Hi NU.NikonUser wrote:My camera (D2Xs) will not fit onto the Nikon PB-6 bellows, the base of the camera is too deep. I have to mount an extension tube, a PN11 (52.5mm), between the bellows and the camera. I also have a complex lens mount at the other end of the bellows. Thus with the PN11 + bellows at full extension + lens mount (+ reversed for El Nikkor) I have a total extension of 325mm from the camera/lens mount. Can add another 50mm from the camera/lens mount to the sensor.
That's almost the opposite of what I do. I thought being able to cover a larger range at a smaller magnification was more useful photographically, i.e. if you can get the extension range down to 133-275mm from the sensor (not counting the distance to the lens's rear node). So your shorter lenses all give you about a 3:1 range to play with:
the 63mm Luminar goes from 1x to 3.3x, a really nice range
another favorite, the 25mm Photar: an elegant 4x to 10x
I figure it's also perfect for 160mm or 210mm tube microscope objectives, basically 200 +/- 75mm.
To get to this point, I rummaged my junk drawer for the thinnest ring that would couple a D2X or D3 to a PB-4 and found the 14mm thick Nikon E2 ring. The RMS lenses mount with a custom made conical 30mm cone T mount to RMS adapter, the T mount itself adds 9mm. Reversed enlarger lenses end up a little closer, basically 120-262mm.
Of course, neither the enlarger lenses nor a few of the Luminars really hits their stride at such short extensions, and I often add another 100-200mm for those...
Just a little bit different way of looking at things.