visoflex-novice in macroland

[helged]

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Hello folks,

can you help me with the following:

 

A suitable rig for macro-shooting (wildflowers etc, down to 1:1 or thereabout), with decent working distance and with good optical quality (sharpness, bokeh, etc). As of now, my rig consists of M9+Visoflex III, but what should I put in the other end of the Visoflex... (which lens?, with extension tube?, with bellow? etc.).

 

yes, I know, Im a novice in leica macroland. I also understand that SRL-systems are best suited for macro work. But coming from MF film, I intend to limit the digital gear to M9. At least for now. Therefore the question about the Visoflex-rig.

 

Thanks!

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[jaapv]

Start off with any lens of 50 or longer, put it on the Visoflex and start shooting. You can expand later into a multitude of possibilities.

 

Elmar 2.8-50 directly on Viso:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[helged]

excellent! (then I just have to wait for my m9 to arrive).

[chrism]

If you want to get a bit further away from your subject, you may need to get a lens designed for the purpose. The lens group from the old Elmar 1:4/135 screws off for this, and requires a focussing adaptor (16464K). There are extension tubes that can lengthen the focussing adaptor, such as the 16472K and the 16469Y. Most of my M lenses attached directly to the V3 focus far too close for my tastes, and adding the bellows, of course, makes things worse. This diagram might help (or confuse!):

 

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Chris

[jaques]

the 65mm elmar and focusing mount (16464K) is a good Viso macro and standard lens set-up:

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[jaapv]

It all depends on what you want. This is the result of the 135/4.0 on the bellows shown on my second image:

 

 

 

[jaapv]

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And this the 135/4.0 directly on the Visoflex:

 

 

[Guest BigSplash]

I would believe that a Leica Bellows attachment for the Viso is a must have for what youh the want to do, plus a 65mm Elmar with the appropriate adapter ring for the bellows (ie NOT the adpater for use directly on the Visoflex). I have found that the old (f2) 90mm, old 135mm lens heads work a treat on the bellows also for an object the size of say a shoe box at a distance of one to two meters.

 

Personally I find using lenses directly onto the Viso , for macro work is not felxible enough. Obviously the Viso works well for Telyt telephoto shooting in telephoto.

[jaapv]

Depends, Frank. The bellows is at its best on a Tripod, I think. If you work freehand as I did with the flowershots, directly mounted lenses are more practical.

[Guest BigSplash]

Depends, Frank. The bellows is at its best on a Tripod, I think. If you work freehand as I did with the flowershots, directly mounted lenses are more practical.

 

Jaapv I fully agree that you need a tripod , and actually I also believe that a set of lights with reflectors are useful for macro work ...maybe even mandatory for any studio type work. When using the larger lenses it is especially true that a tripod is needed..

 

Personally I find that a Visoflex plus lens is already front heavy and difficult to balance so as usual I congratlate you on your ability to handhold a Viso plus lens when shooting images of flowers. I take your point that adding a bellows would make the freehand approach even more difficult.

 

I would add that anyone going into this arena and using a bellows would do well to get on ebay or wherever some adapter rings as they are still fairly easy to get hold of.

 

The ring Part No 16 558 Z is used with the 65mm and 90mm Elmarit. and I use that quite a bit.

 

The ring Part No 16 598 J is used with the 90mm Summicron, 135mm Elmarit, 200mm and 280mm Telyt and this I have used extensively also. I am always surprised at the results of using a 280mm lens head on the bellows ...it is fantastic for close up of something the size of a vase.

 

I also have the Part No 16596 G which is a bayonet adapter for the 35mm and 50mm and I thought I would use this more. However it really is only useful for extreme closeup of something like a postage stamp or a pin head.

 

My neighbour has a business photographing works of art for museums and he uses Phase One for this. He sees his business as one of being an "artist of light" and the challenge is using diffuse light together with small spot lights to create shadows and bring out the relefe of a sculpture. Lighting seems to be key in all areas of photography but I would contend that even more so in macro.

[MartinEB]

Thanks for all your inputs here - really quite useful. I bought a Visoflex for use with my M6 and was advised to get the 135mm Elmar plus a 16464K as well - I bought them secondhand a few years ago. I think I used only the front part of the lens (without the focusing barrel), with focus being achieved using the 16464K adapter. I didn't have a decent tripod back then and so didn't get on too well. Now I have my M9 (and also a better tripod) this is something I want to try again - digital also gives a much shorter feedback loop which is an advantage so experimenting should be a bit easier. So this is one thing on my project list!

 

I have used the 90mm Macro Elmar plus its adapter and that works well, but the Visoflex will no doubt give a greater close-up.

[swamiji]

The Visoflex is an amazing system. Everything adapter/lens for the Visoflex II will work on the Visoflex III, and some from the original Visoflex (with the correct adapter) will work as well. The chart that has posted above is just one of several, each with a slightly different set of lenses, but pretty much use the same adapters.

 

The Bellows II adds a certain amount of control and range beyond that of simply using the adapters alone.

 

While I have gotten acceptable results using Visoflex III without the bellows II hand held. I find a good tripod adds a lot of clarity.

 

I notice in this thread and in others the propensity to use the Part number rather than the name. Names like: OTVXO, OTZFO, OUBIO, and ZOOEP. I not sure why, maybe I am just out of date, but I think the names are more fun.

[jaques]

it's true the names are a lot of fun.... leica created their own language I think... but many of the adaptors don't have the name written on them- if you are searching on ebay you are advised to use the name and the number...

[swamiji]

it's true the names are a lot of fun.... leica created their own language I think... but many of the adaptors don't have the name written on them- if you are searching on ebay you are advised to use the name and the number...

 

And some don't have the number just the name. I think it has to do with either the year of production, or the location. For ebay I would search on both, one then, the other.

[viooh]

 

The ring Part No 16 558 Z is used with the 65mm and 90mm Elmarit. and I use that quite a bit.

 

The ring Part No 16 598 J is used with the 90mm Summicron, 135mm Elmarit, 200mm and 280mm Telyt and this I have used extensively also. I am always surprised at the results of using a 280mm lens head on the bellows ...it is fantastic for close up of something the size of a vase.

 

I also have the Part No 16596 G which is a bayonet adapter for the 35mm and 50mm and I thought I would use this more. However it really is only useful for extreme closeup of something like a postage stamp or a pin head.

 

 

Having acquired a Viso III and a Bellows II recently, I'd like to use my high quality enlarging lenses as macro lenses. Is there a ring to attach 39mm thread mount lenses to the bellows?

 

Another thought: I could use my Macro-Elmarit R 2,8/60 with the correct adaptor (22228 or something like it) directly on the Viso. This would probably have an effect similar to using the R macro adaptor that comes with this lens. Has anybody tried this?

 

Peter

[Knorp]

Having acquired a Viso III and a Bellows II recently, I'd like to use my high quality enlarging lenses as macro lenses. Is there a ring to attach 39mm thread mount lenses to the bellows?

 

Another thought: I could use my Macro-Elmarit R 2,8/60 with the correct adaptor (22228 or something like it) directly on the Viso. This would probably have an effect similar to using the R macro adaptor that comes with this lens. Has anybody tried this?

 

Peter

 

Not an exact match to your setup, but I mounted the Apo-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100mm to my Visoflex-3.

I think in the picture I used a Novoflex adapter LEM/LER.

Kind regards.

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[artur5]

Having acquired a Viso III and a Bellows II recently, I'd like to use my high quality enlarging lenses as macro lenses. Is there a ring to attach 39mm thread mount lenses to the bellows?

........

Peter

 

Peter you need the ring 16596 which screws into the front of the Bellows and has an inner female M bayonet mount.

Thus, with that ring, you can use any M bayonet lens you wish or, just adding a common LTM to M adapter, M39 lenses as well. ( be it for rangefinder or enlarger optics which come often with that mount )

[Jerry_R]

Any idea why Visoflex has been discountinued? Is 90mm Macro Elmar the only answer of Leica for macro then?

 

Can I connect to Visoflex III directly 75mm Summicron? Or still need to buy something, like adapter?

 

I have used the 90mm Macro Elmar plus its adapter and that works well, but the Visoflex will no doubt give a greater close-up.

Hmm. Have you considered cropping - as acceptable taking into account large M9 sensor and its resolution? Or it doesn't make sense?

 

What is more flexible for non tripod conditions - 90mm Macro Elmar, or still Visoflex? I think, that Elmar, but wanted to ask, as I am new to Leica world.

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[jaapv]

It has been discontinued because some Japanese started selling SLRs. Yes, the Summicron 75 can go directly onto the Visoflex -macro only.

[wlaidlaw]

Here are some more pages of the adapters with macro ratios and coverages

 

Wilson

Visoflex III Adapters.pdf

Visoflex III Adapters 2.pdf