Macro bits

I have managed to pick up a set of Vivitar Automatic Extension tubes, a Soligor 49mm reversing ring and a Aico Pentax mount bellows to go with my existing kit of: -

K100D with kit 18-55
Tamron 70-300 Macro
SMC Pentax A 1.7 50mm
Vivitar MC 24mm f2.8
2X KAX Macro teleplus MC7 (which is a great piece of kit) and
Pentax 1.4X-S Converter.

Now I'll get to the point.

What is my best bet for Macro photography. I guess the extension tubes and bellows would produce similar image quality as neither have any additional glass. If these are going to be worth a try how do I deal with setting apetture and shutter speed as clearly the camera won't have a clue what's happening with the lens. What about the reversing ring on the 50mm? I will get round to experimenting - which is easy to do with the digital but a few quick pointers would be useful.

An unrelated question - should I be able to get my kit lens to autofocus using the 1.4X-S converter or is it too old to allow this function. I appreciate it won't work with the tamron due to a lack of light getting in.

Thanks for any advice.
Donut

With a reversing ring or manual extension tubes, I just use trial and error. It only takes a few tries to home in on roughly the exposure I want, even when starting with a pure guess, then it's just a matter of fine tuning.

I've had autofocus working fine with a Tamron 70-300mm LD Di at 300mm with a 1.5X Kenko converter. I've not tried it with an 18-55.

Thanks Pete - it seems as thought he Pentax 1.4X is to blame then - must be manual only
Donut

I've just found the spec of your converter here:

www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/teleconverters/A1.4X-S.html

I can see it doesn't have the slotted screw that would be needed by a standard autofocus lens for AF to work. Remember the focusing is powered by a motor in the camera rather than in the lens (except for the K10D with the new mega-expensive lenses). So a physical connection is needed rather than just an electrical one.

I was lucky to find a Kenko AF 1.5X cheaply on ebay a while ago. I think the quality is reasonable.

Being shooting some macros today with 3x Auto Extension Tubes, and my DA*50-135mm on the end.

Got some damn fine results and think I have stumbled on a simple way to focus when in that close (compared to a 50mm prime that most people seem to use!), just use the zoom. Hey presto, no more trying to move the tripod 1.26mm to get in focus!

Focusing manually tends not to be a problem - I just half press the shutter release and turn the focussing ring until the camera bleeps and a confirming square appears in the view finder

I was messing about with the bellows last night for about 5 minutes - soooooo much light loss. I'll need to use some really good lighting to be able to get the most out of it - may not bother as the K100D won't fir directly onto it anyway - I need to use a short extension tube as the camera catches on the mount of the bellows.

Donut