before - however, I wanted to try it out. But which Z lenses are better with extension?
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Hello Kim,
I suggest you bring up the subject with Allan Walls. See https://www.allanwallsphotography.com/
He also has a live talk on youtube twice a week where you are free to ask questions and do suggestions. Just enter his name in the search box of youtube and you'll find his channel instantly.
He's a very friendly, humble and knowledgeable guy when it comes to macro and bellows photography.
kind regards
Geert
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If magnifications in the 2.5-5X range are desired, the Laowa 25mm f/2.8 is an excellent choice. The lens is quite small and neat and can be had in native Z-mount. It is not expensive either.
Most Z lenses do not like added extension, not even the 105 MC. The Voigtländer 65mm f/2 APO can tolerate extension but only up to 1:1 life-size.
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If magnifications in the 2.5-5X range are desired, the Laowa 25mm f/2.8 is an excellent choice. The lens is quite small and neat and can be had in native Z-mount. It is not expensive either.
Most Z lenses do not like added extension, not even the 105 MC. The Voigtländer 65mm f/2 APO can tolerate extension but only up to 1:1 life-size.
How about reverse-mounting wideangles like the 24/1.8 or 24-50 zoom? The Novoflex should allow that. The bellows extension could be much shorter. Just the speculation, though...
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Thanks for your comments and the suggestions about options for higher than 1-2x photography. I know about them, and also have other more suitable lenses myself (just not at hand in the summer cottage). I first made a try with the Micro-Nikkor 105/2.8 AFS and the TC-20E resulting in 2x magnification. The result was pretty bad. I then tried the 85mm/1.8 Z which was much better, but not really excellent, as Birna points out.
I find the Novoflex Castel-M with presets for 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x magnification very useful and precise, if you do not want to use an electronic rail.
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Most Z lenses do not like added extension, not even the 105 MC.
I'm curious Birna, it sounds like in the area of working with extension or bellows, Z lenses have a slight disadvantage compared to the previous F mount ones? (Notwithstanding all their other plus points)
If magnifications in the 2.5-5X range are desired, the Laowa is available in Z mount
I guess the prime purpose of these was originally directly attached to the camera body. Are bellows etc available with Z mounts now, or are you still using adapters when you want to use these with extension?
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Most of my medium magnification work (1-5X) is done with Z7 and lenses without bellows extension. like the Laowa 25/2.8 already mentioned, or Nikon Scanner ED optics, or my old Olympus 38m f/2.8. Bellows offer no significant advantage for the Z system in this range.
For higher magnification (5-40X) I mostly use the various Mitutoyo metallurgical objectives for infinity tubes.
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... Z lenses have a slight disadvantage compared to the previous F mount ones? (Notwithstanding all their other plus points)
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As always, all unit focusing lenses does well with extension. (For instance Ai/Ais Micro Nikkor F-mount lenses)Use the great old manual focus lenses for such applications. Or the new Micro Nikkor Z lenses without extension. All the lenses with floating elements and or CRC, close range correction suffer with extension, some lenses more than other.
All the new Z lenses has these floating elements, since they are more easy to to move and control due to much less weight to move around for the tiny AF systems.
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Thanks Birna and Eric - this makes sense.