Wanted to share this, because of the recent interest in macro with MF gear. Thanks to Jeff Hirsch at FotoCare, I was able to secure a set of pre-production Alpa/Novoflex adapters (actually it was my wife 
). As has already been pointed out by Steve, these fit the Novoflex BalPro T/S bellows. This bellows allow ±15° tilt (or swing) on both the front and back standard, and about 20cm extension. And also allows 26mm lateral shifts (front and back). With the SK120ASPH, you can get certainly get 1:1 magnification, probably even beyound that - I'm estimating ~1:0.8 based on the extension I used, so bigger than life size. Notice that there is no Alpa camera in use here, just the IQ140 back and the lens in Alpa mount. It is actually interesting to note it's possible to get infinity focus with this contraption, if you omit the standard 34mm adapter for the SK120ASPH. So kind of a general viewcamera . However, I would probably never use it this way, a bit bulky outside the studio.
This Victorian Naval Medal below is 36mm diameter, about the size of a watch, Gerald. The challenge has always been to get everyhting in focus, including the naming on the rim and the text on the clasp. For the shot I used close to full tilt front and back (~15° forward on the front and ~15° backwards on the back - I also used the 17mm Alpa 5° tilt adapter for fine-tuning, ~2° front tilt). So all in all ~32° tilt total. With macro you need a lot more tilt than with normal shooting . All evalualted with live view on the IQ140 back, it's not really very easy with live view, but after a while you get the hang of it. The secret is to not make too many changes all at once, but you need to move your 100% view-window as well as focus - because a small change in focus moves the view-window as well. I'm sure it would be much easier with the IQ250/150/Credo50. I tried the tethered session with live view in C1-8, but it was not convenient for me to control focus and look at the MacBook sceeen at the same time. I probably need to work on a better set up.
In the past I had to do the focus stacking routine to get everything in in focus - which works, but it's always better to get it right when you shoot it. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, not perfect - but close to what I want. Of course this is nothing fancy, just to show what can be done withe Novoflex T/S bellows and the Alpa adapters.
Cheers, -Peter
). As has already been pointed out by Steve, these fit the Novoflex BalPro T/S bellows. This bellows allow ±15° tilt (or swing) on both the front and back standard, and about 20cm extension. And also allows 26mm lateral shifts (front and back). With the SK120ASPH, you can get certainly get 1:1 magnification, probably even beyound that - I'm estimating ~1:0.8 based on the extension I used, so bigger than life size. Notice that there is no Alpa camera in use here, just the IQ140 back and the lens in Alpa mount. It is actually interesting to note it's possible to get infinity focus with this contraption, if you omit the standard 34mm adapter for the SK120ASPH. So kind of a general viewcamera . However, I would probably never use it this way, a bit bulky outside the studio.
This Victorian Naval Medal below is 36mm diameter, about the size of a watch, Gerald
. The challenge has always been to get everyhting in focus, including the naming on the rim and the text on the clasp. For the shot I used close to full tilt front and back (~15° forward on the front and ~15° backwards on the back - I also used the 17mm Alpa 5° tilt adapter for fine-tuning, ~2° front tilt). So all in all ~32° tilt total. With macro you need a lot more tilt than with normal shooting . All evalualted with live view on the IQ140 back, it's not really very easy with live view, but after a while you get the hang of it. The secret is to not make too many changes all at once, but you need to move your 100% view-window as well as focus - because a small change in focus moves the view-window as well. I'm sure it would be much easier with the IQ250/150/Credo50. I tried the tethered session with live view in C1-8, but it was not convenient for me to control focus and look at the MacBook sceeen at the same time. I probably need to work on a better set up.
In the past I had to do the focus stacking routine to get everything in in focus - which works, but it's always better to get it right when you shoot it. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, not perfect - but close to what I want. Of course this is nothing fancy, just to show what can be done withe Novoflex T/S bellows and the Alpa adapters.
Cheers, -Peter
