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Macro photography with a zoom plus a close-up lens
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
Olympus E-pm2 + Tamron 90mm f2.5 1-1 @f8.+Century Optics Apochromatic 7x


Hi Kryss,
Are you sure it is a close-up lens? I could only find some references to Century .7X wide angle converter.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi,no I just bought it on ebay $100,came in a nice metal screw case 58mm, I thought it reasonable for the quality.



PS.Does it look as if it was shot with wide angle??? Rolling Eyes


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
Does it look as if it was shot with wide angle??? Rolling Eyes

No, it certainly does not look like it was taken with a wide angle. Smile
But I knew it is possible to do macro photography with a macro lens working together with a wide angle adapter...

What confused me was the (wrong) designation 7x, which I thought you meant .7x (point 7x). Confused
Actually you bought an achromatic close-up lens of 7 diopters, which is often designed simply as +7.

Century Precision Optics belongs to Schneider so what you bought was a high-quality professional achromatic close-up lens.
The only "shortcoming" of Century products is that they are very expensive. Crying or Very sad

I think your close-up lens is this one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/77546-REG/Century_Precision_Optics_0AD_5870_00_AD_5870_7_0_Achromatic

It is a close-up lens for large magnifications. A weaker lens of +3 or +4 diopters could also be very interesting as it would complement your Century.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi Gerald,yes I knew they were Schneider related.There is one for sale(exactly like mine) on Ebay,Sears.com,for$411.00us That is why I snapped this one up for $100+shipping from California(seller 65guate).other filter sizes go for up to $600.Regards.I also have the Canon 58mm 500D but it doesn't say what diopter it is on the lens.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
I also have the Canon 58mm 500D but it doesn't say what diopter it is on the lens.

Canon specifies its close-up lenses by the focal length. This means that the 500D has a focal length of 500mm (0.5 meters). In terms of diopters, a lens with focal length equal to 0.5 meters has power of 1/0.5 = 2 diopters.

There is also the Canon 250D with 4 diopters. Another excellent options are the the achromatic close-up lenses from Marumi.

Note: Close-up lenses can be used together. To know the power of the set, simply add the diopter of each lens. For example, the power of the Century +7 combined with the Canon 500D is 9 diopters.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks Gerald,I am going to take some shots with Century +Canon and will post asap.I was going to buy the Marumi +10 but seeing as I have +9 with my combo doesn't make much sense. Laughing


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
An interesting technique that may not be known by everybody is the use a photographic lens as a close-up lens. A 50mm lens, for example, is actually a pretty good close-up lens of 20 diopters. A 28mm lens has power of 35.7 diopters, and so on. Those lenses are optically highly corrected and, best of all, available for free if the photographer already won them.

When a photographic lens is used as a close-up lens, it should be mounted inverted for best results. Furthermore, it should work wide open to minimize vignetting. Even so, some vignetting may occur, especially for FF.

A reverser ring can be used to couple the close-up lens with the camera lens, but an improvised setup may be mounted with adhesive tape.

The photo below shows a Pentacon 50mm F1.8 working as a close-up lens for a SMC Takumar 135mm F2.5:


The setup above was used to shoot a bean. The magnification can be found by simply taking the ratio of the focal lengths:
magnification = 135/50 = 2.7x

The depth of field was so thin that even using a F22 aperture only part of the bean was in focus. In such cases the ideal would be to use a technique known as focus stacking.

Bean - full image:


Bean - 100% crop:



The photo below of grain sugar was made with a 28mm lens working as a close-up lens for a SMC Takumar 135mm F2.5. The magnification is now 135/28 = 4.8x. Note that the size of most sugar crystals is between 0.1 and 0.5mm.

Sugar crystals - full image:


Sugar crystals - 100% crop:


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tamron 52B @f8 and century apo +7 and canon 500D(+2) total +9 diopter.

2nd set. Pentax M 28mm f2.8 plus above Diopters = +9




PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
nice ones Gerald, I am familiar with this set up and also as I only shoot macro flora have something like 40+ macro lenses plus 14 EL lenses and Tubes,bellows and a fully auto stacker.The previous pics were quick and dirty just to see how diopters worked.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
I only shoot macro flora have something like 40+ macro lenses plus 14 EL lenses and Tubes,bellows and a fully auto stacker.

Wow! I'm very impressed. No doubt you take macro photography very seriously.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I do indeed and even though I am now retired i still manage to sell my work to interior designers and Corporate clients.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sony A57 .... Tamron Adaptall SP 35-80mm (01A) and 3.3 diopter Sony VCL-M3358 AC close-up
The dragonfly is at 75% of its original image size.



Earlier on, it had landed on my shoulder. So it was quite used to me by the time this picture was taken.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wow Norland,I must try with my O1A,great shot.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
Wow Norland,I must try with my O1A,great shot.
Thanks!
Most people seem to regard the 90mm 52B or 52BB as the best of the easily available manual-focus Tamrons for macro
... but although I have a 52BB, I prefer using the 01A.
For me, the 52BB only comes third -- it's also less likeable than the 17A (35-70mm).
Now have a few achromatic add-on lenses, but if I could only keep two it is the Sigma 1.6 and Sony 3.3 that I would choose.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Norland..do you mean these two?





PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
Norland..do you mean these two?

Yes ... the
Sony AC Close-Up Lens VCL-M3358 (+3.3) and the Sigma Achromatic Macro Lens (+1.6)
mine are both 58mm.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I thought so but no harm in checking before I attempt to buy these,will let you know.Regards


PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
norland wrote:
Sony A57 .... Tamron Adaptall SP 35-80mm (01A) and 3.3 diopter Sony VCL-M3358 AC close-up
The dragonfly is at 75% of its original image size.



Earlier on, it had landed on my shoulder. So it was quite used to me by the time this picture was taken.


Great picture!
You are proving to be a very capable photographer of insects. It is not easy to photograph live insects with a hand held camera. Just a displacement of a few millimeters and you lose the focus.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 4:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sony A57 ... Tamron SP 35-80mm (01A) plus Leitz Elpro 3 (+1.66)



Sony A57 ... Sony 18-135mm (SAM 18135) plus Minolta Autopak 8 (said to be +2.5 but seems more like +3)



Sony A57 ... Tamron SP 35-80mm (01A) plus ... on the left, Leitz Elpro 3 (+1.66) ... on the right, Sony VCL-M3358 (+3.3)



PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
norland wrote:
Sony A57 ... Tamron SP 35-80mm (01A) plus Leitz Elpro 3 (+1.66)



Sony A57 ... Sony 18-135mm (SAM 18135) plus Minolta Autopak 8 (said to be +2.5 but seems more like +3)



Sony A57 ... Tamron SP 35-80mm (01A) plus ... on the left, Leitz Elpro 3 (+1.66) ... on the right, Sony VCL-M3358 (+3.3)




Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks, Gerald.
This one was a surprise -- the Leitz Elpro 3 (+1.66) combined with a Prinz Galaxy 135mm f3.5 pre-set lens.
Better than expected; but a spell of sunshine did allow the lens to be closed down to between f11 and f16.
Image is cropped and reduced to half-size.



PostPosted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sony A57 ... Sony 75-300 (SAL75300) at 100mm ... with "Novoflex Video Macro Lens" added, which as far as I know is +3.3 diopter.
Lens has to be used with auto-focus off, since it tries to focus on the leaf rather than the insect (in this case, a hawthorn shield bug).



PostPosted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great pictures Norland.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
norland wrote:
Sony A57 ... Sony 75-300 (SAL75300) at 100mm ... with "Novoflex Video Macro Lens" added, which as far as I know is +3.3 diopter.
Lens has to be used with auto-focus off, since it tries to focus on the leaf rather than the insect (in this case, a hawthorn shield bug).



Norland, you have really mastered the use of close-up lenses! Every picture you post is a little better than the previous one. The composition is interesting, the overall sharpness is excellent and the focus is spot on. The only suggestion I could make is to use a flash diffuser to eliminate shadows and specular reflections.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Gerald wrote:
The only suggestion I could make is to use a flash diffuser to eliminate shadows and specular reflections.


There was no flash (though reflections are so bright I had to check EXIF to be certain) -- that's just sunlight.
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