articles/Nature/extrememacro-page5

Extreme Macro - part 5 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

by Mike McNamee Published 01/10/2010

Nikon made lenses for their 5x4 Multiphot (1970s and 1980s) system at 19mm, 35mm, 65mm and 120mm, the smaller of which were fitted with RMS threads (Royal Microscopical Society), the two larger ones with M39 screw threads. The 105mm f4.0 bellows Nikkor (1969) had a standard F-mount. The only source for such gems today is the second-hand market and eBay. The Canon EF MP-E 65mm f2.8 1-5x macro lens is an interesting optic. It is capable of imaging from 1x to 5x magnification without any accessories and costs around £900 new. It effectively replaces the previous range of Canon macro lenses.

Olympus once made one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated range of macro imaging lenses and accessories. These too may be obtained via the second-hand market and adaptors will fix them to more modern

The least expensive way to start higher-power macro is probably by using a bellows or extension tubes, along with an enlarging lens. To do this you will need a 39mm screw adaptor (for the enlarger lens) with suitable adaptor for your camera or bellows fitting on the other end. Then you will need an enlarging lens. These are easily come by via the secondhand market. The upside of an enlarging lens is that they are computed for close working distances and will often out-perform a normal macro lens (on the optical bench our 75mm F4 El-Nikkor consistently out-performed our other lenses). The down side is the lack of auto aperture close down. However, for static systems this is not an issue.

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