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Hi,
I am about jumping into LF and the candidate highest on the list is Tachihara 4x5 (money are one of the reasons). It is quite possible that in the future I would like to try some longer lenses than 300mm. There is available - I found it on the Adorama web page - a 300 bellows extension. Is there anybody having experience on that ? How does it work? Is it still stable? Does one need to use two tripods etc ?
thanks
Matus
As to the bellows extension, Tachihara's is specified as 13in (330mm). You can focus a lens with the flange focal distance up to 330mm, at least at infinity. The Nikkor M 300mm (FF=290mm) on Tachihara focuses as close as 4 to 4.5m by a rough test. I consider the practical limit with Tachihara would be 400mm tele lenses (e.g. Fuji and Congo/Osaka). You can focus the 500mm Tele Congo with Tachihara, but this forum’s previous discussions/reports were unfavorable as to its performance (http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/202675.html). You could use an extension (top hat) lens board for additional draw, but to me it beats the purpose of choosing a light-weight, compact camera.
I can’t attest to the stability of these long lenses on Tachihara first-hand, but know of a professional photographer who uses the 500mm Tele Congo on Tachihara without additional support. Although the stability is affected by (perhaps more so than by the camera) other factors such as the tripod, weather and your patience, it should be manageable as long as you take usual precautions (I sure hope so).
I think Matus is interested in information on the 300mm additional bellows extension that can be added to the Tachihara. I'd personally like to know about this as well, as I'd purchase one and make an adapter to use it on my camera if it works well.
I have plenty of long lenses for 8x10 that I'd love to try on 4x5. I can do this today by combining my 4x5 and 8x10 Cambos, using an 8x10-4x5 reducing back, but that's not a combination I want to take into the field. By the time it's set up, it's just too unstable to be of much use, even with two tripods. Plus, getting it out of the car is a pain...taking it 50 feet from the car is almost unthinkable.
Matus - I'd be interested if you found anything out about this elsewhere...I've been intrigued by that extension unit for a while.
Thanks,
Dave
I've seen it once. Having this hanging on one end and a huge lens on the other seems rather a lot (and I see now hence the original question).
Dave,
I was in contact with Richard Deimel and he has following experience on the bellows extension for Tachihara:
"...It is an awkward arrangement to use, but it does work if you have need for it with lenses longer than 300mm (infrequently used, if at all, by most people). It fastens to the rear of the camera and is held in shape with four rods that go into each corner, and then the back goes on it.. It's a real pain to use, and I got rid of mine rather quickly. It's light and you do not need to use another tripod."
but if anybody has some more experice - please share with us.