El-Cheapo Lenses

My preference is a medium to dark gray. I don't like black, as I find it almost as distracting as a primary color. A little texture (but not too much) helps to break up the solidness of the background and minimize distraction.

edited to add...I shoot for approx 30,30,30

El-Omegar 75mm lens for $19.99

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...B:SS:US:1123

The El-Omegar I have is standard M39. It produces a pretty good image as well!

It's rare that a Polaroid MP4 Tominon lens in good (described) condition is priced within my EL-Cheapo range ($30 or less) but one popped up today and I wanted to both alert folks as well as remind everyone that this lens has a mounting thread of 40x0.75mm (M40) for mounting to a Copal-0 large format shutter and that an adapter is required to mount it to a bellows. Turns out the ebay seller jinfinance custom makes these adapters but they will cost you another $15, so be forewarned. Other lenses in the series require the same adapter. Tomioka made a kit of Tominon lenses for Polaroid MP4 macro system which included 17mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, 105mm, and 135mm. I've used the 17mm, 35mm, 75mm, and 105mm with good results. The 17mm adn 35mm are especially nice for variety shots if you don't want to use a microscope objective.

Anyway, enough soapbox, here is the lens:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...B:SS:US:1123

Not as of yet; I don't currently own a dSLR and likely won't until I'm employed again. However, thanks to a friend with a serious case of buyer's remorse who wishes me to sell his new camera on consignment via ebay, I'm currently in possession of a very special P&S: a Sony RX100. It is staggeringly good. Incomprehensibly good.

I'm going to point it at some coins over the next couple days, and publish later this week. Not that I'd recommend a $650 point-and-shoot just for coins, but still.

Here's a Japanese El-Omegar:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/El-Omegar-S...em4ac12893fb

And a German El-Omegar by Rodenstock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rodenstock-...em565723a554

And to go with them, here's a great deal on a Vivitar Triple Track Bellows:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/18115292528....m1438.l2649

I picked up the exact same German El-Omegar by Rodenstock, for about the same price (the cost of a melt bucket silver dollar.) I wanted to hook it up to my Pentax K-x and an inexpensive bellows set up. Nobody here would say my results were spectacular, but they aren't too shabby either. The downside is that I can no longer blame my equipment for crappy photos.



Trying to document die scratches.
Hi, my name is Kurt, and I am a VAMmer.