Thanks Lou, great input. I decided to test the usefulness of the system for lens image circle measurement. My first couple of tests of some microscope objectives showed disappointing results, so I mounted the 85mm Macro-Varon to see if there was an issue with the system. I was able to go out to a 90...

Thanks. An interesting approach. So the focus is done by varying the extension between lens and camera. Is telecentricity a limiting factor for lens choice here or are your subjects so flat that that doesn't become an issue? Telecentricity is always an issue with stacking, but the 95PN is for sure ...

Very interesting. Do you have a description of the Sensor Pan system you used for this? Some sort of automated XY system to move the camera through the large image circle of the lens, I presume? Do you connect the lens and camera with a bellows or another system that allows the necessary movement? ...

For well over a year I've been contemplating building a Sensor-Pan system for use with the Rayfact 3.5x (RF3p5x) lens. Integral with this system concept is a FF camera to minimize the number of tiles required to shoot a Lincoln Cent. The diameter of a US Cent is 19mm, and at 3.5x this projects a 66....

Great test Robert! Interesting to see the M5400 NOT winning, but also surprising to not see the SN8000 lens in the test...Ray The Minolta 5400 is just slightly out of the best range at 1.4x, it's super in the 1.5 - 2x range. This test just happened to hit the best range for the Nikon. The 100mm Sca...

There is a good thread over on MFLenses re this lens. User found lens very soft and high CA. Seems it is indeed optimized for non-vis.

Great test Robert! Interesting to see the M5400 NOT winning, but also surprising to not see the SN8000 lens in the test...Ray

Pau wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 2:15 am

Ray,
I would be very interested in seeing your modifications of the Pentax Auto Bellows (I also use and love it), could you post them? (better in a new thread, I think)

PM Sent

Very nice @LewTwo! This is similar to the systems I used to build. Mine used B&L "A" Stands, and I incorporated Pentax, Viviitar, and Novoflex bellows. The Pentax are the most flexible and wide range, though the Novoflex quality is very nice, and the Vivitar have shortest minimum extension. Still, t...

Lens looks interesting Ray. Looks suspiciously like relay or X-Ray type lens though. Quick note FYI, I have had good and bad results with that seller, NatCam Exchange. The last time, in Nov. they sent a lens marked "EX" and it was barely "AVG" quality in reality with a nick in the center of the rea...

I was hoping someone on the forum had purchased one of these so we could get some info on performance, but alas it seems they went to others. It does look interesting. Something else to watch for I guess.

I see that several of these sold over last couple months. Did anyone on the forum buy one? I'm curious about performance given its large aperture. edited to add: same question about the 56mm f1.9 lenses further edit: here is a link to the last one that sold: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-JML-Optica...

I will measure it later this evening, Ray. The lens is quite good at 2.5-4 but I do not want to claim that it is as good as the special lenses you use. But unlike your subjects, mine wilt, so speed and flexibility are more important to me than to you. Also my subjects vary continuously in size, unl...

On my A7r4 the Laowa 100mm and the 2,5-5x replaced all the scanner lens and special lenses, much easier to handle and having an aperture to be closed if necessary. For me too, the Laowa 2.5x-5x is usually the lens I turn to for ordinary FF work, especially for deep subjects or live subjects. I real...

Well, the shutdown order of 6-Dec made very little actual change to the Bay Area. When it was announced there was a huge flurry of activity, with the freeways packed like it was a Friday commute rush hour. Next day it was a ghost town again, slower than before the new order, yet within a couple days...