Site Supporter Registered: September, 2010 Location: Hudson Valley, NY Posts: 2,626
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 2, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Solid Build- Easy to mount camera, and highly adjustable | | Cons: | Camera rotation possible, but as is, cannot rotate a K7 on axis- solution provided | |
This is a fine piece of machinery. The Auto Bellows M is nicely designed, precisely machined and offers all the features (though read below) you would want on a quality macro bellows. The system is well worth what one might pay for it. A separate slide copier attachment can be added (sometimes it is included with the kit), turning this unit into a multimedia copy system.
The bellows provides separate front and rear standard adjustments, a separate micro adjustment rail (to allow the shooter to move the entire system in and out once focus is established to change the point of focus on the image), and like all the Pentax Auto Bellows units, scales to help you calculate bellows factor (exposure changes). All the adjustments can be securely locked down so the set-up does not shift during exposure.
The bellows can be easily detached from the front standard to allow for lens reversals. The system comes with a double cable release so a K mount lens can be stopped down at the same time the the shutter is tripped (actually, just before). The camera body can be rotated on the lens axis to allow for horizontal and vertical images without readjusting the camera/bellows set-up. This works fine with the older film cameras (K Mount) but for Digital (K7 and similar) there is a challenge, presented below.
Using the Auto Bellows M
Let me state that I have another bellows unit for the Pentax and although well built, it did not allow for ANY rotation of the camera on the lens center axis. This is highly important in extreme macro photography where you want to go from a horizontal (landscape) orientation to a vertical (portrait) orientation. If a bellows does not have this feature, then EVERYTHING has to be repositioned for the shot. This is a real pain to do. The Auto Bellows M does provide for this, but with a K7 (and similar bodies) there is a caveat, the back end of the camera mounting area is not flush with the back of the rear bellows standard, so rotation is not possible, without a small simple modification. To extend the system out so a K7 body can rotate, I attached a short (12mm) extension tube to the back of the bellows (where the camera would mount) and everything rotates beautifully.
Using the double cable release with a K7 is not really necessary as there is no place to connect the mechanical cable release to the camera! This bellows was designed for film cameras, when a $5 cable release was used (instead of a $40 switch). Although I could use my K mount lenses, my older bellows used M42 screw mount lenses and I realized there is an advantage to using them with this bellows. Since these older lenses have an M/A lever/switch to allow for automatic and manual stop down of the lens, this same mechanism makes it quite simple to adjust the image wide open and then stop down the lens to a predetermined f stop setting prior to shooting. All this required for the bellows was a K to M42 adapter, and using the type that allows for focus to infinity is not necessary (the cheaper one will work).
Conclusions
From using macro bellows units in the past I know how much fun they can be to use. Once you understand that you need to have patience when using one, it really slows you down and you can relax with your shooting session. This Auto Bellows M will provide both film photographers, and with a bit of modification, digital photographers with a versatile and reliable system for extreme, dynamic macro photography and hopefully astounding images!
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Senior Member Registered: April, 2010 Location: Seattle Posts: 153
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 21, 2011 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Solid, well built, M42 is easy to mount | | Cons: | None | |
The Auto Bellows are at the heart of the macro system I use.
If you shoot on a tripod, then these bellows allow for lots of adjustment in bellows length and a very fine system to adjust focus.
M42 fittings make it easy to adapt this bellows to a variety of camera mounts.
M42 also allows for easy adaption of enlarging lenses, which have worked quite well for IQ and cost.
The bellows are built like a tank, very solid and easy to work with.
I have written an article on using the bellows with enlarging lenses for macro.
https://sites.google.com/site/inexpensivemacrophotography/ | |
Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 4,461
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 26, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Well made, useful for larger than life macro and copy work | | Cons: | No auto exposure provided | |
I have had this bellows unit and slide copier for many years now. It is a beautifully made unit which mounts easily on your tripod. There are two fine focus adjustment knobs which move either the front or rear part of the unit. There is also a coarse adjustment knob which moves the entire unit forward and back. These fine focus adjustments are very important as depth of field is very shallow with a bellows unit. There is no direct connection between the camera and the A contacts on your lens so a double cable release is provided. One end of this release stops down the diaphragm and the other then trips the shutter. Auto is something of a misnomer here. There is nothing auto about it. The aperture stays wide open permitting you to focus and then stops down when you depress the cable relsease. You will have to do a lot of trial and error to get the correct exposure. This lack of auto exposure is the main drawback to the uint.
In my film days I used it mainly for slide copying with the Slide Copier M attached. I currently use it to make digital copies of my slides. For his application it works well. I plan to use it for larger than life magnifications but haven’t really got around to more than simple tests yet. It seems to work well on my K10 although I have heard some people have had difficulty attaching the unit due to the flash overhang on the K10/20 and K7. I normally remove the bellows to camera mounting ring and attach it to the camera first. I then attach the bellows to the mounting ring. This seems to clear up mounting issues.
Tom G
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