Easy to handle MF macro solution?

[tac]

OK, not MF, or LF, but maybe a Nikon 8008 (good and cheap, a bit slow and noisy AF) or better, and a AF Nikkor 60 2.8- they do 1:1 without tubes; relatively light-weight, with system flashes, etc.

Just a consideration

[Mike Kovacs]

Thanks Antje. I've been to your little corner of the world before visiting Siemens Medical. The MRI scanner production line is impressive.

My Oma used to warn me about you Bavarian types More "food for thought"



SL66, 50/4 Distagon HFT (reversed), Efke 25

[telkwa]

This has been suggested already, but Pentax 645 with 1:4 120mm Macro works well. The lens goes to 1:1 and is fairly high performing.

[George]

Well, well, well... 5 pages run out and nobody told you that yet...!
OK lets say it all!
Don't think small... This birthday is an important one, will never be repeated! What's money? Printed paper!
Your father deserves some toy he won't loose interest in after a few months...

Macro? Did you say macro? All right, give him the best! Ready? Give him the Contax 645 toy (German, imagine!), the outstanding 120mm macro planar (German, imagine!) a TTL flash (German that one too, useless to say!) and the guy (sorry, your father) will have something to be proud of, new, excellent and fully professional for his unforgettable birthday! Need I say more?

[telkwa]

George, the Contax would be a nice setup indeed, but not within the poster's price. The Pentax can be done within his budget. A camera & 120 back will go for under $300 on Ebay, and the 120mm Macro for $200-$300.

[Antje]

Ok, guys, here's what we did:

- a Palm with DOF calculating software on it (awesome suggestion, I have one myself now)
- a Pentax 645 with the ugly photo store rescue macro lens
- 2 x 10 rolls of Fuji Neopan 400 and Acros 100
- 20 rolls of Velvia

I hate to say that the film cost more than the camera and lens.

And for Christmas, he'll get the poor Pentax 67 body I had to take home while shopping for film to replace his broken Pentax 67. He has a nice wide angle lens for that. Well, ok, he already got that, I couldn't resist, but he knows it's part of his Christmas present. And to help him make more cyanotypes, he also gets my Epson 4990, a printer, a pack of suitable transparencies to make his negatives on, and a pack of chemicals.

Right now, he's in his lab, making enlargements of the roll he shot on the Pentax 645 yesterday.

So, I guess this was a success.

The downside: I'm in the market for a field camera now. No. Don't laugh.

Thanks all.

Antje

[Mike Kovacs]

Macro? Did you say macro? All right, give him the best! Ready? Give him the Contax 645 toy (German, imagine!), the outstanding 120mm macro planar (German, imagine!) a TTL flash (German that one too, useless to say!) and the guy (sorry, your father) will have something to be proud of, new, excellent and fully professional for his unforgettable birthday! Need I say more?

Isn't it Japanese Kyocera camera body and Hoya glass like my Contax G series?

Antje, I can swap you a PET camera for a field camera if have a spare lying around

[Antje]

Isn't it Japanese Kyocera camera body and Hoya glass like my Contax G series?

Antje, I can swap you a PET camera for a field camera if have a spare lying around

Absolutely! At least if it were up to me... I'd even throw in a CT for a full set of B&W filters!

Antje

[Christopher Walrath]

You could always give him two lenses and he could invert one over the other for macro-like magnification. Metering would be done with the body/viewing prism as it would be equipped.

[Dan Fromm]

Christopher, the coupled lenses approach offers at most two magnifications. If that's all that's needed, fine, otherwise not so fine.