Canon bellows FL or M?

<p>Hi,<br />I am planning to get a suitable bellow to learn macro-photography. I have some FL standard lens, e.g. 55mm/1.2, 58mm f/1.2 and 50mm f/1.4. Since there are planty of standard lenses, I don't think I will get a macro lens in the future. I also have some zoom lens that comes with macro function, they are FD 28-85mmf/4 and 70-210mm f/4. <br />So I want to know, what are the differences between Bellows M and FL? Which one will you suggest? And, can I mont the Zoom lens on the bellows?<br>

Thank you,<br />Kevin</p>

<p>Here are some of the differences:</p>

<ul>

<li>For me, the most important difference is that the Bellows FL has a focusing rail that allows you to adjust the distance from your subject without having to change the extension on the bellows. The Bellows M is less convenient in that you may need to move your tripod or change your bellows extension to make similar adjustments.</li>

<li>The Bellows M is a very basic unit with no automatic features. The aperture lever on your lens must be in the locked (stopped down) position, and you'll need to manually adjust the aperture ring to open and close the diaphragm. The Bellows FL is more convenient because it has a linkage that operates the automatic diaphragm on FL and FD mount lenses. Even if you stop the lens down before taking the shot to reduce vibration, you don't have to change your aperture setting to open the lens for focusing purposes. </li>

<li>For the FL version, there are accessories available for duplicating slides, roll film and movie film (8mm and 16mm), though the latter items can be expensive and hard to find.</li>

<li>The construction and rigidity of the FL model is of a higher standard as you might expect.</li>

<li>Despite its higher cost when new, my experience is that the Bellows FL is much easier to find and is not much more expensive than the Bellows M.</li>

</ul>

<p>If you don't already have some, extension tubes and macrophoto couplers (lens reversing rings) are an inexpensive way to get into macrophotography. They can be used with a bellows unit, or separately when transporting a bellows and tripod is not practical.<br>

Any lens can be mounted to a bellows, including zoom lenses. However, there may be a very limited range of focus and more distortions with zooms. An extension tube may be more practical with a zoom lens.</p>

<p>I have two Bellows FL units. These are very well made and convenient to use. They haven't been made in a while so you need to check that the bellows material is still light tight. Bellows FL units seem to sell for a lot less than the Auto Bellows. Any lens could conceivably be attached to a bellows but some are more suitable than others. In general, fast standard lenses are not the most suitable for macro use. They have too much curvature of field. I have the second version of the 50/1.4 FL and also the 55/1.2 FL. I wouldn't consider using either of them for macro work. There is no reason to believe that the 58 would be any better. You can gain some sharpness in the very close range by reversing a lens. Of the standard lenses you have I would recommend trying to reverse the 50/1.4. You will then need to set the aperture manually. One of the reasons a 50 is not easy to use on a bellows is that even with the minimum amount of extension your working distance from the subject will be very short. Could you use the zoom lenses on a bellows? You could but don't expect very good sharpness.<br>

You can do very nice work with enlarging lenses on a bellows. This is an all manual operation so chasing live insects would be difficult. I can recommend The Manual Of Close-Up Photography by Lester Lefkowitz. This book is originally from 1979 and is still an excellent reference for close-up and macro photography. The book shows Nikon equipment from that time but the principles apply to any equipment. You can adapt enlargng lenses to a Bellows FL in several ways. Canon made an adapter which converts the FL/FD mount to Lecia 39mm. That 39m thread is the standard for many enlarging lenses. Another way is to get a Canon T mount adapter and a Leica to T adapter. The longer enlarging lenses in the 75mm to 150mm range can be used satisfactorily front forward. The book explains when reversing an enlarging lens is useful. Even though I have many macro lenses I still have fun using enlarging lenses on a bellows if I am shooting a non-moving subject. An economical and surprisingly good macro lens in Canon mount is the Vivitar 100/3.5. The plastic lens barrel does not inspire much confidence yet the sharpness of the lens is quite good. It goes to 1:2 by itself or to 1:1 with a screw-in adapter which looks like a filter. Cosina made the lens and it is also sold under the Promaster, Cosina, Phoenix and Soligor names. I have a Vivitar, a Phoenix and a Promaster in Canon mount and a Vivitar in Minolta MD mount. </p>

<p>Kevin, if you are a newcomer to close-up/macro work then you would probably find it much more rewarding as a first step to learn how to make good use of a macro lens – a real macro lens, that is, the "macro" labelling on zooms is just a bit of marketing. My first macro lens, late 1960s, was the FL 50/3.5, which as a 4-element design was OK for performance but not outstanding. I used it on a Pellix and an FTQL. Because it was designed to work also with non-TTL metering it had an ingenious mechanism for compensating the aperture setting for the amount of extension from infinity to x0.5, and then again on its dedicated 25mm extension tube from x0.5 to x1 – the tube turned the lens top-to-bottom to reveal a new set of scales for the x0.5 to x1 range. I then moved on to the optically superior 6-element FD design for use with my F-1, and eventually to the (?optically identical) New FD version, which lasted me until my move to the EOS-1 and EF 50/2.5. I'd recommend either of the FD versions for use, whereas the FL version is more of a collector's piece. I never used the 100mm or 200mm FD macros, but they were said to be very good too, although the 200mm is rather more specialised in terms of what it is suitable for. I also had the Bellows FL, which was a nice piece of engineering, and which I used with the FL 50/3.5, sometimes reversed. Canon made three special bellows lenses in those days, a short-mount 100/4 without a focusing movement of its own, that would give infinity focus on bellows, and also 35mm and 20mm lenses for work at magnifications above x1. There is no current equivalent of the 35mm and 20mm lenses, and I believe that they are quite sought-after.</p>

<p>Kevin, I have the autobellows, and the 35mm bellows-only lens. Even without the bellows-specific lens, the bellows opens up a world of experimentation possibilities, as long as you accept the studio-like setting limitations of the bellows. You don't want any wind at that magnification, anyway.</p>