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rmpsrpms
Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts
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I feel compelled to alert the members here to a nice bellows available on eBay. I have no affiliation with the seller. The Vivitar Triple Track bellows is M42 on both ends, is very rigid and has a very short standoff from the mount. This is one of my favorite bellows and I am hoping someone on this group who might be looking for a good bellows to go with an El-Cheapo (or even expensive) lens picks this up. Here's the link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/13063020852....m1438.l2649
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Moderator
United States
12790 Posts |
Somebody please snag this. It's the bellows I'm using with Santoku - Ray chose that one as the best-possible component for what I asked from him - and if it has faults, I haven't found them yet.
The best thing about a bicycle is that it uses no gasoline, therefore the chance of fiery death is greatly reduced.
First Catman, then Gary Burke and now Bigg Fredd - there's one heck of a coin club in Heaven.
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
Here's another alert...and again, I have no affiliation. This auction is for a Pentax Auto Bellows, and includes a Nikon 105mm EL-Nikkor lens and M42-M39 adapter. I usually figure a 105mm EL-Nikkor lens is worth $75-100, and a Pentax Auto Bellows $100-125, so the Buy It Now price of $139 is a pretty good deal if you need both bellows and lens, and the adapter looks very nice. Note that the Pentax Auto Bellows is a "mid-height" unit...not as tall as a Vivitar T-Mount but taller than a Vivitar M42 Triple Track linked earlier. So make sure it will fit with your setup before buying. M42 is of course easy to adapt to most any camera and these lenses have an infinitely-adjustable camera mount so you can rotate it to any angle. And the Pentax Auto Bellows is a wonderful piece of precision Japanese machinery. I would buy this myself but I just don't need another...Ray
PS: The Pentax Auto Bellows are prone to breakage of their white nylon bearing inserts. If a bearing is broken, the bellows won't tighten down well. The seller offers 3-day return privilege but you might also ask before buying if any of the 3 bearings are broken.
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
Well, someone bought the bellows and lens...was it anyone on this forum? I hope so...Ray
PS...did someone on this forum buy the earlier Vivitar Triple Track Bellows?
Edited by rmpsrpms
01/30/2012 3:34 pm
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
2529 Posts |
I almost did! I used to have the Pentax Auto Bellows II set up new in box, used it a couple of times then sold it on eBay for $270.00 back in the early 2000's, couldn't pass up that price since I was needing to invest in some seriously expensive lenses, EF 200mm f/1.8L and an EF 500mm f/4L IS for my work. I dumped anything I had film related back then. I really liked the Pentax plus I still have the Pentax cameras and Macro lenses since they weren't really worth that much used. I don't really need the lens so I'm holding out for another one.
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1982 • 2¢ variety collector. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
West...what Pentax macro lenses do you have? In PK or M42? They are nice lenses and should work well for coins as long as they are long enough...Ray
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Valued Member
United States
51 Posts |
Ray, I didn't get that bellows, but was able to pick up this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/12084353402....m1497.l2649 |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
Nice! Great deal especially with the focusing rail included.
Spiratone marketed a nice 75mm Flat Field Macro lens in T-Mount that will mount to that bellows directly. Also, I've purchased some adapters off eBay that were marked "M42 to M39" but were actually T-mount, not M42. Note that "M42" is same as "Pentax Thread" or "Mamiya-Sekor", or sometimes "Universal Thread" and is 42mm x 1mm pitch. T-Mount is 42mm x 0.75mm pitch. But sometimes they either mismark or thread items such that they will thread onto both. You just have to experiment...Ray
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Valued Member
United States
347 Posts |
Ray, can you explain how different these two bellows are in precision/mechanics (other than the obvious mount differences)? Also, could you comment on the prices? Asahi Pentax Autobellows -- $80 + $15 S&Hhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/370574693287and Pentax Auto Bellows A -- $215 + $16.95 S&Hhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Pentax-Auto...220938586279 |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
The mechanics are essentially the same between these far as I know. $215 is already too much for the BellowsA. It even appears to be missing the end trim screw. $80 for the Auto Bellows is a good deal for whoever got it...Ray
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
2529 Posts |
Quote:
West...what Pentax macro lenses do you have? In PK or M42? They are nice lenses and should work well for coins as long as they are long enough...Ray Ray, I have the 100mm f/4 in PK was my second lens I ever had, got it with my fist camera a Pentax ME Super. I still have the 50mm f/1.8 and the 100mm macro in a case somewhere. When I was playing with my Bellows (along time ago) I used a contax 50mm. Years after high school I actually fell into a photography job, there I used all Canon EF stuff and a Contax 645AF system. Now it's just a hobby again. I worked for an Atlantic Recording artist, and was on tour and staff for 5 years, then after that job ended (layed off) I switched over to sports photography, Gymnastics, open wheel auto racing, and some soccer/football stuff. Sold most of my gear as I got into astrophotography, though I still have a 1Ds body and a 20Da body with some good L glass. I'm using a EF 100mm f/2.8 macro right now, it's a pretty sharp lens, but I'd like to return to my old bellows for the really close up shots on my 2¢ varieties and VAM's. I also have a lot of Olympus OM lenses and OM-1 bodies somewhere in one of my storage units, I used them on the telescope befpre getting into expensive CCD cameras.
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1982 • 2¢ variety collector. |
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Valued Member
United States
76 Posts |
I'm using a Pentax K-x with a Sigma Macro 50mm 1:2.8 for coin shoots and decided to raise the bar. So I got a Nikon EL-Nikkor 105mm 1:5.6 enlarging lens. http://www.ebay.com/itm/22092813779....m1497.l2649And an ASAHI PENTAX Auto Bellows like new in box. http://www.ebay.com/itm/22091563506....m1497.l2649Toss in a couple of adaptors, and I hope to be doing some bellows shoots for less than $150. If the plastic bearing breaks, I think I can machine a new one. I've got the stock and the tools. And if it sounds like I might be bragging, I'm not. I'm encouraging anyone else that wants to get on the band wagon to do so without fear. I'm as dumb as a garden hose. And if I can find the stuff and make it work (with help from my friends on this forum,) so can any monkey. I never would have guessed that bellows were the new rage. I always thought of myself as a cork screw in the butter knife drawer. The only downside is now I'm going to have to upgrade my HillBilly copy stand. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
If you end up with broken pieces I have a donor unit I've been pilfering parts from. Let me know when you get the unit if you need any parts...Ray
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
Nice looking Vivitar bellows for a good price. Set up for Canon FD and even has a 50mm lens all for $45: http://www.ebay.com/itm/33069518404....m1438.l2649 |
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Moderator
United States
14444 Posts |
what does "setup for canon FD" mean? I have no idea what that means , all I know if I have a Canon dSLR camera and have never heard the term FD before
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1049 Posts |
FD was Canon's lens standard before EF/EOS. Before FD it was FL. So this setup has adapters to mount an FD camera (FD-T adapter) and FD lenses (T-FD). The Vivitar bellows are T-Mount, so for most Canon users it would make sense to replace the FD-T adapter with an EOS-T, and the T-FD adapter with T-M39...Ray
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Posted 01/14/2012 8:34 pm
