| Close-up
and Macro Photography
by Chuon-Szen Ong
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BELLOWS
... continued
Once
the camera body is mounted vertically onto the bellows, the
body can be rotated into the horizontal or landscape position
by releasing the spring catch on the right side of the camera
mounting panel, as shown in the animation below.
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Rotating
the camera body from a vertical to horizontal position
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MF
bodies can be mounted directly onto the bellows. If however
an AF body is used, the PK-11a 8mm extension tube is required
as interface between the bellows and the AF body. This ensures
no damage is done to the AF body’s electrical/electronic contacts
at the top of the mount.
| Normal
profiled camera bodies, can be mounted to the bellows
and be used for both horizontal and vertical format shots.
However, larger profile bodies such as the F5 or D1 series
and bodies with external battery pack/power grips, a pair
of PB-6D Bellows Spacers must be used to increase the
height between the bellows standard and rail. This will
then allow for additional clearance to enable the larger
motorized bodies to work with the bellows system in landscape
and portrait formats.
Shown
at right a large profile body with PK-11A Extension Tube
& PB-6D Spacers as required for bellows mounting. |
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| When a lens is normally mounted on to the bellows, aperture control
is only available through the lens aperture ring. There
are no electronic contacts on the bellows to facilitate
camera body aperture controls. During shutter triggering,
automatic aperture stop-down will only function if the
AR-7 (two ISO thread mechanical plungers) or AR-10 (one
ISO thread mechanical plunger and one 2-pin electronic
connector) double cable releases are used. |
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With either one of the double cable releases, one of the
ISO thread mechanical plunger must be screwed into the
bellow’s front column where the lens is mounted and the
second cable (mechanical or electronic) will be connected
to the camera body’s normal cable release port. When using
the 2-pin electronic connector on the F5, F100, F/N90(x)
and D1-series bodies, a MC-25 adapter cord is required
to convert the 2-pin connector into a 10-pin connector,
as shown at right. Unfortunately, no infrared double release
combinations exist for bodies such as the F/N65. |
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| With the plunger-assist automatic aperture control lever activated,
the bellows work just like a normal camera body with the
little aperture control lever on the lens mount holding
the aperture blades wide open. This lever is release only
when the shutter is triggered, activating the mechanical
plunger on the bellows column to automatically stop-down
the aperture blades to the pre-set aperture settings.
At
right, F3HP on the PB-6 with a MF 55mm f/2.8 AI-S Micro-Nikkor
triggered from an AR-7 Double Cable Release. |
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| Using the auto aperture control activation lever, which also doubles-up
as a DoF preview button, the depth of field checked before
triggering the shutter.
Image at right: F5
on the PB-6 & PB-6D Spacers with a MF 55mm f/2.8 AI-S
Micro-Nikkor triggered from an AR-10 Mechanical &
Electronic Double Cable Release.
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