Today's Reason for Photography

[Mongo]

Thanks Mongo. I am working on something similar for the AM-ED 210mm lense. How long a bellows between your camera and the lens do you use? What type of shot are you shooting with this? I will show what I am doing as soon as a part arrives. I am looking to use the Novoflex BALPRO with a Copal #1 lens board.

Michael, Mongo will to try and answer your points  in the order in which they appear:-

- Bellows contract to about 4cm and extend to as much as 11cm.
- the lens Mongo uses is (one of two) Nikkor 210mm AM-ED (as pictured in    Mongo’s previous post)
- Mongo finds that this set-up is generally good for close range macros of slow subject e.g plants etc
- look forward to seeing what you are doing when your parts arrive
- Mongo is aware of the Novoflex (although not specifically acquainted with the one you mention).

Hope these answers help.

Generally, as previously mentioned, you can go to a whole lot of trouble, expense and effort to fit the 210 mm lens to some sort of platform that permits you use it with our usual Nikon bodies. Mongo prefers the more simplistic approach e.g simple modification to attach that lens to the front of some Nikon PB-5 or PB-6 bellows etc. Mongo has both these Nikon bellows but finds they can be a little large and cumbersome at times. The simple and cheap after market bellows in Mongo’s previous post (for which no brand name could be seen on the bellows themselves) are surprisingly good, light and compact. They have at least 3 solid chrome rails plus a 10mm diameter rack with teeth to advance the bellows accurately as well as multiple stops and dials for fine adjustment and positioning. Additionally, they have a very good tripod mount. The bayonet mount on each end is not the quality of the Nikon samples Mongo mentioned earlier above but, nonetheless, this smaller, cheaper bellows does the job most adequately. Modification took very little time and effort as Mongo has a box of tricks and parts he keeps from various salvages of useful parts. You never know when you will need them.

[Erik Lund]

Very nicely bellows adapted Mongo! Simple and effective

[Michael Erlewine]

Michael, Mongo has two of these lenses and has one constantly mounted on some simple bellows. You could get very fancy or if you are handy, you could do some simple modifications and mount it on a Nikon or simple after market bellows (as in the attached images). Then, just bayonet mount the whole rig from the back of the bellows straight onto the nikon body.

cheers.

How did you mount the lens to the front of the bellows, or how would I mount it to the front of a Nikon bellows?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Mongo, surely this is the 120 not the 210 AM? I just retrieved Nikon's old brochure on the AM-class lenses and the 210 is far too big to go inside that narrow bellows. Plus its required rear focal distance is longer than what the bellows could possibly provide.

The 210 weighs 850 g, nearly 3 times that of the 120 AM, has a rear diameter of 73 mm, and an image circle of 400 mm. Using that kind of lens on an FX system is overkill to the extreme.

[Michael Erlewine]

Mongo, surely this is the 120 not the 210 AM? I just retrieved Nikon's old brochure on the AM-class lenses and the 210 is far too big to go inside that narrow bellows. Plus its required rear focal distance is longer than what the bellows could possibly provide.

The 210 weighs 850 g, nearly 3 times that of the 120 AM, has a rear diameter of 73 mm, and an image circle of 400 mm. Using that kind of lens on an FX system is overkill to the extreme.

That must be the 120mm AM-ED version. I have mounted the 210mm on the Novoflex Ballpro and it barely works, and you can stand way back. It would be good for rattlesnakes. I am in the process of setting up a 450mm rail on the Cambo Actus that should allow experimenting. Also, on the BALPRO, I am waiting for a Copal #1 plate for the lens, and on the other end, my D810 with an extension to pull the camera still farther back should give me a chance to experiment with the center of the AM-ED 210mm lens for close-up work. As you said to me in a private message Bjørn, experimenting is encouraged, even crazy stuff. LOL.

[Mongo]

apologies all round ! Mongo may have a touch of dyslexia. The lenses Mongo has are indeed Nikkor 120mm AM*ED. Therefore, it seems, that Mongo has not yet handled a 210mm version. Given Bjorn's physical description of the lens, Mongo is not certain his advice will have any direct application. However, in case some of it is transferable to the 210, Mongo will offer this advice:-

The 120mm has a female thread at its rear (approx. 50mm in diameter) to attach to bellows etc. The after market bellows it has been fitted to has a removable Nikon mount (only held in by screws at the sides). Mongo removed the Nikon bayonet mount at the front of the bellows and replaced it with a male thread that corresponded to the 120mm's thread size. When you accumulate as many odds and ends from various cameras and accessories of all brands and sizes as Mongo has over the years, it was extremely easy to find a piece that did the job from the box of tricks.

Not sure how the 210 attaches. Mongo can almost assume it also has a thread system for attachment albeit, much larger in diameter. In the circumstances, and given some of the dimensions given by Bjorn, it may be that even the larger Nikon bellows may not be large enough Mongo is sorry he cannot help you more effectively in relation to the 210mm and again, apologies for his earlier mistake.

Still keen to see the results of any experimentation as this is also one of Mongo's past time challenges and very encouraging when we succeed. Very best of luck and keep the images coming.