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Ed Richards
29-Jan-2007, 17:10
How about some info for us suckers who decided we could not miss out on the end of the Nikon macros, but have not done any 4x5 macro work? I get the basic problem that the effective F stop is down 2 stops at 1:1. I have heard that diffiraction becomes a big problem fast, and generally limits the usefulness of small F stops, but is that at much higher magnifications than 1:1?

Ernest Purdum
29-Jan-2007, 17:23
I think of diffraction as being something that I have to balance against any need for depth of field - always very limited in macro work. The basic idea is to avoid stopping down any more than you really have to. Be conscious of the lack of depth of field when setting up, arranging your subject accordingly.

Walter Calahan
29-Jan-2007, 17:51
Ed, I'm a sucker too. My lens arrives tomorrow. We'll have compare notes. Grin.

http://www.walterpcalahan.com

David A. Goldfarb
29-Jan-2007, 18:50
I usually try to be around f:22 for LF macro.

Focus by moving the whole camera or the rear standard. Front focus at very high magnifications is an exercise in frustration. On my Technika, I have an A-S style plate on the body of the camera and another one on the bed, and I can slide the camera in the loosened clamp from one to the other for macro focusing--not as nice as a geared macro rail, but it gets the job done.

If you're an APUG subscriber, here's a 10:1 macro with a photo of the setup (if you're not a subscriber, I think you can still see the setup, and maybe a thumbnail of the main image)--

http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=7389&cat=500&ppuser=60

Dan Fromm
30-Jan-2007, 05:18
Ed, if you're interested, there are a couple of books you should probably buy. You'll learn more from them, faster and with less fumbling and fewer misconceptions to unlearn, than by reading short posts here and elsewhere.

Gibson, H. Lou. Close-Up Photography and Photomacrography.
1970. Publication N-16. Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY. 98+95+6 pp. The two sections were published separately as Kodak Publications N-12A and N-12B respectively. Republished in 1977 with changes and without the 6 page analytic supplement, which was published separately as Kodak Publication N-15. 1977 edition is ISBN 0-87985-206-2. Gibson gives a deep and less than perfectly clear analysis of what can't be done, so should be of great interest to you.

Lefkowitz, Lester. The Manual of Close-Up Photography.
1979. Amphoto. Garden City, NY. 272 pp. ISBN 0-8174-2456-3 (hardbound) and 0-8174-2130-0 (softbound). Best all 'round discussion of what to do and why. More 35-mm centric than you may like, read it for the ideas and formulae.

Bracegirdle, Brian. Scientific PhotoMACROgraphy. 1995. Bios Scientific Publishers. Oxford. 105 pp. ISBN 1 872748 49 X A terse drier updated version of Lefkowitz. Very useful bibliography, unfortunately scattered into small sections after most chapters.

David, non-subscribers (me, to be exact) get the dread "Pay up or see nothing" message when following the link you posted.

Also, David, as I know you know, at 1:1 f/22 set is f/45 effective, limits aerial resolution to around 33 lp/mm. Resolution on-film will be worse. I commit the sin too, am trying to force myself to shoot at larger apertures from 1:2 up. Its worse for me than for you because I shoot 35 mm and 2x3, have to enlarge more than you do.

Cheers,

Dan

David A. Goldfarb
30-Jan-2007, 06:31
David, non-subscribers (me, to be exact) get the dread "Pay up or see nothing" message when following the link you posted.

Also, David, as I know you know, at 1:1 f/22 set is f/45 effective, limits aerial resolution to around 33 lp/mm. Resolution on-film will be worse. I commit the sin too, am trying to force myself to shoot at larger apertures from 1:2 up. Its worse for me than for you because I shoot 35 mm and 2x3, have to enlarge more than you do.

Cheers,

Dan

Oh, well. I think that before the last software upgrade non-subscribers still got the thumbnail and the comments. I don't have that shot conveniently on the web elsewhere, but here's the setup shot--

http://www.echonyc.com/~goldfarb/temp/Cactussetup.jpg

Of course at 10:1 f:22 is even worse, but yeah, any less and the lack of DOF is a bigger problem than diffraction. I try for f:11 or f:16 when I can, but usually end up at f:22.