[Tighelander]

I saw this at a thrift shop today. It had a slide bellows accessory. Hadn't seen one of those before. The lens looked like an enlarger lens, it was a 75mm. The lens had a collar fitted DYI style on it. Would all of this be used together? The bellows and the tubes?

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[stevebrot]

This appears to be a macro bellows with slide copier attachment* being sold with a set of extension tubes and what is either a lens specific for bellows use or an enlarger lens.

The camera body attaches at the rear (far left) and a suitable lens (usually 50mm for 35mm slides copying) attaches to the bellows front standard in place of the stack of extension tubes. A second bellows extends from the slide holder for attachment to the front bezel of the lens. The intent is to provide sufficient extension from the camera to lens to allow 1:1 reproduction (e.g. 50mm) with the distance from the lens to the slide establishing focus.

What mounts are on the camera and lens sides of the bellows? T-mount? The extension tubes might come in handy to provide standoff for the bellows from the camera. Several recent model Pentax dSLRs will not mount cleanly to some model bellows due to physical interference with the camera lower body and/or prism housing extension.

The Web page below has photos of a similar unit including one configured for slide copying.

http://www.thecuckoofarm.com/cuckoo/photo/camatt/slidecop/vivslide/vivslide.php

Important: By comparison with the unit at the link above, what you are asking about looks to be missing the bottom focus rail with tripod mount as well as the side spools to allow copying from uncut film. There are additional photos of the bellows itself at the link page below:

http://www.thecuckoofarm.com/cuckoo/photo/camatt/bell/vivbell/vivbell.php

It appears there are tripod mount holes on both of the two standards. Something to allow mount to tripod is pretty much essential. If the focus rail is in another box to be included with the package, that would be idea and would make for a very nice setup.


Steve

* It may also be a dedicated slide-copy bellows, depending on whether the slide holder is permanently attached.

[Tighelander]

The mount is the M42. It also had the spool holder for a roll of film.

[Not a Number]

From what I've read the Vivitar bellows used T-mount adapters. Yes, the tubes can be used with the bellows. Extension is extension whether from tubes or extending the bellows. Used without the copier you would get much more extension than with just the bellows. You get a bonus set of tubes that can be used without the bellows

As long as the original coupling adapters for the front and rear of the bellows are included you should be able to use just about any T-adapter with it.

Vivitar Bellows System
Vivitar Universal Bellows System: Fits most SLRs | Photrio.com Photography Forums
Vivitar Bellows (T mount) with K5 IIS(?) - PentaxForums.com

---------- Post added 03-17-19 at 11:17 PM ----------

The mount is the M42. It also had the spool holder for a roll of film.

Actually it is a T-mount. The diameter is 42mm but the thread pitch is different from M42 and is not compatible. You would screw a T-mount adapter of your choice of camera mount to the bellows.

Edit: it seems these may have come with M42 unless the example in the linked PF thread had been cross threaded by a previous owner.

Download manual from here:
http://www.boggys.co.uk/page75.html

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Last edited by Not a Number; 03-17-2019 at 11:31 PM.

[Tighelander]

This is interesting to me because I tried out a "Slide adapter" tube accessory I've had for a while, and the focus seems to be off.

[stevebrot]

One thing to consider is that an APS-C body will require less magnification (1:1.5) and greater distance from lens to slide for copying. On Pentax-brand bellows, the available extension of the smaller bellows from the slide copier is inadequate length to bridge the gap.* This may not be a problem with the Vivitar, but is something to consider if attempting conversion to digital using other than FF.


Steve

* This was due to clearance problems that disallowed moving the rear (camera) standard forward from its rearmost position. If I remember right, Colton Allen (@Swift1) had some success doing slide copy with APS-C.

[stevebrot]

Download manual from here:
Page 75

This is very useful to this thread!


Steve

[BigMackCam]

Moved to "Pentax Camera and Field Accessories" forum

[torashi]

Please, be careful and check all threads. M42 screw mount is 42x1mm (M for metric) and T mount is 42x0,75mm. They seem to match, but don't screw lightly all the way in and can actually damage each other.

[WPRESTO]

As assembled, using an APS-C camera, that unit could not copy all of slide or negative, and it is possible it would not be possible to focus on a small part of a slide or negative placed in the holder to the right.. Substituting a 50mm lens for the 75mm would probably work.