Hi Glenn, Macro on digital is great. I've been using bellows on my *istD since I first got mine (and I was one of the first 12 in Australia to have one).
I have gotten around the overhang problem by using a 12 mm extension tube, this allows me to easily fit the camera to the bellows. An added bonus is that if you get an A extension tube it can be modified easily to trick the camera into believing the bellows are an A lens. At this point P-TTL flash also works perfectly through the bellows. I've been working on photographing smaller and smaller things. My latest bellows set up is is an Olympus Bellows with 80, 35 and 20mm lenses which allows me to get down to 1.5mm filling the frame from side to side. I also now use a K10D over the *istD for the bellows, but I still use the *istD for field macro work. Leon http://www.bluering.org.au http://www.bluering.org.au/leon D. Glenn Arthur Jr. wrote: > I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but at least y'all are an > audience that appreciates some of the same things I do ... > > So landing a new-to-me Pentax means, of course, being able to use > all my old Pentax glass. (Yay.) Though not having that aperture > simulator coupling means I don't get to use all my older K-mount > lenses with all of the conveniences they could be supplying. (Boo, > but I do have a handful of A lenses, and two autofocus, so not a > crippling situation.[*]) Having an M42-K/M adaptor means being > able to use my _macro_ stuff, like my Vivitar bellows. (Bigger > yay -- not having to buy more stuff to be able to shoot macro+digital!) > > [*] I don't yet have any autofocus primes; I'll be keeping > an eye out for a 50mm once I come up with the money to > pay off the camera debt. But I'm liking the Sigma 28-135 > zoom more and more on the *istD. > > So I pulled the bellows off the camera around lunchtime, but thought > I might be wanting to reattach it soon[**] so I didn't want to go to > the hassle of removing the M42-K adaptor. So I just screwed an SMC Takumar > 55/1.8 on the front. It looks pretty good there, really. > And it feels like a reasonable length for me (before it got stolen, > I really liked my 85mm for film). > > [**] Okay, one wee gripe about the *istD: the overhang > for the pop-up flash gets in the way of the screw > that tightens the mounting ring to hold it in one > position -- so if I attach a tripod to the bellows, > the camera pretty much has to be in portrait > orientation. But do any modern cameras _not_ hang > over the lens mount like that? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
