Lichen focus-stacked

[Kim Pilegaard]

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).

[Birna Rørslett]

Whilst your efforts are applauded, I personally would have used a different lens. The 85/1.8 Z doesn't like extension too much.

[Kim Pilegaard]

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?

[Geert]

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
 

[Birna Rørslett]

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.

[Akira]

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...

[Kim Pilegaard]

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.

[ColinM]

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?

[Birna Rørslett]

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.

[Erik Lund]

... Z lenses have a slight disadvantage compared to the previous F mount ones? (Notwithstanding all their other plus points)
...

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.

[ColinM]

Thanks Birna and Eric - this makes sense.