Tilting Macro Bellows
This is a photo of a hand made close-up accessory = Tilting Bellows, I made when
I was first year in my Uni’ and it was featured in a Japanese photo-magazine.
On that time, I didn’t have proper Macro lens — I had Nikon F Photomic,
24 mm F2.8 and 50 mm F2 that’s all. And for the special close-up photo
of the plant, I was using modified Mamiya Press (6×9 format).
I made this mini bellows for use with 50 mm f2 lens and this combination
gave 1/5 to life size close-up. —– Without doubt, this must be the most
rudimental, and cheap bellows ever designed !
(You may see the extreme minimal way of the thinking in this design !)
= Lens rear cap was mounted on a L-shaped small aluminium panel and
it was connected to a body cap with a kind of bellows made out of a plastic
sheet (it was a dark curtain). Lens panel and the camera body were both
mounted on a straight camera bracket by means of 1/4″ screws which
allow the lens to be held up to 50 mm away from the body, and the front
panel (hence the lens) could be held in angle to the body, therefore
tilting effect could be easily used as a focus control as well !
I’m certain I got the original somewhere though, to use it with Canon EOS 5D,
the height of the lens is not the same and to use it with Nikon D810 would be
too awkward ( because of their setting of Non-CPU lens. ) —> I decided to
make the same for 5D, but use with Nikon lens —– Nikon lens has manual
F-aperture ring and the flange-back is 1.5 mm longer than Canon. )
Photos above shows the making process. (I used the lens rear-cap again. )
Then, to make a bellows, this time I found a black leather in a flea-market.
—– Still, bag-bellows has to be designed and stitched in rather awkward way
though, it can be done anyway = only needs stitch, — by stitch. 😀
So, this is the finished product. (Though, I’m going to change the
body mount ring to black aluminium one.)
Still, what all those works for, was remained to be seen with the resulting photo.
This is the sample of the tilting effects. (55 mm Micro Nikkor, 20 degree tilt)
(Top photo shows Pan-focus effect. Bottom photo is its reverse effect.)
If the junk material was available, the cost to make like this would be
as little as £5 if not nil. 🙂
———-
PS: Good additional reading = [Shallow Focus — Pan-focus]
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