Linhof Macro Board. And then?

[Paolo]

Dear All,
intererested in doing some macro work I jus got a linhof macro board with a copal 00 shutter from Ebay. And now?
Can anyone help me with the lenses I should use with it? I do have a luminar adapter so the easiest way would be to get a luminar lens. But what length should I look for? And, how could I adapt a rodagon or componon lens to it?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Paolo

[David A. Goldfarb]

The Luminar adapter is threaded for RMS (Royal Microscope Screw), so it can use any RMS lens. You might also look at the Canon FD macrophoto lenses, and there were also Olympus lenses in RMS.

If you're an APUG.org subscriber, here's a sample shot with the FD 35/2.8 Macrophoto at about 10:1 magnification--

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

and here's a shot of the setup (no shutter--just pulled the envelope on the Polaroid and closed it after 16 min.)--

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

[Bob Salomon]

There are two different boards being discussed. Linhof made a Macro Board with a 0 and earlier a 00 shutter. These shutters originally accepted Luminars but required adapters for the 16 to 63mm and an adapter for the 100mm lenses. The later Macro Boards with a 0 shutter also used adapters for Luminars and the last version accepted Leica screw mount lenses directly.

Linhof also made a Micro Board with a direct fitting for microscope draw tube. These also were fitted with a shutter.

Neither system is made today and all came with a shutter.

David's system appears not to have the shutter on it but it is difficult to tell without seeing a closeup of the front of the tube. All of these boards made over the past 30+ years are black finished so David's is apparently from the 50's or possibly the early 60's. Does yours look like his?

None of the adapters for the Luminars are still available.

[Paolo]

Hi David, hi Bob.
Attached a pic of the macro board. I hope you can see it.-
Anyway, it is a black board (and cone) fitted with a COPAL 0.0 shutter which I thouhgt would have allowed me to use enlarging lenses (apo rodagon).
I also have a RMS adapter, but I am not sure about the focal lengths I should need to use....
thanks again,
Paolo

[Dan Fromm]

Paolo, the 16, 25, 40, and 63 mm Luminars are in RMS thread. Which to use depends on what you want to accomplish.

You might want to buy a copy of Brian Bracegirdle's little book Scientific Photomacrography.

[Ernest Purdum]

"Macro" covers quite a range of subject sizes. Your choice of lens focal length depends largely on how small your subjects will be. Your cone and shutter are intended for relatively high magnifications using short focal length lenses. The shutter is too small for longer lenses, however this doesn't matter much because the longer lenses can be mounted to a normal lens board. With shorter lenses the cone is very helpful in getting the lens close to the subject without being too much in the way of your lighting.

Making adapters from lenses to shutters is a relatively easy task for any machinist whose lathe is equipped to cut metric threads.

In adapting enlarging lenses, remember that they should be mounted in reverse if the subject is smaller than the film size.

Luminars are quite expensive lenses. Unless your budget is large, you might want to consider other lenses until you are sure that macro work is something quite important to you.

[sog1927]

Luminars turn up for semi-reasonable prices on Ebay every now and then. I have two of them
(25mm and 40mm), as well as an 80mm Leitz Photar and have done a lot of medium format work with them. They all cover 4x5 in their intended magnification range, but I haven't tried them with large format
yet. I have the Linhof Macro Board, but I'm basically trying to refine my LF technique before I try any
major macro work with 4x5 . I'm not sure the Synchro-Compur in my (very old) version of the board can
be adapted to handle a Leica thread, so I suspect I'll only be able to use the Luminars (which are RMS). I've found the 25mm to be pretty difficult to use, even with medium format - the magnification ratios are so high and the depth of field so small that everything has to be exactly right to end up with a sharp image (even with flash). It's an interesting technical challenge ;-).

Steve