Macro Bellows with K10D?

Hi folks, mind if I pick your brains?

I love shooting 1:1 macro with my Sigma 50mm f2.8 on my K10D, but want more magnification!

I've located a set of PK fit bellows on e-bay and am considering buying them (they're on buy it now), but before I do, what would be a good lens to go with? Could I team it up with a say a 50mm Pentax M or similar?
Would that be a good combo?

(By happenstance I've also found a Pentax 100 f4 Bellows lens, is it worth £89 in good condition?).

Is there anything else I'd need?

Thanks in advance

---

Dave Appleton

Happy Pentax K10D owner since 21-08-2007
http://www.davidappleton.co.uk/photos/

THe 100mm f4 bellows lens is quite rare and of superb optical quality. It would, needless to say, be perfect on a bellows unit!

For more magnification try a wide angle lens reversed, such as a 28mm. The magnification is startling.

---

Best regards, John

I've tried this, and it is quite impressive, even with the £6 Tokina 28mm I used.

Reversed on to extension tubes it's even more amazing, and not all that difficult to do.

x1.9 just with the lens reversed, and up to x4 reversed on to a set of extension tubes.

A wide angle will give you greater magnification but the working distances involved are very small and lighting can be a problem. A bellows unit should work well. Remember to reverse the lens if you go greater than 1:1. As far as a lens is concerned, a dedicated bellows lens is optimised for such work. If you want use an M lens, it would be better to use one of the slower ones such as the 1.7 for better performance. Do not use the 1.4 or 1.2. The instructions for the Pentax bellows unit is on my website and Pentax say the reversed macro performanc of the faster 50's is worse than the slower ones. Having said that why use an M lens when you have a dedicated Macro lens?

Kim

---

If you want good quality Pentax manuals, try my website: www.pentax-manuals.com

I've 2 sets of M42 bellows - one with up to 30cm extension and one with 19cm.

I have used them on my K10D with a variety of old manual glass. Autofocus is no use at those distances, and with the green button and preset lenses the aperture setting and metering is easy on the K10D.

An old M39 Mir 1 37mm lens gives amazing magnification, but at full bellows extension it needs to be practically touching the subject to achieve focus.

This is an uncropped photograph of an ant inside a piece of amber in my kilt pin. The ant is 3 or 4 mm long and this was taken with about 19cm extension. This photo was one of the first I'd taken with bellows and the Mir, and it is a bit soft as I instinctively stopped down to f16 to get maximum depth of field, however I've since learned that diffraction effects are much stronger with macro...





In the garden a 135mm lens lets me work more comfortably with flowers and insects.

Indoors a 50mm lens seems to be a good compromise between working distance and magnification. I'm particularly liking what an old Industar can do.

I've yet to try reversing any of the lenses due to a lack of relevant adapters.

I'm still only just taking tentative steps into this fascinating world... but for an initial outlay of next to nothing - the 30cm extension bellows cost me £5 on eBay and I had the lenses - I'm happy with my rudimentary kit.

I tied my BPM Bellows on my K10D and it fouled where the flash on top of the pentaprism sticks out.

---

been a member of Pentax Club since the Ron Spillman era! Got COMPUTERISED at last - DIGITISED? Taken the PLUNGE - BUT FILM STILL RULES !!!

Thank you all for you really helpful answers!

A Pentax K fit bellows and a 100mm f/4 bellows lens will be winging their way to me soon - at least the will be once royal mail are no longer on strike.

I shall have to look into reversing a wide angle onto the front of the bellows lens for even greater magnification - thankyou to all who have suggested that!

to KimC - I decided on the bellows and lens to supplement my dedicated macro lens because m macro lens is only a 50mm and the bellows + the 100mm will give me a bit greater working distance from the subject.

I'll post piccies once they've arrived and I've given them an outing

---

Dave Appleton

Happy Pentax K10D owner since 21-08-2007
http://www.davidappleton.co.uk/photos/

Would mounting the bellows on the front of an extension ring bring the bellows far enough forwards? I know it would extend the bellows magnification, but maybe it would be useable.

---

Best regards, John

Ah. Sorry to hear that.

Well, fingers crossed the bellows I've bought won't have that problem - if needs be I'll pop the bellows onto a short extension tube to clear the pentaprism.

---

Dave Appleton

Happy Pentax K10D owner since 21-08-2007
http://www.davidappleton.co.uk/photos/

I've got the same ones Peter, you just need to pop an extension tube between the bellows and the camera. A medium sized one does it I think.

Haven't used mine too much yet, but got good results from my Sigma 105mm macro lens.

Dan

---

K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...

My bellows are a Yashica single rail set and Vorsatz "Pi 3 Theta" twin rail.

Peter I am not sure if it is the same issue, but I cannot rotate either of the bellows fully to disengage them from the body because they foul the flash.

But - the bellows sets have a rotating mount which you can lock in place, so I turn the bellows until they just about foul the flash, unlock the mount and rotate the bellows unit back, lock the mount, then rotate the whole thing (including the mount) again to unlock from body.

Sorry if I don't explain that well. It is hard to put into words, but easy to do.

Thanks for the idea to use an extension tube - never thought of that AND I went to East Ham Grammar School !

---

been a member of Pentax Club since the Ron Spillman era! Got COMPUTERISED at last - DIGITISED? Taken the PLUNGE - BUT FILM STILL RULES !!!

That's exactly how I solved the problem of fitting the Pentax-A Bellows on to my *istD without having to remove the body mounting part of the bellows first. When assembled the bellows unit fouls part of the body, the flash, I think.

The K10D has no similar issue because it's large enough that the bellows can be fitted and removed without first dismantling the bellows. Put a battery grip on it and you have to use the extension tube again because the bellows fouls the grip.

---

Peter E Smith

My flickr Photostream

A quick update if anyone is interested in getting a set of bellows for the K10. I tried both the D and the K10 on my set of Pentax auto bellows and both fit without the use of an extra tube.

Kim

Not a problem if you fit the BPM adapter to the camera first then attach the bellows. And I only went to a Secondary Modern School!

Another wrinkle is to use a Takumar 55mm lens (not reversed) with the slide attachment you can just get a full frame with no cropping when copying slides.

Chris