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glad to see you back,
tell me more about extension tubes,
not that I would ever use one,,,just not heard of them
tell me more about extension tubes,
not that I would ever use one,,,just not heard of them
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There's a look at a modern (and quite well made) 3rd party extension tube set.
12mm tube is on top of the stack, and is the smallest.
This set sends electronic data for aperture to the camera, and automatically calculates exposure factors so a correctly exposed image is made with an appropriately chipped lens. Other wise, exposure is determined by the modern camera's metering system.
They work by increasing the focal length by moving the rear of the lens further away from the image plane. In most all cases, ability to focus to infinity is lost, which we don't need for quality macro photography anyways. The band of usable focus becomes pretty narrow using any of these. Close focus becomes fairly easy up to about 135mm lenses, at least in my hands. Prime lenses seem to work better than zooms, mostly on account of their fast minimum apertures.
There's an image made with a fast 50mm on the 12mm tube. Curvature in the image is the curl of the old dried out Gun Digest catalog the image was made from. The use of flash is a pretty good idea with this system. Bright summer daylight works well too, but shutter speeds need to be watched.
I think there is a tutorial on using these at camera-pedia.
The set pictured was purchased in excellent used condition.
A new set for DSLR's would run in the low $100.00 range for 3rd party systems. OEM versions can get a bit on the steep side price-wise, but I think they are still being made. If one knows about proper exposure, the old manual extension tube sets are fine, and can be had for very cheap from various sources. I've got a Vivitar manual set around here somewhere that I got from Good-will for ten bucks, and a N.P.S. manual set that came as part of a package deal with one of the older cameras I bought.
Regards,
Doc SharptailComment
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There's a lot to catch up on since the page went into the twilight zone.
A lot of stuff has gone, and come in.
Try a bit of a test here to see how things are working:
Nikkormat FT-3 in Black brass.
I jumped at this one because the FT-3 in black is rarely seen around here, and from what I've read on-line, production numbers were a bit on the low side. External condition is a bit roughish, but everything works. I bought it as unclaimed goods from a camera repair shop who had CLA'd it, and then it sat for a lot of years un-claimed.
It appears to have a factory new shutter box in it, with a slightly aperture oil stained curtain.
Very quiet in operation for a camera this old.
More on new to me glass a bit later when the site has had a chance to run for a while.
-D.S.Comment
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By way of another test, here are 2 more pics I'd saved back for Doc.
1) Camera assembly line - somewhere in eastern Europe
2) On assignment! And it must be a paying gig! SW
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Fantastic shots! I love the beautiful cat peering under the gate!Comment
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Nikkor Q 135mm f3.5 at f 5.6.
126% crop of image above.
Oddly enough, this lens starts to fall off heavily at f8. It may have something to do with the quite thin single layer blue coating~ I'm not sure.
At any rate, the computation changed from 4 elements in 4 groups to 5 elements in 4 groups with the replacement A/i series.
-D.S.Comment
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Nikkor 50mm f1.4 A/I-s at f5.6 and ISO 400. This lens has been on the camera for most of the summer, and sees a lot of work.
Will get a crop of this image up later, just to show imagery capability.
-D.S.Comment
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Very good detail here for a film era manual focus lens.
At f5.6 and ISO 400
It's pretty good for the art-house stuff too.
In the Assiniboine Forest here.
I jumped a nice big fat white-tail doe riding the bike through those birch trees.
Trail is about a mile and half, and the spidery thin french racer gave a good account for it's self, grannied down as low as I could get it.
At f 5.6 and ISO 250.
This was a long ride for me today. Probably about 26 miles.
I don't pile up all those miles all at once. I'll stop to take the occasional photo, and of course stop for donut shop coffee.
Kind of wish I took the bicycle stuff a little more seriously when I was younger.
Back then, it just point A to point B, and little in the way of riding just for the sake of it.
Still, at 68, I'm doing much better than I had ever dreamed of. Lots to be thankful for!
-D.S.Comment
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Winter photography hazards: slipping on ice and voiding the warranty of the new lens you'd saved for. SW
Screenshot (7523).pngComment
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Looks like someone stuck it into a vise to force a stuck helicoid into moving, and gave it a little too much oomph.
-D.S.Comment
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Current line up of film SLR cameras.
L-R,
Nikkormat FTN with 50mm H nikkor f2 lens. Center, Nikon F2 with 50mm H.C f2 . At far right, Nikkormat FT-3 with 50mm f2 k lens.
I was gonna do another gear pile photo, but am running out of steam. It's gonna be a bit of digging to get at all the lenses. Maybe I'll split the lenses up into nikon, and non-nikon....
-D.S.Comment
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Global warming? Bah! My main man in Budapest sent this pic of ice on the Danube which he says is very, very uncommon. Like he can't recall the last time he saw that. I'm not sure what he uses for a camera, but I thought it turned out well. Said he shot the pic on his way to work. SW
ice.jpgComment
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Looks I-phonish with the pixel break-up. Whatever it is, the sensor is on the small side.
Europe got the polar vortex this winter- which has happened before.
We've had several instances of freezing rain here since New Years, which is not common at all. Been between 10 and 20F here for the past week.
-D.S.Comment
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Time for a bit of imagery!
Still-life, which I don't do very much of.
This is under an older ballasted L.E.D. household lamp.
Image is un-manipulated, except re-sized to fit on this page.
Nikkor 105mm f2.5 A/I-s at f 5.6 and 13/10 sec, and almost as close as the lens will focus.
Image is a crop to remove all the back-ground clutter. Scene backing is the old stand-by Kodak 8" X 10" gray card.
-D.S.Comment
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Usual snow removal scenery around here.
Nice catch lights off the skid steerer at left.
Nikkor A/I-s 50mm f1.4 at f8 and the infinity stop. Image is a severe crop.
-D.S.Comment
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