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Old 4th March 2010, 07:53 PM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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I want to do some table-top close-up work with my 10x8 and am considering ways of increasing the magnification. Has anyone used supplementary magnifying lens, and if so with what result?
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Old 4th March 2010, 08:09 PM
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Yep, I did that the other day on the 13x18. Stacked up three close up lens - 1x; 2x; & 4x. Was close. Snap was a masterpiece. Nearly. Well, it would have been if it had worked.
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Old 4th March 2010, 10:10 PM
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More conservative, I tend to use one at a time.

But diopters are fine, and if you make your own (ripped out of old lenses) they can also be fun(ky).
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Old 5th March 2010, 06:15 AM
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I've used a 10+ dioptre 77mm close-up lens on my 300mm f5.6 Fujinon-W and the image on 8x10 is surprisingly usable. Why?

Corner image definition is "off" but I never put my main subject there anyway.

The lens is stopped way down, f90 sometimes, so aperture dependent aberrations are dramatically reduced.

The camera remains short so a lot of bend, sag, and wobble is avoided. Doing close-ups with a wooden field camera and maximum bellows extension (four feet) is a shaky exercise. And my arms are too short for me to see the ground glass and and adjust the lens aperture at the same time!

Downsides include lighting problems with a 100mm working distance. Everything tends to be dominated by the shadow of the camera itself. Plus the near to far perspective of subject elements tends to be a bit brutal.

Close-up table-top photography can degenerate into an exercise involving extreme camera movements and long exposures. It is good to have a high frustration threshold.
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Old 5th March 2010, 09:03 AM
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I've used a Nikon 5T closeup diopter on a 150mm symmar-S to get closer using 6x7 on a camera with limited bellows. There were no effects in the shots to make you think there'd been any degredation in quality (can't comment on field curvature etc as I was shooting real 3D things no flat objects).

I'd use one (if you can get hold of one!) without hesitation. I've used the same filter on a nikon 100mm (35mm) and Mamiya 150mm (645) and got very sharp results.
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Old 5th March 2010, 11:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave View Post
I want to do some table-top close-up work with my 10x8 and am considering ways of increasing the magnification. Has anyone used supplementary magnifying lens, and if so with what result?
Have you considered 'top hat' extension lens panels? I don't know if these will get you close enough for what you're after.
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Old 5th March 2010, 06:12 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Have you considered 'top hat' extension lens panels? I don't know if these will get you close enough for what you're after.
Trevor is right, you can stack Top Hat extension tubes - they are 17mm or 35mm for each extension and come in Copal 0, 1 & 3 sizes.

Robert White only does the 0 & 1 size, so you would need to go to Badger or Mid-West.

I have my 210 mounted on a No1 Top Hat and having assembled the thing, its fine.

However, getting the thing assembled was a right royal PIA

I might go back and have another go at mine and try something like clear nail varnish on the threads - as a non-permanent Loctite.

Martin
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