Macro on medium format

Sir SR

Sir SR

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Shaheed
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Now I have the home developing bug, I'm thinking of things I can shoot around the house.

I have a good quality diopter lens that I want to experiment with

The only issue I'll have is lighting. So whether to improve exposure at the development stage or to actually connect some lights via a PC cable

Anybody else done any macro on medium format?
 
Moar light!

You'll always need more light, pushing only really increases contrast. Some films you can get away with this others not so much but imo its better to have the negative as close to optimal exposure as possible after that you can mess around in dark/light room.

What camera did you get again? Some like the RB which is bellows focus will do near macro with any lens out the box however you need to increase exposure time by a "bellows factor" depending how much draw you've needed to focus.
 
steveo_mcg said:
Moar light!

You'll always need more light, pushing only really increases contrast. Some films you can get away with this others not so much but imo its better to have the negative as close to optimal exposure as possible after that you can mess around in dark/light room.
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:agree:
 
steveo_mcg said:
What camera did you get again? Some like the RB which is bellows focus will do near macro with any lens out the box however you need to increase exposure time by a "bellows factor" depending how much draw you've needed to focus.
Click to expand...

Like wise if you add extension tubes in to the equation you will have to adjust the exposure to compensate but agree with the other comments. MORE LIGHT :)

When I ran a Bronica SQ-A I used two extension tubes and had to increase the exposure time by I think a factor of 2 stops per tube, if memory serves me right.

Most of the time I was shooting flowers outside using natural day light but tried using reflectors to add light in or block it.
 
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Thank you all. I suspected that this might be the case- more light it is!!
 
you see, this is why I stick to things that don't move for tabletop shooting - lots of still life stuff - who cares if it ends up as a 32 second exposure - nobody/nothing is going anywhere...
 
steveo_mcg said:
Moar light!

Some like the RB which is bellows focus will do near macro with any lens out the box however you need to increase exposure time by a "bellows factor" depending how much draw you've needed to focus.
Click to expand...

I use a Mamiya RZ67 which, as Steve says about the RB, can focus close with most lenses. I also have the No 1 and No 2 extension tubes - these only get used in the house/studio as any breeze when trying to shoot flowers out of doors will move the subject outside of the very narrow focussing range.

So far I've just been using anglepoise lamps which produce enough light for still objects. If shooting colour film, change the bulb to a daylight-balanced one.
 
Kevin Allan said:
So far I've just been using anglepoise lamps which produce enough light for still objects. If shooting colour film, change the bulb to a daylight-balanced one.
Click to expand...

Now that I've looked at your flickr stream I can see that you're already proficient with flash, so that's probably going to give you more options than anglepoise lamps !
 
Kevin Allan said:
Now that I've looked at your flickr stream I can see that you're already proficient with flash, so that's probably going to give you more options than anglepoise lamps !
Click to expand...

The limiting factor with flash is convenience and time!

With the bronica I connect my lencarta smartflash via a PC cord and then have other flashes on optical slave mode. Life would be easier with a hotshoe.

Or I guess if I could connect my ir triggers somehow!
 
steveo_mcg said:
Moar light!

You'll always need more light, pushing only really increases contrast. Some films you can get away with this others not so much but imo its better to have the negative as close to optimal exposure as possible after that you can mess around in dark/light room.

What camera did you get again? Some like the RB which is bellows focus will do near macro with any lens out the box however you need to increase exposure time by a "bellows factor" depending how much draw you've needed to focus.
Click to expand...

A bronica sqa. And I guess it's always better to get it as right as poss in camera!
 
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