I would like to learn how to do macrophotography with my 8X10.

[Bernice Loui]

Schneider M-Componon.. which is a reverse mounted Componon in shutter as supplied by Schneider. Easier in many ways to reverse mount a GOOD enlarging lens with a on-camera shutter .... like Sinar.
http://www.macrolenses.de/objektive.php?lang

Again, lighting/film flatness, set up stability and all related remains a SERIOUS problem.
IMO, never use any view camera for micro-macro images as there are FAR better ways and tools to achieve this image goal, just like telephoto images.



Bernice

[Drew Wiley]

IMO, never avoid using a really well aligned and stable view camera for micro-macro images when you know someone making a seven figure annual income doing exactly that - and I do! Or at least did ... approaching retirement, but now nearly 80, he set aside his 8x10 Sinar P's for sake of Sinar-usable digital backs, which allowed him to dismiss 2/3 of his staff, and doing the entire workflow all the way to digital pre-publication with just 3 people. He'll probably never really retire, and I can't even imagine why, already being quite wealthy, he still needs to keep making tons of money; but he obviously gets an adrenaline rush out it, and it apparently keeps him going.

Film flatness is a non-issue if you bother to find out how to actually keep it flat. If you don't, well, don't say you weren't warned about it by both me and Bernice. But having view camera movements per se, plus extreme detail capacity, is a very strong reason to shoot large format macro. Wish I had time and cash to set up a true microphotography setup too, before I'm too old to remember what a thrill microscopes were to me when I was young.

[Tin Can]

As usual, all has been done, however it still is fun to experiment

Tiny Format NIKON named it's Macro lenses as Micro until this year, I await a Z mount 105mm Macro lens

Before they all yell 'TINY Format'! I suggest studying this interesting page

Macro Photography Ideas & Inspiration

IR Macro and more

I forgot this

Large Format Macro Photography + Tips | Intrepid 4x5 & Dry Plates | Analog Photography

I really want a NIKON Macro Lens, from this brochere

[Drew Bedo]

Kodak 2D 8x10, 210mm Caltar II N, Tri-X rated at 320.

Three Vivitar 283 strobes. Don't remember the bellows extension or correction.

Lens and strobes under 18", probably ~!12" from my face; I tripped the shutter myself directly (no cable release).

Don't recall aperture or shutter speed, but DOF is pretty shallow.

[Drew Bedo]

Around the same time as ther eye ball shot above, I did some macro work with a 5x7 and a 4x5 reducing back. In some set-ups the bellows were so extended thst I shot in a dim room with an open shutter using multiple ?pops" of 2 strobes, waiting for them to cycle each time.

[Tom Monego]

I did micro instrument photos for 2 medical text books, I used a 120 AM ED Nikkor for the photos using a Cambo 4x5. I had one photo enlarged to 3x6 ft, the lab said it was the sharpest image they had worked with, and bought a copy. I would look at the 210mm version of this lens, it probably won't cover 8x10 at infinty but will at 1:1 with a lot shorter extension than a 360mm. I am sure the APO Makro Sironar would also perform well. For lighting I used 2 or 3 1000 watt tungsten bulbs very close to the subject and diffused it with Rosco flame proof diffusing fabric.

[Drew Wiley]

826257 - That's an interesting but outdated link. I've known Sasha for decades and interacted with him several times a week. I'm now retired, but ran into him a couple months ago. He was a major customer of ours, flipping his substantial photo profits into a commercial real estate development empire, which is why his photo business was actually downsized; just didn't have enough time to do it all "full time". He was originally an architecture grad from UC. He does photo work mainly just in the evenings now. I don't know about his assistants. He owned three studio-labs at one time, one of them a six story downtown high rise. His present digs are two-level, but with an enormous footprint. Calling it a deluxe studio would be an understatement. It's not open to the public anymore, just by appt.

He gave me some big enlarging equip once he shifted to scanning backs, which I use as supplemental to my own design even bigger 8x10 enlarger. But he now uses Phase One backs on 4x5 Sinars P's - yes, classic P's, not some "digital metric" version. He specialized in big Cibachromes, and had a rough transition into digital printing because it looked so anemic at first. Now he prints relatively little, and shoots mainly for foodie publications, with a gourmet kitchen right there in the studio. Eats well obviously, with famous chefs as his clients.

He still has very large print capability, but inkjets simply ain't the same as classic immaculately detailed five foot wide Cibas enlarged directly from 8x10 chrome film. Routinely working with high volume Ciba chem darn near ruined his lungs, not to mention his facilities. Maintenance expenses and hazmat licensing shot through the roof. Them were the days. And yes, he is a master at near-macro 8x10 tabletop photography. (Is Bernice listening in? - yes, I did just say, 8x10 macro). His biggest client back then was Japan Airlines, and he'd take incredibly detailed shots of sushi or whatever atop very intricate Japanese plates, and turn those into giant display prints for them, with everything in those prints well over life size.

I probably can't even count how many businesses and properties he currently owns. The penultimate multi-tasker, and remarkably, if a jack of all trades, also a master of each of them. He's made a science out of work itself, and trained his key helpers superbly. You don't want to cross him, however. We respected each other, so got along the whole time. But to him, art was meaningless; it was all about making money, even though he did very artful photos and prints. To me, the money is just a little optional icing on the cake; something else drives me entirely.