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Thread: Close-up photography with large-format?

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  1. #1

    Close-up photography with large-format?

    I've been doing a lot of macro photography with my 35mm SLR, and I'd really like to be working in a larger format instead, since I do a lot of in-darkroom manipulation of the negatives, etc. My question - is it possible to do close-up photography with a large format camera? Can I expect to get 1:1? Is it possible to _magnify_ past 1 :1? (Ideally I'd like to fill the frame with pretty small things, like fingertip-size...)

    I've found a pretty good deal on an old Speedgraphic, but something tells me tha t one of those field-cameras is going to be a lot less good for close-up work than a monorail - any suggestions?

  2. #2

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    Close-up photography with large-format?

    Maybe diopters isnt the right word. How about 'close up filters'? Its those jobber-doos that screw on to the front of your lens in the 35mm world. I h ave never used them, but I guess they work ok., but the jist I get from those th at use them is to get the achromatic (2 element) type rather than the cheap sing le element types. Nikon, as well as others, make them. I dont know if these are like telextenders, and work better with certain focal lengths, but at least they are fairly cheap. Good luck.

  3. #3

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    Close-up photography with large-format?

    A Speed Graphic will max out at about 1:1 with a 150mm lens. I guess you could u se acromatic diopters and increase this, although I dont know what kind of quali ty you would get with diopters. These may need to be matched to s specific lens. Would reversing your lens work in large format as well? Dont forget to compensa te for any bellows extension (+2 stops @ 1:1)

  4. #4

    Close-up photography with large-format?

    Forgive my ignorance - what are achromatic diopters?

    If I can get 1:1 with a SpeedGraphic, that's at least a decent place to start fo r me - I did a lot of work with a Polaroid copy-camera (focus was fixed at 1:1 for the pack-film size negs) and enjoyed it, so 1:1 at 4x5 isn't *that* much more stuff in a frame...

  5. #5
    Founder QT Luong's Avatar
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    Close-up photography with large-format?

    you could magnify as much as you want, but you need long bellows (the one of the sg is shorter than most of the 4x5 cameras), and adequate depth of field, which is difficult to obtain in 4x5 if your subject is not flat. it helps a lot also to be able to focus the rear standard, since fo cussing the front standard (which is your only option with the sg) alters the ma gnification.

    many lf shooters resort to smaller formats when it comes down to macro. a good compromise would be to use a view camera like the arca-swiss with a roll-film back, and work in mf for macro.

  6. #6

    Close-up photography with large-format?

    Of course it is possible to make enlargments in 4 X 5. I am an old pro in that field, and has used both Sinar, Lindhof, Plaubell and Ho rseman. The easiest way to come over the problem vith the long bellow is to use at short er focal length. Find an old lens for a medium format camera, and use it. Dont b e afride of the lens coverage. It vil increase by the bellows exstension. For a bigger magnifying you coud even use a lends from at 35 mm camera. An entlarger l ens could also work. Excuse my english, but I live in the lowely state of Denmark.

  7. #7

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    Close-up photography with large-format?

    The two-element close-up lenses that Nikon makes (the 62mm versions are the 5T ( +1.5 diopters) and 6T (+3 diopters)) should work fine on LF gear, effectively re ducing the focal length of your lens (in this case, to 122mm and 103mm, respecti vely). Their quality is optimized for long-focus lenses, but should still be rea sonable on a normal lens.

    One thing that you can do with them on a large-format camera that you can't do o n a 35mm is focus to infinity, but I don't know what kind of quality you'll get; I've been meaning to try it.

    For reference, the formula for finding the effective focal length when using one of these is 1000/((1000/f) + d). That is, a 210mm lens with a +3 close-up lens becomes a 1000/((1000/210) + 3) = 129mm lens.

  8. #8

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    Close-up photography with large-format?

    Following Edward Weston's descriptions of his efforts in photographing small obj ects at near life size, I used my 203mm f/8 Kodak Ektar (my normal lens for my 4 x 5) on my 8 x 10 Deardorff. I had plenty of room for adjustments when racked o ut to near life size, and the lens was very sharp, even at near full aperture.

  9. #9

    Close-up photography with large-format?

    1:1 magnification is eminently doable in large format. However, once you start getting meaningfully closer than that, two factors start becoming a real problem . The first is the length of your bellows. If you use a 6" (150mm) lense, 12" of bellows draw will get you to life-size, but as your magnification gets larger the bellows draw that you need increases rapidly. I haven't done the math, but I wouldn't be surprised if the kind of magnifications you're talking about (fil ling the frame with something the size of a fingertip) could require a yard or m ore of bellows. That's certainly not doable with a Speed Graphic (or any other field camera, for that matter). While it may be theoretically possible with a m odular monorail and lots of extensions, I suspect that it would be very cumberso me.

    The second problem is depth of field. Since you've done 35mm macro work, you kn ow the kinds of f-stops that you need to get any kind of depth when you're in cl ose. In 4x5, after accounting for the fact that you need less enlargement to pr oduce the same size print, you still need something like 4 more stops to produce equivalent depth of field.

    As a result of these problems, I tend to pull out the 35mm when I want to photog raph something smaller than about the size of a 4x5 sheet of film.

  10. #10

    Close-up photography with large-format?

    A fairly easy way to get greater than 1:1 magnification with a speed graphics is to substitute a shorter focal length lens (or better, an enlarging lens) for th e standard one. A 50mm lens will have plenty of coverage at a 12" bellows exten sion!

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