Copy Stand: More Sugery!

Some may recall last year I embarked on a project to construct a copy stand from an old enlarger stand.



https://goccf.com/t/154003

All said and done it was successful. Successful until I started using legacy ( old fashioned) MAcro lenses. I had adapted the old bellows mechanism to act as a fine focus adjuster. However with my most often used macro lens being the "built-like-a-tank" 200 mm FD macro that bellows mechanism became a liability. After a bit if research I had decided sometime ago what was needed. Last week with my credit card cut-off date passed, I ordered the equipment: A focusing rack specifically a novoflex castel Mini. It wasn't cheap @ €139.00.

So this afternoon the remains of the enlargers bellows were removed, and the ball head was remounted. The result of the surgery is the Camera with the monster macro,Canon FD 200mm macro, is much more stable. Further more fine focusing is much smoother and more accurate than ever before. All up I think I have now spent close to €280.00( the most being on the focusing rack) on the Copy stand. As much as that may seem what I have is considerably better than the €800.00 stands I can buy new, here, in Europe:

Photos of the final set up,and the new focusing rack(Note the camera and lens are mounted much closer to the base board than is usual for taking photos):