There are pretty much just some notes I made, which I will share here. DSLR owners and now the smaller mirrorless camera owners have been waiting for something like the older technical and view cameras (with the various movements: rise, fall, shift, tilt, etc.), but ones that are lightweight and field-portable. They are starting to appear in the marketplace. One of these systems is the Novoflex BALPRO bellows camera. Just add lenses and a camera.
BALPRO
I have a fair number of exotic lenses, including many industrial lenses (scanners, enlargers, test-lenses, etc.), but no easy way to use these lenses with other cameras than the Nikon mount I have them in. The Novoflex BALPRO allows me to place these various lenses in their Nikon mount on the front-standard of the bellows using that mount, and place different cameras on the rear-standard. This way, cameras such as the Sony A7rII or the Pentax K1 can shoot images with my Nikon-mount lenses.
PROS
Front-Standard: Many lens mounts available, easily changeable. The front-standard offers both horizontal shift that is geared, but horizontal tilt that locks in place, but is manual. Horizontal adjustment is 26 mm, and rotation is 15-degrees right and left.
Rear-Standard: Many camera mounts available, easily changeable.
The size of the adapter plates, both front and rear, is large enough to support Medium Format lenses. It would be better if the camera mounts protruded from the back-plate, but a short extension-tube will solve that problem.
The bellows are very compact and lightweight. The geared focus knob will take an optional Fine-Adjustment Handle for more precise movement, which I find very helpful.
CONS
Rear-Standard fixed, not movable except by physically sliding, not gears. This is bad news for focus-stacking, because the entrance-pupil needs to be fixed with the front-standard, and focusing done with the cameraas mounted on the rear-standard.
The Front-Standard is movable, which means that, at the best, a few layers may be stacked by moving the front standard, but a series like 100 layers works against what the stacking software requires.
The rear-standard has no rise and fall. It has a shift and a horizontal tilt, but neither are geared, and they moved by physical force only. While this can be used to set up fixed positions, the lack of gears makes precise movement not possible.
In order to get front-standard vertical tilt, the whole system has to be oriented 90-degrees, which is a pain. Novoflex makes an 90-degrees L-Bracket on which the BALPRO can be switched, much like the standard L-Bracket used on cameras.
SUMMARY
The BALPRO system has some movements, but few are geared. The chief value is that both the front and rear standards have interchangeable base plates as well as interchangeable lens mounts and camera mounts.
Novoflex offers a few lens-heads made by companies they choose. These heads are permanently mounted on the bellows and allow adjustments to infinity with all cameras. Formats up to 6 x 7 cm are supported.
The Novoflex PROSHIFT
If you are familiar with the Nikon PC Tilt/Shift lenses, with their ability to take three images to be stitched together, then here is the “Shift” capability in a very well made format that fits on the Novoflex BALPRO bellows system. It works well.
The Novoflex PROSHIFT, a worthwhile investment IMO, is an adapter-plate that fits on the camera end of their BALPRO Tilt/Shift bellows camera. Basically it offers what lenses like the Nikon PC-Tilt/Shift lenses do, at least in the “shift” department. It has three indented stops that you can feel as you shift the camera, basically a slide that allows you to take 2-3 photos from the left, middle, and right, giving you the potential of a partial panorama that is 2x – 2.4x larger than a single photo, depending on the sensor size. The company blurbs suggest it will be most effective with lenses with a focal length between 80 and 150mm. In other words, the ProShift offers a parallel shift that is exact.
Those who are looking for a more Medium Format look with their 36 MP (or larger) DSLR may appreciate this; I know that I do. The PROSHIFT plate includes the ability to seat various camera mount adapters (Nikon, Sony E-mount, Pentax K, etc.) into it.
This PROSHIFT is a heavy-duty shifting plate that is very well-made and fits into the BALLPRO like any other base plate. The PROSHIFT plate includes the ability to seat various camera mount adapters into it. I use it to shoot partial panoramas and I have camera adapters for Nikon F-mount, Pentax K, and Sony E-mount. There are other mounts available, as well.
Some smaller cameras like the Sony A7rII mount very close to the PROSHIFT plate, so that it is difficult to get your finger on their front dial, if needed. A short extension ring takes care of this.
Cameras like the Sony A7rII mounted on the BALPRO can achieve infinity focus with certain lenses, such as the Nikkor 105mm f/4 bellows lens, the short squat version. The problem here is that many of the older lenses you might find to use may not have the kind of modern coatings needed for good photos, so that’s a problem.
