Medium format and Macro photography...

[hjoseph7]

Does anybody here use a Medium Format camera to take Macro Shots. It sounds a little cumbersome and non-intuitive, but after picking up the book 'CLOSE-UP & MACRO - A photographers guide' written by Robert Thompson that was sitting on my shelf, I am a convert. Most of the pictures in this book were taken with a Mamiya 645 AFD, Fuji Velvia 50 slide film with the infamous Mamiya 120mm f4 lens. The pictures in this book are absolutely incredible ! I honestly can't tell if the pictures were taken with film or digital !

This book has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while, so long that the author was still using a Kodak DCS Pro digital 135mm camera as a back up. Also a Nikon D70 ! Nevertheless,  90% of the images in this book were taken with the Mamiya 645 AFD. This gives me hope that I can put my medium format Mamiya 645 1000s to use, since it's been only collecting dust and I was seriously thinking about selling it.  The 645 1000s is all manual and a "Brick" of a camera !  I mean it is really heavy, so using it as a Macro camera  might be a little challenging to say the least.  I'm not sure what type of tripod he uses with the Mamiya,  but the author does mention that he uses a Benbo Trekker Tripod. I'm guessing that a set up like this would require a pretty stable Tripod...    

[paddler4]

Nope. I don't even use my full frame for bug macros. I usually use an APS-C. Bugs don't stay put. It's very difficult to get in position and focused in time, even with a smaller camera. Having a diffused flash makes it even harder. 

I would also never consider film for bug macros. The number of keepers is quite small. At least, mine is. Minute problems of focus, moving plants, etc., mess up many images. I consider it a good day if I take 80 or 100 shots and get 2 keepers. No cost other than time: I just format the cards and start again.

A key variable in macro is pixel density. Magnification is independent of sensor size. So if you have a 1x .3 cm bug at 1:1 magnification, that 0.3 cm^2 is all you get on the sensor. That's another reason I use a smaller-sensor camera for bugs: greater pixel density.

This image was captured with an 18 MP APS-C camera (first generation Canon 7D), with a 100mm lens and 36mm extension tube for greater magnification.

[Jochen_S]

IDK your book. German 1950s author Alexander Spoerl suggested to sod 35mm and a ton of cumbersome accessories for close up work and out a trusty old view camera with 2x or 3x bellows draw instead. Which made some sense at that time. My Bergheil 6.5x9cm for example is pretty light and without mirror slap probably not very demanding on a tripod. More movements than just lens shifting would of course be desirable, so a Technika or even a monorail with roll holder should be more fun for static close up shots on film. 

No comment on Mamiya 645; I never used one. While I own a P6 with 120/2.8 & bellows, I never used that combo. Real macro isn't my realm. I 'll try hand holding 2:1 attempts with APS-C.

[hjoseph7]

Fuji Velvia 50 has been discontinued. Fuji Velvia 100-F is selling for about $1 per frame, for both 35mm and 120mm film formats($34.95/$14.95)  I can see where digital would be the wiser descision...  

[paddler4]

Keep in mind that focusing is extremely tough in macro work because of the tiny depth of field. A common way that macro photographers deal with this is to focus the camera at the distance they want and the move the camera slightly backwards and forwards, often on a monopod, to try to achieve focus, while focusing your eye on the bug's eye. This is what I do most of the time. Unless you are VERY steady, you have to accept a very high failure rate. Even though I've been doing this for years, I throw out the vast majority of my captures. I sometimes come home without a single usable image.

The heavier the equipment and the more out of balance it is (for example, from an off camera diffused flash), the harder it is to do this.

Edited May 6, 2023 by paddler4

[hjoseph7]

Not sure about Macro, but prior to the SLR photographers used view  LF cameras for closeups and extreme-closeups. One frame at a time, after one frame at a time. Range finders were out of the question due to parallax error.  The view camera movement helped in getting perfectly focused photos from front to back. These days we have focus stacking  and things of that nature.