How sharp are your eyes? Or maybe I'm just lucky?

[iangreenhalgh1]

Hi folks

I spotted an auction on ebay that if you read the text, didn't make much sense:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260796564746&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

It's clearly a boxed set of Russian macro bellows but that lens on the front clearly isn't the Industar 50 mentioned in the text.

Notice the mysterious mention of the name 'Ross' in the title?

Hmm, what is that lens? what is that logo on the side?



Looks like it could be the Ross logo to me...

So I bid a few quid, a nice set of bellows is always handy to have even withstanding the fact I already have an identical set of bellows in M39.

Well, I won, no other bids so I got it for 99p, total inc shipping of 6.59ukp.

It arrived today and it is clear from the condition of the bellows and box that this item has either had no or almost no use.

But what is the lens on the front?

To my immense pleasure, it is an absolutely mint with completely unblemished optics copy of the Ross Xpress 81/2" f4.5!

The lens is attached to the bellows via a M42 to whatever internal thread diameter the lens has adapter, looks like it's just a M42 reversing ring for macro work with a lens backwards.

My digicam batteries are charging so no pics, but I'm over the moon with this purchase!

My eyes must be sharp to have spotted this one methinks and I must be lucky no-one else did!

I'll mount the bellows on my EOS tomorrow and see what kind of IQ this lens has, I expect it will be rather good as my Ross Xpress f4 5 inch lenses are superb and a lot of fun.

I'm guessing this is the British equivalent to something like a 20cm Tessar of the same period.

[Attila]

+1 to Ross

[iangreenhalgh1]

It will cover 5x7 so I could use it as a tilt/shift lens too, gonna have fun with this one!

I'm now starting to collect Ross lenses, I have three so far...

[martyn_bannister]

Great spot and well lucky to get any set of bellows for 0.99p!!!!!

[iangreenhalgh1]

The bellows are like new, as is the lens. Really nice bellows they are too, solid cast metal with dual aluminium rails and the chrome and engraving are also high quality. I am surprised at how well made this set of bellows is as I have an identical set in M39 that is much less well finished.

Just waiting for the sun to come up then I'm off out to shoot some test shots with the bellows and Ross lens. Donit have a hood to fit it sadly but have ordered one, not sure what if any coatings this lens has, it will probably need a hood and suffer from low contrast without one like my other Ross Xpress does.

[ludoo]

Great bargain, well spotted. A small cardboard tube, or one fashioned from a strip of black paper and taped works very well as a hood, especially since the lens is not a wide angle and a tubular hood will be ok.

To increase contrast you could also try putting a baffle on the back of the lens to reduce the exit size since you won't need full coverage. This will cut down reflections between whatever is behind the lens and its back element.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thanks for the tips Ludoo.

It's a rotten morning here, peeing down and dull and grey.

I did however shoot a couple of test shots out the back door. It performs rather differently from my other Ross Express, nowhere near as fast but also a good deal more contrasty. No hood, very grey dull morning, challenging situation for contrast. I didn't have to tweak the contrast much at all in these shots. Had to increase brightness though, dull early morning handheld at 1/500 sec at ISO400 meant I was underexposing.

Looking forward to the sun coming out to try this lens further.

I think the lack of CA looks promising and it seems fairly sharp, these shots were all wide open.



100% crop:

[RioRico]

A few months ago I saw an eBay listing for an M42 Bellowscope with a Kodak-Tiffen lens. Hmmm. Photos showed the bellows, obscured lens, and metal hood. I enlarged and hyper-sharpened the clearest photo, and barely saw "Ste" on the lens front. I was the only bidder. So for US$35 +$6 shipping I won the Bellowscope with a Steinheil Culminar 105/4.5 under a Tiffen adapter and Kodak hood. VERY clear optics! I am happy. My eyes weren't quite sharp enough, but digital sharpening sure helped!

[LucisPictor]

Wow! No CA whatsoever!

[iangreenhalgh1]

Hi Rico

That sounds like a good buy you get there man, not familiar with that lens, isn't that the one that is seen both as a head for bellows mounting and on a factory helicoid for M42/Exakta?

Is the bellowsflex like a visoflex?

Look to see a pic of your lens/bellows if possible.

I'm quite pleased with the IQ of this Ross, obviously need to test it properly but I think it compares quite well to my Tair for sharpness, I am surprised at the lack of CA though, much better than many long lenses, surprising for an old lens from the BW days:

Tair:



Ross:



I think the Ross did pretty well in that test, just a shame it was so dull and gray today and it's still raining, grrrrr......

[Excalibur]

***I enlarged and hyper-sharpened the clearest photo***

How did you do that as I've tried with the picture on ebay by:- "select all" then "copy"...but can't paste in Photoshop.

[martyn_bannister]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Yes, that is the way to do it.

However, there is an easier way, I have a Firefow plugin called 'down them all' and it will download all the images from a page if you right click and select 'down them all'. This works a treat to save those ebay images.

[martyn_bannister]

Looking for it now! Thanks!

[iangreenhalgh1]

If you use Firefox it's available from the Downloads page, just press Ctrl+J to bring it up.

[RioRico]

My simple method (I forget whether I used Firefox or SeaMonkey or MSIE or Chrome or whatever) was just to right-click and save that particular picture, then go to my DOWNLOADS folder and drag the picture into an editor (PSP9 for me). No need for DownThemAll or DownloadHelper or any other plug-in.

[martyn_bannister]

Thats the problem, I can't get that to happen in IE or Firefox. I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

[Excalibur]

Ah thanks...used down them all, then converted html file into jpg, then opened in Photoshop.

[iangreenhalgh1]

This is how it works for me.



I click on the photo to get the elnarged window view, then right click on this window and select down them all. It places the jpg in your downloads folder, simple.

Here is said photo, downloaded as above:

[woodrim]

[iangreenhalgh1]

I'm running win7 and CS5 and have no problems with copy/paste to/from the clipboard, it works same as XP did with earlier versions of PS.

[ManualFocus-G]

I just create a new file in Photoshop, which defaults to the size of whatever is on the clipboard, then paste it in...

[iangreenhalgh1]

[Excalibur]

[RioRico]