nikon body on a non nikon bellows (a very non nikon bellows if i may add..)

[.th]

<p>hi.. <br>

consider this an optimistic (perhaps overly so) search for the gadget that connects my nikon body to a canon fl bellows unit...</p>

<p>i was about to list the bellows unit for sale at one of the local photo sites, but after i found the fd reverse adapter, and with it the possibility to mount my 60macro on the bellows, i couldn't help fantasizing about something that connects my camera to the rear of the bellows. however, the only nikon/canon fd(fl) adapters i can dig up on the www are for the opposite direction, and understandably so due to infinity focus issues. but before i get rid of the bellows i'd like to ask around if anyone knows of such an adapter (or adapters) and where it might be possible to acquire such a thing...</p>

<p>the key to this little pet project of mine is "close to no budget" so a pb-4 or -6 suggestions, as logical and tempting as they may be, are not within my wallet reach these days..</p>

<p>best<br>

th</p>

[mike w]

<p>Duct Tape!.............Hehe...........Sorry I have no real answer. But good luck in your quest. Mayhaps a trade with a cannon enthusiast will come to pass.</p>

<p>Mike</p>

[ian_rose]

<p>on the big auction site you can get cheap made in china ext tubes at about $20cdn a set which have screw in mounts as you want one end nikon and the other end canon FD if the ext tubes wont work or are unavailable in fd mount the other option is a custom made mount from somewhere like S K Grimes but it wont be cheap</p>

<p>Ian R</p>

[tommyinca]

<p>There are number of ways to do this. Canon made something called Lens Mount converter B. It is for adapting FD lens to M39 range finder. From M39, you can find adapter from ebay to go to a Nikon F-mount. A 2nd way is get a FD to Nikon F-mount adapter ($43 at ebay) and remove the lens elements from the adapter. A 3rd way is find one of those (there are a few but all discontinued) FD reverse T mount adapter. You can add that to a Nikon T-mount. </p><div></div>

[.th]

<p>thanks all for tips (especially the one about the duct tape ,-)</p>

<p>a quick look at <i>canon converter b</i> at the auction site makes me want to start fantasizing about a pb-4 instead, in other words, they don't exactly come cheap. so, another saved search there...</p>

<p>but i'll be looking into the options, thanks again!</p>

<p>best.<br>

th</p>

[.th]

<p>and then there it was, on the great auction site. no glass, and free shipping ,-)</p>

<p>best i report back - when the mail has arrived - about rigid issues and such...</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Here's my Nikon F2 modelling a very nice Pentax bellows unit, which has been converted to take a T-mount on the camera end and has an M42 to Leica screw-thread adapter on the lens end.</p>

<p>Thorir, have you investigated whether the camera fitment is removeable from the bellows? If so you might be able to fit a T-mount to it reasonably easily. And why the Leica adapter, you might ask. Because most enlarger lenses have a 39mm Leica thread, and also make cheap and excellent macro lenses.</p><div></div>

[.th]

<p>thanks for input rodeo j.</p>

<p>your solution seems indeed to be quite a clever one (i especially liked the m39 part of it), however, since i'm trying to make something with what i have and not go nuts with my wallet, i wanted to see if i could puzzle a system around the fl bellows. as i mentioned, i did manage to find an fd to nikon adapter, without glass, so in theory it should be suitable for this kind of work, whether or not it's rigid enough to support this kind of weight on both sides remains to be seen though. at least i figured that $30 wasn't too bad to bet on it.</p>

<p>a quick look at the rear standard doesn't really tell me much about how easy it would be to remove the mount. and unless the adapter i just purchased proves unusable, i should have no reason to. fwiw, other than the mount issues, i have to say i'm quite impressed with the build quality of the unit, i just tried mounting a rather heavy 50mm on it, and turn it on top (lens facing down) and with none of the locks tightened, it didn't creep a millimeter. true there was no camera mounted, it shall be interesting to see how well it performs with all parts in place...</p>

<p>i'll be back, with a detailed report , )<br>

.th</p>

[.th]

<p>i threatened you with a detailed report, there aren't many details yet but the canon fd to nikon f adapter has arrived, and the first testpics have now been taken. in short, i was not thrilled with the quality of the adapter, but i will probably reconsider that opinion, after all it costed me close to nothing so perhaps my expectations were a little on the high side. what i found though was that the bellows unit was a little less rigid than i had expected it to be, again my expectations might have been a little larger than fair (i've never attempted photography at magnifications higher than 1x before) and i wouldn't be surprised if the unit was close to 40 years old.</p>

<p>oh, for testing i shot a ruler, backlit, with three ar hexanons (a 28/3.5, a 50/1.4, and a 135/3.2), all reversed since that was the only way i could mount them on the bellows (but also because that sounded like the logical thing to do). to my untrained eye, image quality wasn't evil, i tested all wide open and at f8, needless to say there was something to be desired wide open (can probably be explained to some extent by lousy focusing technique) but at f8 i think the quality was pretty decent (though i'm not all to confident about the focus plane at f8 either). wellwell.. perhaps i'll be able to put this to some use in the future, but even though shooting high quality images of backlit rulers was never among my greatest ambitions, i'm sure it was a decent exercise.</p>

<p>pics can be seen <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thorirvidar/sets/72157618464049507/">here</a> , they are reasonably tagged so most of the relevant info is there.</p>

<p>i can't promise i won't post some decent photos from the poor mans macro rig, if i ever make any that is...</p>

<p>but thanks for input...<br>

best<br>

th</p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3549511129_2a2b8f62d8_o.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>just under 6mm by AR Hexanon 28/3.5 @f8, reversed on a Canon FL bellows with a D300 on the back. the front (meaning what's normally the rear) element was about 3.5cm from subject if i remember correctly.</p>

[mike w]

<p>Speaking of bellows, I have a nikon PB6 that we use on rare occasions. What is the best way to store it? Closed tight,closed loose, open, if closed tight should a powder or something be applied?</p>

<p>I ask because my wife got it out the other day and the folds were ever so slightly stuck together they are in verry good condition and I'd like to keep them that way.</p>

<p>Any suggestions are welcome. I know this is an old thread so if I don't get responces here I'll post a new one.</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

Mike</p>