Bellows: Getting The Swing Of It? - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,778
lrbguy Pillar of the Community United States 949 Posts	Posted 05/28/2016 4:04 pm For coin photography using enlarger lenses and bellows, what is the advantage, if any, of a swing/shift bellows (e.g. Nikon PB-4) over a non-adjustable bellows (e.g. Nikon PB-6)? Choose your favorite bellows maker for the comparison, but the question is about the lens movement. BTW the Nikon units do not tilt, but the PB-4 does swing. Not sure what the advantage would be for coin shots. Maybe the shift is good for ? Edited by lrbguy 05/28/2016 4:10 pm Report this Post to the Staff

austrokiwi Pillar of the Community 2087 Posts	Posted 05/28/2016 5:06 pm I have MInolta tilt shift bellows, and a Mamiya 645 Bellows that has rise and fall, tilt-shift and swing. I also have a mirex tilt shift adapter. The most useful function for coins is shift. These days with stacking tilt is not necessary, and I have yet to have any need to use either rise and fall or swing. Report this Post to the Staff
pepactonius Pillar of the Community United States 9395 Posts	Posted 05/28/2016 9:06 pm The shift function on the PB-4 can be used instead of a 45-degree 50% transmission glass plate for doing pseudo-axial shots. The PB-4 can shift up to 10mm to either side, and you can move the coin image over to the edge of the sensor for additional shift. You can then bounce light at an angle off the coin up into the lens, and get an effect similar to real axial lighting. Of course, you need a lens that can cover a larger image circle, and also one that allows for at least medium bellows extension, so you can shift the front standard of the bellows. On the rare occasions that I do pseudo-axial shots, I use a 135mm EL-Nikkor. Report this Post to the Staff
rmpsrpms Pillar of the Community United States 4038 Posts	Posted 05/28/2016 10:38 pm The PB4 does both tilt and shift, but I am not a fan of doing tilt or shift at the lens. I prefer doing these movements at the camera, as this gives the same effect but minimizes the requirements for lens coverage. My favorite tool for this is the tilt adapter. The ones I've used don't tilt on-axis, so they provide some shift as well as tilt, in the correct direction. This can be really useful to compensate for a slight tilt of the coin to achieve pseudo-axial lighting. My current setup has a goniometer plus a tilt adapter and the combination gives an excellent result. Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com Report this Post to the Staff
austrokiwi Pillar of the Community 2087 Posts	Posted 05/29/2016 01:24 am Quote: I prefer doing these movements at the camera, as this gives the same effect but minimizes the requirements for lens coverage. To expand: Tilt shift and swing are demanding on lenses. you need to use a lens that projects a very large image circle, Some lenses provide an image circle that is only slightly larger than the sensor... with the result, As soon as you start using them for tilt shift etc, you find you can't move much before loosing the image and getting dark areas in the shot. The Olympus 135mm F4.5 bellows lens produces and image circle almost as large as a medium format camera lens so works well, Likewise the Minolta 100mm F4 bellows lens. Like rmpsrmps stated moving the camera and keeping the lens stationary is a a better approach. I can do it by attaching the Mirex tilt shift adapter to the mamiya 645 bellows....but for all the work involved the advantages aren't good enough to do it very often. Inother wrods Just too much work for shots I could produce just as well normally) Edited by austrokiwi 05/29/2016 01:25 am Report this Post to the Staff
rmpsrpms Pillar of the Community United States 4038 Posts	Posted 05/30/2016 12:21 am My point is that I don't recommend going the Tilt-Shift Bellows approach. Instead, a variable-tilt adapter works much better and provides a combination of tilt (mostly) and shift (a little) that works very well when combined with a little tilt-shift of the coin. This is an excellent way to achieve pseudo-axial lighting while not requiring the use of medium format lenses. As a plus, the available adapters are much, much cheaper than a tilt-shift bellows. Here's the adapter I use...though the angle markings are wrong and need to be re-written if you want to match the tilt of a goniometer to the adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Macro-Tilt-...AOSwEOxXPxGR For the goniometer, if you want to go that route (you can just manually tilt the coin) there are a range of options: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Suruga-Seik...AOSwR0JUNIQL http://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-Good-S...AOSwcldUY4TB http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sigma-KOKI-...AOSw5ZBWG8Sj http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sigma-KOKI-...AOSw3mpXDchm There are also double-goniometer options available. If you buy a double, make sure the axis of the upper and lower stages are complimentary, ie they result in an axis of rotation that is at the same plane above the combined pair. I'm not sure if this one is complimentary but it may be worth asking the seller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SURUGA-SEIK...AOSwAuNW6WwA Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com Report this Post to the Staff
austrokiwi Pillar of the Community 2087 Posts	Posted 05/30/2016 05:51 am yesterday I spent well over an hour trying to set up a some shots to demonstrate how tilt could be used. I gave up in absolute frustration. I only ever use Shift for coins, and that is a very rare occurance. The tilt shift adapter I use is expensive and I hardly ever use it for coins. Its great in normal photography where I can use tilt to adjust for perspective problems such as buildings looking like they are falling backwards. Report this Post to the Staff
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