4x5 macro advice needed

[Tin Can]

Winter is coming! I love doing MACRO in studio

It takes a while to set and comprehend

When I started LF as intense hobby, I was given an old wood copy camera, every person here told me throw it away

Macro is fairly easy with it

I can shoot 4X5, 5X7, 8X10 and 11X14 as I made a modified back

I have 40" bellows

It can focus front and rear from rear

Yes use lots of light, no need for a shutter, use strobes

Short lenses are a good start

Just try the lens normally and backwards

Here are a few of my experiments

Mushroom at 3-1, 11X14 X-Ray

X-Ray Film Macro shot on 11X114 by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

1-1 11X14 X-Ray

Macro 11X14 X-Ray film contact print by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

A sample setup

webLevy 8X10 Macro 2-1 by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

Upside down Macro by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

[maltfalc]

Hi,
Anyone here have with some experience with 4x5 macro photography?
I failed my first attempt.

I am using a 4x5 and tried with a few different lens (non-macro lens).
As soon as I get close to 1:1 the lens can’t focus anymore. I still can extend the bellows or move closer, but the lens can’t focus…

I want to photograph a small object (coin size) to two or three times its natural size.
Do I need special lens? Or am I doing something wrong?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

sounds like you're in the dead zone where the subject is closer to the lens than the lens's inverse focal length at infinity (the distance between lens and subject where the light leaving the lens goes from convergent to divergent and will never form a focussed image no matter how far away the film is). move your subject further away from the lens or set your lens to the magnification you want and focus by moving the subject.

[ic-racer]

am I doing something wrong?

Seems to be a somewhat common problem. Maybe the LF books don't cover it in detail, but your subject-to-film distance has to be at least FOUR TIMES the focal length to get any focused image with a lens. Within that range, you can magnify quite a bit with a common 4x5 bellows, if you have a short focal length lens.

[Tin Can]

These days the best advice is on YouTube

This is what you want

https://youtu.be/j2gQuyVMc6g

[Dan Fromm]

Hmm. I avoid UToob. OP, the standard way of focusing a near distances is to set up the lens-camera assembly for the magnification desired and then to focus on the subject by moving the camera-lens assembly or the subject. Never fails.

The problem with focusing by moving one or both standards is that this changes the magnification.

At 1:1, only one extension will work and the film-to-subject distance will be 4xfocal length. As ic-racer said above, this is the minimum.

All other film-to-subject distances allow two magnifications. For example, film-to-subject distance at 1:4 is the same as film-to-subject distance at 4:1. More general, film-to-subject distance at 1:x is also the distance at x:1. This unfortunate fact has trapped many beginners.

[many]

Thank you very much for all the support.
I will try again. With all the information I feel more confident that I will succeed this time.

[Vaidotas]

I would recommend to read some books on the subject.
Lester Lefkowitz “The Manual of Close-Up Photography” is on my bench as reference, worth to read.
Sometimes intuition leads us to wrong direction.

[many]

Winter is coming! I love doing MACRO in studio

I can shoot 4X5, 5X7, 8X10 and 11X14 as I made a modified back

I have 40" bellows

Thank you for the advice and encouragement.
Wonderful picture you took… hope I can say, soon, that macro is easy.
Let’s see how it will turn next time I try it.

[many]

At 1:1, only one extension will work and the film-to-subject distance will be 4xfocal length. As ic-racer said above, this is the minimum.

All other film-to-subject distances allow two magnifications. For example, film-to-subject distance at 1:4 is the same as film-to-subject distance at 4:1. More general, film-to-subject distance at 1:x is also the distance at x:1. This unfortunate fact has trapped many beginners.

This means it can be done with any lens, doesn't need to be a Macro Lens?

[many]

I would recommend to read some books on the subject.
Lester Lefkowitz “The Manual of Close-Up Photography” is on my bench as reference, worth to read.
Sometimes intuition leads us to wrong direction.

Yes, I was trying to avoid it, but I guess you are right. I got to read some macro books.
Thanks for the advice and suggestion.