use of Focotar 1:4.4/50 for repro, with bellows

[Jan D.]

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Anybody experience with Focotar 1:4.5/50, bellows, and repro? I have to make color photographs of quite a number of title pages of books, dating 1500-1600-1700.

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[zeitz]

I have tested various 50mm lenses for macro work and found the Focotar to be a very usable lens for this type of work.  The Focotar II is better though.  Both are better than the 105mm f5.6 EL Nikkor, which surprised me.

I assume you are using a camera body with at least internal metering.  Your job is going to become tedious to begin with; it will be even more tedious if you have to calculate the exposure.  The job will also be easier if you have a dual rail bellows; ie Bellows II instead of Bellows I.

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[FDS]

I use the 50mm f4.5 Focotar-2 on a Leica 14652 macro extension tube for copying flat objects (adding intermediate rings as necessary for copying slides and negatives 1:1).  The lens is mounted onto the 14652 using a screw to M adapter ring.   Much less cumbersome than a bellows, especially if not going greater than 1:1.

An older Focotar will work, too.  Focus wide open and then stop down to f11 to get as flat of a field as possible (without getting possible deterioration of detail at f16).   

How large are the pages that you'll be photographing?  Will you also copy smaller areas on the pages?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by FDS
correct spelling

[Tom Johnston]

I too use the 50mm f4.5 Focotar-2, though mounted on my old Reprovit 2. I've used it with Epson RD-1, M8, and M9- It performed so well that I was able to see imperfections on the M9 sensor. At first it was just a few spots that could be spotted out in post production, but it grew frustrating. I then mounted my XVario on the Reprovit column and used led bulbs installed in place of tungsten filament bulbs. Some examples are in my "studio tools" folder on my Flickr account. Some Focotar-2 / M9 examples are on my website in a post about handmade papers watermarks stamps.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Tom Johnston

[Susie]

Hi Jan,

I can whole heartedly recommend the Focotar for copying.  I don't have a Focotar ll but the original does really well. 

Obviously a Reprovit is the ideal thing:  I have a lla which I aquired and is in storage!, but I usually use the simpler, smaller one based on the Valoy enlarger, but any copy stand will help.  The National Archives in London have about 150 stands by Kaiser which are very good.  If you're using a Leica camera then to go with your Focotar I recommend the copy slide OOTGU with the focusing helix ZQGOO and a PAMOO finder.  This will give you everything from infinity focus to half life size, and is easier than bellows which will neeed a visoflex too.  They can be picked up fairly cheaply.

If the items you're copying will comfortably fit on A4, A5 or A6 sizes then don't forget the BOOWU-M which will do away with all focusing and support problems, but you'll have to use, say, an 5cm Elmar rather than the Focotar.  Don't dismiss the Elmar though, here are a couple of pics I took just now using an Elmar 50/3.5 from the 1950s to illustrate.  This is an A4 section (compressed to upload) and a 100% crop from the lower left corner of a page from Motorcycle News which is standard newsprint . The shadow bottom left is from the leg of the BOOWU-M, but it will stand okay on three.

Whole page on A4:

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100% crop bottom left corner:

 

Best wishes,

Susie

 

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by Susie

[UliWer]

vor 15 Stunden schrieb FDS:

...Leica 14652 macro extension tube...

This sounds interesting - though I cannot find an item with this number. Could you please check whether the number is right, or show a photo of the item? Thank you!

[pgk]

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Most, 'decent' enlarging lenses will do a reasonable job copying such material. However a later, coated lens will have better contrast than an older uncoated or single coated lens. More important are; even illumination and colour correction. I do a lot of this sort of work and the first shot I take is of a colour checker chart. Then I take the material to be copied using the same settings. I then adjust the colour checker chart RAW file so that it is as close to the original as I can get it and apply the same adjustments to all the images - after that it easy, simply open each file and convert it to your desired size and format.

[a.noctilux]

55 minutes ago, UliWer said:

This sounds interesting - though I cannot find an item with this number. Could you please check whether the number is right, or show a photo of the item? Thank you!

Macro-Adapter-M 14652 ?

[FDS]

Yes, that's correct:

https://uk.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Technical-Equipment/Adapter/Macro-Adapter-M

Also, I've used the OUTGU.  It works well but the 14652 is especially nice with M240/M10 models.   If I recall correctly, it's not possible to focus to infinity but, perhaps, 3 or 5 metres is doable without any intermediate rings (17675, etc.).  

Edited October 16, 2020 by FDS
Additional comment

[UliWer]

vor 12 Stunden schrieb a.noctilux:

Macro-Adapter-M 14652 ?

Yes, of course! I saw the number and looked it up in Laney as I thought it was an old item... and could not find it...😗

[Jan D.]

First of all, many thanks are due for everyone who responded to my question about photographing title pages of valuable old books with the Focotar 50: expertise all over.

The main problem is the object size: a spread of 2 pages can be as large as A3+ (32.9 by 48.2 cm). To keep the length of the copy stand column manageable (I don't have a studio), a focal length of 50 mm is about right – photographing the binding of a closed large book implies an extra length of about 10 cm. There is a choice of column lengths offered for Kaiser copy stands.

The Focotar 50 mm has the same thread as all screw-mount Leica lenses. Converting the Focotar to a bayonet mount with my good old 14097 adapter makes it fit on Bellows II with adapter 16596 G (found one on Ebay). With this setup, on my old Visoflex III, Bellow II, and M10 nr 20000, I can start my library job (430 titles).

Focotar 50 mm – distance film-object 103.3 cm, object size 43.2 by 84.8 cm (1:18),125 mm depth of field at f11.

Of course, Reprovit II is far more practical to work with (you can choose you object size by projection on the base plate), but also more expensive for just one job. The macro adapter for M-Leica (14652) is also expensive, and lacks flexibility, as it is meant for macro work: it increases the lens to film distance.

The best solution would be the Leitz "Wechselschlitten" for the Leica M3 (thanks, Susie). Object size by lifting or lowering the setup on the column, looking through the viewer, and then focusing with the viewer. I am currently hunting for OOTGU (for M3) with ZQGOO (for Focotar) and LVFOO (5x magnifying viewer).

Many thanks again, and take care of yourself and your family.