HOLY COW!

That kept me busy for a while!

I was impressed before - now I'm blown away

Awsome.

Love the bokeh, the flower and most of the butterfly .

Yeah, they're pesky little devils and only actually land when you don't have a camera. Or have a whackin' great telephoto mounted.

Swallowtails here in Canada are a bright yellow. Nice to see a Welsh version.

Martin, I wouldn't dream of doing that to my beloved 180mm macro but I am in the process of converting an M42 bellows to a K mount, just for the hell of it, and because I can. I think. [/quote]Clarky,

You know those cheap over-the-flange adapters? Work a treat on tubes and bellows - who cares about infinity focus!

16 blade iris - now THAT should make for some bodacious bokeh.

I used to have an excellent 200mm twin ring stop-down focus type telephoto f4 - f32 with a 32 blade iris, and I gave it away. Kicks own butt - hard.
It was of Japanese origin and I think the name was Minerva or something like that. It seems that the late 60's produced tons of screw mount lenses in a very competitive market. Most that I've tried over the years seemed quite good, and had some unique and quirky features.

All that to say that I haven't ever come across a Phot-All in Canada. I'm sure these companies marketed under a variety names depending on markets and locations. Even Pentax often had different names for Asian, European and American markets over the years.

Hopefully our resident sleuths will have some useful information for you.

Ron,

Further thoughts,

What lenses do you have now?

Have you thought of extension rings - or even bellows?

Also, a dedicated Macro lens is terrific at it's prime focal length - sort of two lenses in one. I often leave my 55mm f4 Macro on the camera as a walk-about street lens. VERY sharp!

The guys seem to like the longer macros, in the 90 to 180mm range.

Hint:

Just don't use these as portrait lenses on your lady. As I said - Sharp!!!

Ron,

WELCOME to the forum. Make yourself to home, it's a great place to hang out.

Dedicated macro lenses are really the way to go if you can possibly manage it.

I have both macro and close-focusing filters and there is no comparison in my not-so-humble opinion.

Clarky and his bug-lovin' buddies can fill you in on which lens to hunt down, so wait for their very informed replies.

Cheers,

Pssstttt.....

(in a whisper)........

Has anyone noticed?

Clarky doesn't have a Takumar Macro lens......

He's actually taking pictures of cats 'n stuff.........

tee hee.......

Clarky,

Have you done much or any post processing?

Lovely images, and the 200mm becomes effectively 300mm on digital, right?

Colours are really nice.

Havin' fun with all your "new" lenses?

I sure am!

I have my screwmount collection in a separate kit bag, and am lugging it around with me now. I think I've saved a bunch on a gym membership - they're HEAVY!

Haydn,

Where are you located?

Paul,

I like the first one very much.

Suggestion:

If you'd like to try editing, see if you can remove that little out-of-focus branch in the upper left.

I don't have SR, but shots really close or really telephoto need zen-like steadyness. I've trained my heart to stop beating

Yer doin' good!