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...

Hi Robert Have you tested the lens from the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED Scanner? I believe it is 7 elements in 4 groups including 3 ED glass elements. I do not know if it has an LS designation. Best John https://www.closeuphotography.com/scanner-nikkor-ed-7-element-lens Here's Robert's 2018 test o...

The 25mm LS20 is really hard to use due to the FL. At least they were cheap, I paid $18. :D Sharpness is great but CAs are less corrected than the LS30. Interesting...I bought an LS-20 and it had the same lens in it as the LS-30. The LS-10 I bought had the smaller 25mm lens, so I have assumed Nikon...

There's a simple rule for that: Don't expect the seller to know that M42 means M42x1 instead of M42x0.75. If the add doesn't state pitch, ask. I haven't had a wrong one (in that thread pair) so far, but the sample is still small... Unfortunately, I've purchased several adapters that were marked M42...

Great report Robert! I pulled a couple lenses from LS20 and LS30 scanners a while back, but was not able to get great results from them, and given the short FL I ended up putting them in the box with the rest of my scanner lens experiments. It's good to see the lens compared with the MPE-65, Magnago...

The funny part is that I still see photos of the Taobao lenses I purchased being used by multiple sellers on eBay, that were "borrowed" from my Taobao seller this summer. Sounds like you've been swimming with the sharks! I've never tried buying anything from Taobao or other Chinese-only site as I e...

I've been offline a while, and missed this. My uncle was a watchmaker, his workroom had a lifetime's collection of materials like Ray's. He used his "set of turns", which I think he'd made himself, rather than a full lathe. I made a couple of replacement pinions and bushed a couple of tiny watch pl...

Indeed I am still puzzled by these wires. For now they will remain a mystery. hardened and then blued steel, I'm rather sure it was made for replacing worn pivots, but I wonder of the fine steps in size and the large quantity. That's enough for 10 watchmaker careers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The deleted post was from a spammer who happened to pick your thread as a vehicle for his against-the-rules signature. His account is gone now. But these new photos of yours are very interesting anyway. I have no idea what these wires are for. --Rik Hmm, his request seemed so sincere. Indeed I am s...

I don't remember who requested pics (their post has been deleted) but I did go ahead and take the pics, see below. Glad I did since I had misremembered the markings/sizes of these rods, which are metric rather than inch. Instead of starting at 21mil, they start at 0.21mm, much smaller. This may chan...

It was sold for less than $1200 USD on taobao, so he's making a comfortable $500. At least he actually owns it. $500, is fair also. Realistically, it's $500-$180 = $320 (ebay fees and paypal fees). That's not greedy at all. I can confirm that three copies were offered. I know the original seller, h...

The latest RF3p5x from Chendata is showing serial number 200354, so this is indeed a third lens. The listing shows "3" available, and the price is the same as I paid a while back. Highly recommended lens, though I have not made full use of it yet.

Looks like my Estate Sale substitution for the Electronics Swap has come to an end. CA is shut down yet again. In some ways it's less restrictive, as many businesses which had to close in March seem able to stay open now, but in other ways it's more restrictive, with literally zero socialization all...

I'm not surprised about the compatibility issue. I have seen quite a few issues with "M42x1" male threads not interfacing well with similar female threads. This is a big problem with some of the Pentax Auto Bellows I've handled. There are two types...first has radial set screws that hold the M42 fro...