Below are links to articles and threads of interest to macro photographers.

Articles

Close-up & Macro Photography By Nikonian Chuon-Szen Ong
You now want to get closer to your subjects? Check here how and with what equipment

Floral and other macro subjects on black by Nikonian Bill Staples
How to capture the real colors of subjects and make them pop out against a black background

Discussion Threads

Understanding Macro Lens Apertures

Macro Lens Working Distances

Macro Composition Tip and Tricks

Macro FAQs

If you see a thread that you think belongs here please bring it to the attention of a forum moderator and we will add the link.

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Dave
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Awesome references... Thanks !!

I have a d200 and pb-4 bellows
What extra equipment do I need to attach a macro lens?
thanks
Mike Browne

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I recently bought a D7000, not quite the same as your camera. I had a PB4 bellow bought some time ago, (30 plus years ago?)for use with film Nikons. I also had a 105mm bellows F4 Nikor which was bought at the same time as the bellows. Both have been sealed up and stored away for well over 25 years or so having been in the Middle East, the Far East and now in the UK.
Anyway I dug them out and after rotating the camera mount to allow clearance of the camera body bulge I coupled the camera to the bellows and shot a few insurance pictures, with available light and then with multi-flash. I was pleased with these initial results. The camera took care of the stop down metering with ambient light. However, my old flashguns required the 'suck it and see approach' to exposure. At least the SB16 would fire off at the correct time and allow remote triggering of other flashes with a flash slave. (The inbuilt flash sends out its pre-flashes and resulted in missed flashes from the remotely triggered guns.) I ended up with the lens fully stopped down (F32) with the combined effects of an SB16 and a Vivitar 365 potato masher bounced round a light tent.
In part this was an experiment to see if old kit still had any life left in it.
If you go down this route, watch out for flash trigger voltages on old guns! You may have seen the warning and know all about the issue, but others may still be unaware.
Experiments were brought to a crashing stop by a problem with my leg, (I still do not know what caused/causes it and neither does anyone else). But I hope to be able to try again soon.
I realise the this is probably not what you were after, you probably have auto lenses and AF. In my 'box of unexplored bits' I do have a mounting ring that appears to operate, (memory is having a fade out moment or two) the stop down mechanism of auto-diaphragm lenses. Was that what you were referring to?
As far as I am aware there is no way to connect a modern camera to the lens through the bellows unit, but others are welcome to correct me.

Is this a sticky? If not it should be.

Terry

I have just posted an update to the "Macro Lens Working Distances" tables.

Regards,
Tony

My Nikonians Gallery

Basic Macro Photography Tutorial

Good basic tutorial
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/macro-photography-intro.htm
These guys are pretty hard core...
http://photomacrography.net/forum/index.php

On the above post (a bit off topic...)
>As far as I am aware there is no way to connect a modern
>camera to the lens through the bellows unit, but others are
>welcome to correct me.

I've used a bellows setup with a Nikon V1 and 50mm f/1.4D lens. Works OK in Manual focus, A or M mode See:
http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=419&topic_id=1866&mesg_id=1866&page=

Ken

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