R - Macro

[earleygallery]

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I just received a Leica R fit Novoflex bellows slide copier kit which I bought without understanding how they work! I assumed I'd just fit a lens in the front of the bellows but obviously not!

Does anyone know the correct answer as to how I get this to work with say a 50mm Summicron so that I can copy slides/negs?

I have done a bit of searching and fear that I know the answer but would appreciate any advice.

The bellows have R mounts on the rear and the front of the bellows. This can be removed and leaves a 39mm threaded mount I think.

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[wlaidlaw]

James, 

I may be wrong but I think you need a 100/4 Macro Elmar (not the 100/2.8 APO Macro Elmarit, like the one Parcelforce have currently lost on its way to me from New Zealand) or the Novoflex Noflexar 60/4. That is certainly how the Leica copying system worked. If you PM me I will send you an email of someone who has a whole load of Novoflex instructions. He may have a copy of the original instructions. He sent me a copy of the Novoflex PIGRIFF follow focus system brochure. 

Wilson

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[AZN]

The best lens to use with any of these 35mm slide-copy rigs is a 50 or 60mm macro. In this particular case it would be the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm

I have a simpler set-up which I use with Sony AR7II - for that I use the Nikon ES-1 and Micro-NIkkor 60mm.  Brilliant for digitising 35mm film shot with the Leica Ms or R 😃

 

[earleygallery]

Thanks - yes Wilson it's the 60mm Novoflex lens that I need, I found one for a decent price in Germany so it's on its way to me. It has a 39mm thread so apparently fits directly to the bellows unit and the front of the lens is designed to fit to the clamp on the bellows hood/slide copier.

[pridbor]

AZN, I have a Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm", Leica Bellows, and a Sony like yours. Would you mind sharing how your holder for the 35mm film is designed/created or such.

I would like to digitize my "R" 35mm film like you apparently do with success!?

Thanks

Preben

 

[LucisPictor]

After some thinking and when finding one for a very decent price in excellent condition I bought the Macro-Elmrait-R 2.8/60 (with the macro tube) and have not regretted it.
What an excellent lens!

[AZN]

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19 hours ago, pridbor said:

AZN, I have a Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm", Leica Bellows, and a Sony like yours. Would you mind sharing how your holder for the 35mm film is designed/created or such.

I would like to digitize my "R" 35mm film like you apparently do with success!?

Thanks

Preben

 

I use the Nikon ES-1 to hold either a 6x frame film-holder or slide-mount framed individual frames - were I to start today then I would use the Nikon ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter Set:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1357884-REG/nikon_27192_es_2_film_digitalizing_adapet.html

A small LED video light-box is used for illumination, onto which I have placed white diffuser gels to make sure the light is soft and even. The ES-1 is mounted onto a AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 lens:

https://www.nikon.com.au/en_AU/product/nikkor-lenses/f-mount/fx-format/special-purpose/af-micro-nikkor-60mm-f-2-8d

… which is mounted onto a Sony A7RII via a Rayqual Nikon-to-SonyE lens mount adapter.

Need to use step-down ring to match the 52mm ES-1 to the 62mm Micro-Nikkor.  Also have a B+W 80A filter in there to boost the colour temp of the LED illumination box.

To speed things up I individually mount "keeper" film shots in AGFA slide mounts - that way can easily insert each frame into the rig for copying.  Have routinely copied 2+ shots a minute.

Sounds like a lot of bother, but once set up then it is the fastest and highest quality way to digitize 35mm film to end up with 24MP images after post-processing.

The RAW shots are processed in Capture One and then fine-tuned into Affinity Photo (scrubbed my computer clean of Adobe randsomware years ago).

E6/ Kodachrome colour slides are easy to do.  Ditto B&W negatives.  C41 negatives are hard, but not impossible.  BTW every single article I found online about how to convert C41 RAW shots into final TIF images is either unintentionally misleading or magical-thinking wrong 😃

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by AZN
Added URLs

[pridbor]

Thanks for your very detailed response!  I have nothing but (old) Leica Film Cameras and accessories, and the Sony for mundane digital Color Photography and as a holder for my Leica lenses 🙂 So I will have to get my thinking cap on to figure out a way to accomplish what you do!

I too use Capture one, have to support my countrymen too 🙂 but have never heard about Affinity Photo, only using Adobe freeware for pdf reading. I have used Corel Paintshop for a very long time and it does well for me, but I'm always open to find new stuff, so I will search for it.

Thanks Again

Preben

[earleygallery]

A little update on my issue. After Wilson confirmed what I had seen elsewhere (some old copies of Novoflex instructions online) I found a Novoflex 60mm lens on ebay, which arrrived from Germany suprisingly quickly at this time, and in mint condition.

It's tiny but heavy, very nicely made and of course it fits the LTM thread on the front of the bellows. The other set of bellows which act as a lens hood clamp directly to the front of this lens. I've yet to try it with actual slides but it focussses correctly so it's good to go!

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[wlaidlaw]

I would quite like to get a Novoflex bellows to use on my R8 or 9 but apparently that has to be a different one from the R3 bellows that James has and seems to be quite a rare model. This  was marketed both as a Novoflex BR-2 and a Leica 16880 Bellows R8. I have had an eBay search running for either for a few weeks now with no luck. There was an Italian dealer who had one on his website but apparently it was sold some years ago - maybe an update of the site contents called for? 

Wilson

PS Just found another 16880 also in Italy. They obviously liked their R's in Italy. Lots of R stuff for sale but they are closed for Covid-19 at present. Just got an out-of -office response to an email. I suspect there will a lot of second hand photographic inventory for sale a good prices in a few weeks time, as shops look to generate some cash. W. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by wlaidlaw

[earleygallery]

Wilson, I will PM you!

[wlaidlaw]

I have agreed to buy the 16880/Novoflex BR-2 R8/9 Bellows from the second Italian seller. He accepted my offer at considerably less than he was listing it for so quickly, that I suspect I could have got it for less but then I would feel rather mean. Today was their first day open after the shut down in Italy. I will post a picture of it here once it arrives. It comes with the slide copying attachment secondary bellows. Not really sure what R lens you would use for that. Maybe a 100/4 Macro-Elmar head but then I already have a BEOON for that, which is rather easier to use with the SL601. 

Wilson

Edited April 27, 2020 by wlaidlaw

[earleygallery]

Hi Wilson 

I expect the same as I have, the 60mm. Your 100mm might be fine though. 

[wlaidlaw]

3 minutes ago, earleygallery said:

Hi Wilson 

I expect the same as I have, the 60mm. Your 100mm might be fine though. 

Hi James,

I thought your 60mm was M39 LTM. In theory I could mount that on an BR-2 bellows, with an LTM to M ring then my 14167 M to R adapter (originally for Visoflex lenses). I would doubt if the 100/2.8 APO Macro-Elmarit, that I hope I still have en route from New Zealand (if it has not been stolen or lost, as over a month since it was posted) would fit, being much too big. In any case if it ever arrives, it comes complete with ELPRO close up 1:2 attachment. I think the lenses that might fit for slide copying, would be either the 60 Macro-R or the bellows version of the older 100/4 Macro-Elmar. You could actually buy the 100/4 in two versions, with a focussing tube to mount direct on an R body or the Bellows-R3 focusing version, as a macro kit. The 100/2.8 was one of Leica's early efforts at an internal moving focusing group to reduce aperture shift at very close distances and is a pretty large lens, being over double the weight of the f4 version. 

Wilson

[earleygallery]

Wilson, there is a 60mm R mount Novoflex lens on the site I sent you the link to. 

Your bellows probably have a different hood fixing than mine but you may need a step ring to fit that properly to whichever lens you’re using.

[wlaidlaw]

James, I doubt I will be using the slide copying secondary bellows anyway. If the 100 APO really has disappeared, I may consider a Novoflex lens once the insurance refund comes through. 

Wilson

[eilert anders]

I have the 60mm f2.8 Macro Elmarit R, the 100mm f2.8 APO Macro Elmarit R and the short mount 100mm f4 Macro Elmar lenses.  The 60 is a truly universal lens, and is superb optically.  I use it primarily for copying documents, pictures etc. on a copy stand.  The 100s are generally too long for this purpose.  The 60 is also a good "normal" lens.  The 100 short mount Macro Elmar is used on by bellows R.  I use it for photgraphing small archaeological specimens such as arrowheads and nature subjects such as flowers and small animals.  An advantage of the bellows uint is that you can orient the camera on the bellows to get landscape and verical exposures without modifying the setup.   Has to be used to understand how valuble this option is!  These two lenses are great on a copy stand.

 

The 100 APO is truly superb.  It is no doubt the sharpest of these lenses, which is hard to discern since thay are all so good.  What I value most about it is the great color it produces.  To get from 1/2 life size to life size, one needs the dedicated Elpro lens.  It actually gets to 1.1:1.  You can not use bellows extension is you want the best quality in this range.  That is why Leica does not recommend using bellows extension with this lens.

 

If you want a "macro" lens that can control background, use the 400mm f6.8 Telyt lens!  It can focus close-up on its own and with an extension tube gets you really close.  By moving around you can essentially choose your background because of its narrow angle of view.  And it is also so far away from the subject, that you can place yourself beyond the escape range of shy animals.  I own it, and it is my most fun lens!  I use it with my 2X apo converter which gives me a 800mm f13.5 lens.  One needs lots of light, but the results are surpisingly good!

[wlaidlaw]

My 100mm/2.8 APO Macro-Elmarit-R has turned up. It turns out that NZ post were lying in their tracking about it being loaded onto an outward bound plane on April 2 and the lens has been sitting in a pallet in Auckland airport for the last month and a half. Very annoyingly, they have refused to retrieve the package, so that it could be Fedex'd to me, and have said that it may be being loaded onto an outward plane sometime in the next 48 hours. They are probably lying about that as well. 😡😡. 

Wilson

[gbealnz]

That's good news Wilson, but poor service as well. The seller initiated a claim, was that what shook it from the pallet? 

Gary

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[wlaidlaw]

Gary, 

I suspect that was exactly what got the NZ post office to look a bit more seriously than they had to date. The lazy b's still have not bothered to update their tracking, which says loaded onto outbound aircraft April 2, so I do hope they are correct about it being on a pallet and that is not just being said to stall the insurance claim. Greg asked them to retrieve the package to return to him but they refused. 

Wilson