[murrelet]

An hour ago I was doin' just fine on the 12-step Don't-DIY program an' then someone had to dredge up this thread.

The junk box called and after kludging up an M42-to-Q adapter from body caps for this ol' bellows I've now gotta figure out what to do with this contraption.

At least the 105mm offers good working distance.

Is that a spam can LCD hood?

[pacerr]

Is that a spam can LCD hood?

Yep.

But this has proven much more versatile.

[pacerr]

The Pentax 110 lenses offer an opportunity to fabricate an economical and compact macro/close-up kit.

This solution uses C- or D-PQ lens adapters and drilled out rear lens caps for mounts. The tubing used is a nominal 1” (25mm) diameter length cut from an LED flashlight. The total adapter face-to-face length for the 110 lenses must equal 27mm OR GREATER to accommodate the lens registration distance of the 110 lens. Any length over 27mm acts as an extension ring and depends on the lens used and the magnification desired. Thin PVC pipe could also be used. Properly sized with a slip/friction fit it results in an adjustable extension tube. I've used that means to determine the desirable dimensions for various lenses and uses.


The example in this case was the P110 18mm F/2.8 lens with an aperture mask (~ 5.5mm dia) to reduce the effective f-stop to approximately F/4 as determined by the shutter speed loss with equal exposure conditions. The mask is made from a blackened, thin brass washer centered on, and glued to, the rear element of the lens. This combination produces a very useful DOF at any focusing distance.

Some useful numbers:

• The registration distance for the Q-mount is 9.2mm; for the P110 mount it is 27mm. So this application needs an additional 17.8mm of tubing for normal focusing, or greater length for extension effects.
• With the 18mm lens the FOV covers ~ 33 x 22cm at min focus distance (FD) and ~42 x 32cm at max FD at working distances of ~ 8 -13cm and DOF of about 4 – 9mm.
• With the 50mm lens the FOV covers ~ 34 x 25mm at min focus distance (FD) and ~47x 35mm at max FD at working distances of ~ 8 -13cm and DOF of about 4 – 9mm.
• Rules for extension tubes: Adding extension equal to the lens FL provides 1:1 magnification. Extension equal to half the FL provides 1:2 magnification, etc. (E.g., 50mm ext + 50mm lens = 1:1 mag.)
• The Q sensor dimension is 7.6 x 5.7mm. Simply viewing a millimeter rule through the planned lens combination and dividing the observed width of the rule by 7.6mm provides the working magnification.

Pictured are the 18 and 50mm lenses with 10mm of added extension tube effect.
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EDIT: Added 70mm pix

With arms reach working distance the 70mm 110 lens is ideal for bugs and close-up nature subjects.

[pacerr]

Having an inveterate interest in close-focus and strange DIY gear combinations it was only a matter of time before I acquired a set of the Movo auto-focus extension tubes.

Movo Photo AF Macro Extension Tube Set for Pentax Q Mirrorless Camera System with 10mm, 16mm & 21mm Tubes (Metal Mount)

Yes, they are well made and achieve the AF and AE data flow as advertised, and they DO act as extension tubes are supposed to – but too much so. Before you decide you need these give long thought to how you expect to use them. The 'crop factor' pretty much precludes using them with any of the existing Q lenses except the 06 tele beyond 40mm. Otherwise you simply can't get close enough to the subject to focus – auto or not. The efficiency and efficacy of AF for macro work is also arguable.

This isn't to say these tubes may not be just the thing for some special purpose use. Just don't expect to find the AF feature useful with the AF Q lenses -- although the AE data feature may be helpful in some circumstances.

The tubes themselves may be quite useful however if you combine them with an appropriate adapter and longer FL, non-Q lenses. Initial messing about with the Pentax A110 50 and 70mm lenses has shown promise. I suspect M42 and PK lenses in the 50-135mm range, a 70-200mm zoom and the longer DA*-200 & 300mm lenses may be quite interesting as well.

I wouldn't condemn the AF tubes as useless since the AE function may be just what you need with the 06 lens. But I'd certainly be just as happy with the home built adapter-extension tubes I posted here previously. Just 2 to 5 MM of extension is about all that's useful with the mid-range Q lenses IMO and that leaves too little depth to the barrel to easily include a lens release latch.

I wouldn't hesitate to acquire a $15 set of manual extension rings in the 5-25mm range for the Q as I believe they could be very useful.

------------

Just tried an Adaptall 35-135 macro (40A) and 35-80 (01A) with the 21mm tube and found 'em to provide a very useful range of close-up options. Not likely you'll want true 1:1 macro on this small sensor anyway.

If you have Adaptall lenses the AD2-Q adapter is very convenient.

----------------

1st image = Q7 + 06 @ 45mm + 10mm ext tube -- using AF with AV mode [f/4.0, 1/80th sec, ISO 1000].

Image covers actual area about the size of an SD card.

2nd image = Q7 + A110/50mm + 10mm ext -- MF in AV mode [f/4.0 mask, 1/40th sec, ISO 800]

The A110-50mm is especially sharp with good DoF in all uses.

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Last edited by pacerr; 07-29-2015 at 10:34 AM.

[Vince_Lux]

I have been considering the Canon 65mm MP-E, but for the moment I'm quite OK with my Q and my Tamron 90mm f2.8:

[cantthink193]

There're a lot of very complicated contraptions developing on this thread! A bit beyond me, I think - I'll stick with the Pentax K-Q adapter and the DA 35mm Limited, which gives excellent results without any DIY required (my DIY skills being somewhat lacking). Full-size images on flickr, as ever.

[Mothballs]

nothing fancy. Just The Tamron 90mm Macro, because reasons.

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[Piotrek K]

Pentax Auto-110 18/2.8 lens with Pentax W-21 diopter at 5.6.

[Terrence5050]

Here's my Bellows Rig for a Pentax Q, an amazing piece of kit, everything from infinity focus (I can use it as an M42 adapter) to around 5X magnification, which, with the Q's tiny sensor is less than 1mm filling the frame!

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It's winter here so finding small subjects is difficult, but the Wallflowers always try the hardest,

First the overall shot with the bellows retracted

[/url] [/IMG]

A little closer.




And a shot of a budding Wallflower, the 'flower' is around 1.5mm across, some movement in this shot because of high ambient light - see below.

[/url] [/IMG]

Still not at the end of the focus rail with this shot, I could go closer, but not hand holding. Just keeping the subject in the frame is a bit of a lottery when you have this magnification and your still over a foot away.

The TTL flash is important as the short flash duration (1/1000th of a second or faster) effectively becomes your shutter speed if the ambient light is low, All these shots are hand held. Even with the closest one I am around a foot away from the flower. In the last shot you can see some blur caused by the sensor recording for 1/13th of a second, I want little or no ambient, it works best in near darkness using a torch to get focus. Often all you need is the pop-up flash.

I have set the Q so that the pop-up flash doesn't fire when down for this rig, (Custom Menu, item 10 'Flash When Retracted' to option 2), the idea is that off camera flash gives some modelling. The flash will still fire when popped up. By default both flash fire.

The Q never ceases to amaze me, if I put my 300mm M42 lens on this rig I could photograph the Moon, so everything from Astro to near Micro in one rig! Amazing! Can't do that with my K5.

Chris

How do you attach the Bellows to the camera?? Can I glue a body cap to bellows..

[Stone G.]

Where there are fresh peony buds, there are also bound to be (lots of) ants. "My" ants are very small but they move awfully rapidly nonetheless, The challenge was to try to capture them during those brief moments where the didn't move too fast:



Worker



Soldier


Pentax Q10 with 06 Telephoto Zoom at 21.4mm plus +10D close-up lens.

[barondla]

Excellent images Stone G. Is the closeup lens big and heavy? The 06 isn't happy with a lot of weight hanging on the filter threads. Ants are fun to photograph. Tough, but fun.

[Stone G.]

Is the closeup lens big and heavy? The 06 isn't happy with a lot of weight hanging on the filter threads

Thank you barondla. I just bought a cheapish set Chinese single-element un-coated close-up lenses for experiments, and I am actually surprised how well they work with my 02 and 06 lenses. The weight of the +10D lens is 13 grams as compared to the 95 grams for the 06 lens itself.

Ants are fun to photograph. Tough, but fun.

Indeed, but also sometimes somewhat frustrating because focus is almoooost there......but not quite. Here's another 06 +10D example: A very juvenile spider, still almost transparent in some parts and no larger than a (small) pinhead. This time the FL of the 06 lens was set to 44mm:







Imagine that this will be a big, fat beast - too large for the Q-sensor - in a couple of months' time....

[barondla]

Stone G. Filter looks good. Not as big as I thought, so it should be fine. I have a +4 and +10 37mm closeup filter I need to try more. Have used the 4 a little.

Are you using autofocus? If so, try setting manual focus then moving camera in and out to find focus.
Thanks
barondla

[oscaletrains]

Plain old Q with a M 50mm f4 macro and 50mm extension tube.

[Stone G.]

Some shots from this summer with my Q10, Pentax 06 Telephoto Zoom and a +10D close-up lens:



06 lens @ 27.5mm



06 lens @ 29mm



06 lens @ 27.5mm


And oh yes, there were ants in the rhododendron flowers too:



06 lens @ 29mm