New article by Ernest Purdum: Macro lenses, equipment, and technique

[QT Luong]

A new article by Ernest Purdum,

Macro lenses, equipment, and technique (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/macro.html), has been posted on the static page.
Please feel free to leave any constructive comments here.

[Dan Fromm]

Good start, Ernest, but short and therefore incomplete. Also, and this is not a severe criticism, to my taste focused relatively more on gear, especially lenses, than on technique. I suggest you direct readers who want to learn more about close-up and flash photography -- they go together nicely -- to these books:

A. A. Blaker's Field Photography. Not particularly oriented towards large format, but good on the fundamentals.

Lester Lefkowitz' Manual of Closeup Photography. Again, not oriented towards large format, better than Blaker on working at magnifications higher than 1:1.

Both books are out of print. They can be found at used book dealers and, from time to time, at lower prices on eBay. They're somewhat dated relative to the latest most best 35mm gear, but not with respect to the fundamentals or to LF.

Posters on various forums on photo.net tout John Shaw's book Closeups in Nature. I own a copy, also copies of Blaker, Lefkowitz, H. Lou Gibson's books on, respectively, close up photography and photomacrography (Kodak Publications N-12A and N-12B, bound together as N-14), and Brian Bracegirdle's Scientific Photomacrography. Abstracting away from Shaw's concentration on working at magnifications below 1:1 and his strong emphasis on Nikon gear, his book is much weaker than the others. I don't suggest Gibson's books because what he has to say is said better by Blaker and Lefkowitz. Shaw's pictures may inspire, but Blaker and Lefkowitz do a better job of teaching the reader how to solve problems. Bracegirdle and Lefkowitz overlap considerably, Bracegirdle is terser.

You directed readers to Klaus Schmitt's site macrolenses.de. Its a nice site for those who want to look at pictures of some lenses, but this one http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/microlen.htm is, in my opinion, more useful.

Cheers,

Dan

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

There was a little typo, it reads
<a href=http://www.macrolenses.de > http://www.macrolenses.de </a

Currently there are 181 lenses covered.

Dr. Klaus D Schmitt

[BarryS]

Nice article, but why no illustrations? Reading through a unrelenting block of text is ponderous. Can we add some macro shots and shots of macro camera set-ups?

[Dan Fromm]

Um, Barry, practically speaking if you've seen one view camera you've seen 'em all. And if you've seen a view camera you've seen a macro setup that contains a view camera.

Not to take anything away from Ernest, but if you want to learn how to shoot close and very close with a large camera you'd do well to buy Lester Lefkowitz' book The Manual of Closeup Photography and H. Lou Gibson's book Photomacrography, sold as Kodak Publication N-12B and as half of Kodak Publication N-16. These are out of print but are available from used book stores and can be found using, e.g., Google or the various booksellers' search engines. A short article, no matter how good, is no substitute for a good book.

Cheers,

Dan

[John Kasaian]

Ernest,
I really enjoyed your article and learned a lot from reading it. I've always been a bit intimidated by this subject but your explainations are straightforeward and easier to understand than most of the stuff I've found in books.
Thank You!

[Dan Fromm]

John, I'll say it again. Ernest's article is mainly about equipment, lenses in particular, but says very little about technique and nothing about limits to what can be accomplished. It also says nothing about the arithmetic needed to solve the technical problems. And it doesn't make the important point that although the technique isn't that complicated or hard to learn, it is very exacting.

The H. Lou Gibson pamphlet I recommended explains and demonstrates the limits. Get a copy and read it. I've never seen you, don't know whether you're balding. But if you are bald a careful read of it will give you a full head of curly hair.

Take a look at the books I suggested, also at A. A. Blaker's Field Photography. A photographer as experienced as you are doesn't really need Field Photography, but it gives a good presentation of what's needed to do high-quality closeup work. The discussion of getting the magnification is very 35 mm SLR-centric, but I'm sure you can get past that.

Cheers,

Dan

[hoffner]

It seems to me that already the title is misleading - equipment and technique of what? Macro lenses? Or rather intended - macro photography? When it comes to the technique it would be [B]very[B] pretentious to think that this very short informative article is able to give hints of technique to a macro photography science hungry reader. I agree with Dan on this - a mention of good literature about the subject is missing and would do more good than the whole article. Macro photography isn't a field that can be described satisfactorily with an article of this length and quality.

[seawolf66]

Dan: Keep It Simple Sir: and that is what Ernest has done for me: I went out and bought that book you talk about and it was clear as mud to me:

[Dan Fromm]

Lauren, its unfortunate that not everyone can learn much from books. But tell me, please, which book you bought.