Lenses for using with bellows.

Recently whilst browsing eBay I managed to get a genuine set of "Pentax Auto Bellows M' cheaper than expected so took the plunge and bought them on the spot. Must say that they are an absolutely fantastic piece of kit!

Now the question is, what lens to put on it? Unfortunately all of our lenses (apart from the 250- 600!) are modern ones without aperture rings so it looks like I'm going to be selling off the 10-17mm fisheye which unfortunately doesn't get used to fund something more useful.

As we both enjoy our macro shooting (we currently have a 35mm Ltd and 100m WR) and have the AF160 ring flash my initial thought would be to go for a D-FA 50mm Macro. Autofocus when needed elsewhere and the ring flash fitting the lens body rather than the focus barrel are what I'm thinking at the moment. This should give me about 3:1?

Would appreciate any ideas and tips from any fellow bellow users out there, especially ones with the ring flash too!

I would say start with a 50mm f/1.7 (A or M or K) reversed and then try some enlarger lenses.

Have a look at Nas's site....

http://extreme-macro.co.uk/

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2nd vote for a 50mm f1.7 straight or reversed

I tend to use an M42 Russian, Jupiter 11A, 135mm with a preset diaphragm (any 135 will do the job but you can watch the DoF change in real time with a preset). A 135mm provides huge versatility in use from as much as two - three feet distant to right on top of the subject. You can make the magnification as small or as large as you want in manageable amounts (note the amount of bellows extension here to get the below result). Any form of automation in lenses used with bellows is useless, so M42 gives huge choice for fewer pennies. The lens shown cost £8 on Ebay !




This is my kit with an ancient Takumar 135mm preset on the front and, in this case, a *istDS on the back. The bellows ends are both K fitting. There is an M42 insert in the lens end. A remote release is useful too. Below is the picture that had just been taken ....