Originally posted by Azpentax This one is new from Japan (Japanese instructions). Use a close up bellow too...
Have you tried with your bellows? If you're using the 100mm f4 bellows lens the copipod may not provide enough subject to lens distance for focusing. If you're using a 50mm on the bellows you may not be able to get close enough to focus unless you raise the subject up. In either case, the bellows main support rods may strike the lens support plate (= yoke) of the copipod. I have had one for many years, an incomplete unit (no case, only one of the two lens/camera holders), and have found it a bit clumsy to use. It works best with a 50mm lens + close up filter or a 50mm macro, but press down on the copipod with a finger when rotating the focus ring to keep the whole rig from rotating. The 'pod is designed for and best applied to it's primary original function of photographing multiple documents one after the other during one photo-session (= get the set-up right, then file through the papers). When photographing 3D objects rotate the legs (=loosen the thumb strew that holds the filter thread ring and rotate the camera) to a 45 degree position rather than four-square as shown in the instructions. That way your primary light can come in from the upper left without a leg there to cast a shadow, and you can lean a reflection card - silver, white or some shade of gray as required - against the opposite pair of legs to throw light back into the shadows.