My pages on photography  

I have a considerable experience in macro- and close-up photography of shells and fossils (over 30 years) and take all pictures for the illustrations in my own scientific publications. In practical terms, this experience amounts to several hundreds of photographs published in international scientific journals and books, and several tens of thousands of photographs in my personal archive, which I use continuously as a source of observations and illustrations for my scientific research. I also used to do my own BW darkroom work until 2000, when I switched to digital photography.

Besides my use of photography in research, I have an interest in macro- and nature photography, especially birds.

These pages are based on my personal experience. Some of them deal with technique, and much of it applies both to film and digital photography. A set of these pages provides my personal impressions on some of the pieces of equipment I own and use. My impressions are based on a substantial use of these items, although I do not claim to use all their features, or even to make an optimal use of them. In fact, it is entirely possible that I am using some of these items in ways never intended by their designers. My purpose with these pages is not to make comparisons with other equipment, and especially with other camera brands. At present, I only use Nikon digital reflex cameras, and lenses and accessories that work with these. Therefore, the contents of this site are heavily Nikon-centric. If you are looking for reviews of other brands, or of the latest models of cameras and lenses, you will be better off checking some of the biggest photography web sites.

I am writing a book entitled Scientific photography with digital cameras; close-up, macrophotography and photomacrography. Its contents are obviously related to many of the pages linked below, but the book provides a more detailed, integrated and updated coverage of these subjects. It also concentrates on technique and methods, while many of the pages listed below are mainly tests and reviews of equipment. The book is also planned to contain chapters on setting up a laboratory for scientific photography, a discussion of professional scenarios in which scientific photography is carried out (e.g., scientist carrying out his/her own photographic work, professional photographer hired at a research institution, intern/student working as part-time scientific photographer, and freelance/contracted photographer), as well as detailed discussions on the construction or modification of special photographic equipment.

I don't have a commercial publisher yet, and may in fact decide to publish and market this book privately as an e-book. It will not be available for free in either case, but if I decide for private publication it will be less expensive than comparable commercial books.

The manuscript is scheduled to be complete in mid-2010.

Since this book is taking much of my free time, updates to this web site are going to be less frequent than in the past. Understandably, I will also try to avoid the duplication of contents between book and web site. However, plenty of information not suitable for the book (e.g., new tests and reviews of equipment), will continue to be added to this web site.

Theory and concepts
    Close-up photography
    Macro photography and macro lenses
    Photomacrography
    Photomacrographic lenses, part 1
    Photomacrographic lenses, part 2
    Photomacrographic lenses, part 3: Shootout at the Zeiss corral
    Photomacrographic lenses, part 4: Industrial zooms
    Photomacrographic lenses, part 5
    Photomacrographic lenses, part 6
    Enlarger lenses in photomacrography
    Reversed lenses
    Microphotography
    Reproduction ratio
    Specifying the reproduction ratio
    Depth of field
    Depth of field and resolution in close-up, macro photography and photomacrography

Focal length, angle of view and other lens characteristics
    Autofocus
    Bokeh

Home-made equipment
    "Chipping" an extension ring
 

Equipment
    Macro lenses
    Extension rings
    Bellows
    Close-up lenses
    T adapters (T2 adapters)
    Mirror lenses (see also here)
    Focusing racks
    Focusing jacks
    Focusing helicoids
    Viewfinder accessories
    Remote controls
    Versions of Zeiss Luminar lenses How old is that Luminar lens advertised on Ebay?
    Luminar, but not Zeiss!
    Enlarger lenses, from ordinary to unusual
    Continuous sources of near-UV
    Building a UV LED lamp

Technique
    Free-hand close-up and macrophotography
    Close-up and macrophotography with a tripod
    Close-up and macrophotography with a flash
    Studio close-up and macrophotography
    IR photography
    UV photography
    Focusing in close-up, macro photography and photomacrography
    Tilt-shift bellows
    Ultra-short tilt-shift bellows
 

Cameras (including old ones I no longer have or use)
    Nikon D200
    Nikon D70s (modified for IR+VIS+UV) (also used for test and other test), and its performance
    Nikon Coolpix 7900
    Nikon Coolpix 5700
    Nikon Coolpix 950
    Olympus OM-2n
    Olympus OM-10
    Pentax ES-II
    Pentax Spotmatic SPII
    Condor 1

Specialty lenses and microscope objectives
    Olympus 20 mm f/3.5 for bellows
    Olympus 135 mm f/4.5 for bellows
    Leitz Milar 65mm f/4.5 for bellows
    Leitz Summar 100mm f/4.5 for bellows
    Zeiss Luminar 63mm f/4.5 for bellows (also here, here, here and here)
    Zeiss Luminar 25mm f/3.5 "red dot" for bellows
    Zeiss Tessovar (photomacrographic zoom)
    Canon Macro Photo 35 mm f/2.8
    Nikon Macro-Nikkor 12 cm f/6.3 (and tested)
    Nikon Macro-Nikkor 65 mm f/4.5 (in comparison tests and more tests)
    Nikon Macro-Nikkor 35 mm f/4.5
    Nikon Macro-Nikkor 19 mm f/2.8
    Minolta Auto Bellows Macro 100 mm f/4
    Wild/Leica Photomacroscope M420
    Unitron Zoom 0.7-4.5x (photomacrographic zoom, also here)
    Navitar Zoom 6000 (photomacrographic zoom)
    Optem Zoom 70 (photomacrographic zoom)
    Nikon Plan 2x 0.05 (microscope objective)
    Nikon M 40x 0.5 ELWD (microscope objective)
    Nikon M 20x 0.5 ELWD (microscope objective)
    Zeiss Epiplan HD 8x 0.2 (microscope objective)
    Zeiss Epiplan HD 16x 0.35 (microscope objective)
    Lomo 9X 0.20 (microscope objective with a diaphragm)
    UV Rodagon 60mm f/5.6 (visible+UV lens) (also test, other test)
    Tomioka Tominon 75 mm f/4.5 (also for UV)
    Tomioka Tominon 50 mm f/4.5 (also for UV)
    LM microscope photo relay lens
    Olympus PE 2.5x microscope photo relay lens
    Nikon CF PL 4X MPC microscope photo relay lens

Enlarger lenses (also when used for other purposes)
    EL-Nikkor 40 mm f/4 N (for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 50 mm f/2.8 (general discussion, in photomicrography and for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 50 mm f/2.8 N (for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 50 mm f/4 (in photomicrography and for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 50 mm f/4 N (for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 63 mm f/3.5 (in photomacrography, for UV and more UV)
    EL-Nikkor 63 mm f/2.8 N (in photomacrography, more photomacrography, for UV and more UV)
    EL-Nikkor 68 mm f/3.5 (multiple tests)
    EL-Nikkor 75 mm f/4 (general discussion, in photomacrography and for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 80 mm f/5.6 N (for UV)
    EL-Nikkor 135 mm f/5.6
    EL-Zoom-Nikkor 99-230 mm f/8
    Schneider Betavaron (zoom enlarger lens, also here)
    PZO lenses with built-in colour filters
    Industar lenses
    Meopta lens with square diaphragm opening
    Agfa varifocal lens (for Agfa minilab)
    Fujinon EFC lenses (for Fuji minilab)

Macro lenses

    Zeiss S-Planar 74mm f/4 1:1 copy lens
    Nikon Micro Nikkor 70 mm f/5 (also for UV)
    AF Micro Nikkor 60 mm f/2.8
    AF Micro Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8
    Sigma Macro 180 mm f/3.5 Apo D DG HSM EX
    Novoflex Noflexar 35 mm f/3.5 (also for UV)

General-purpose camera lenses
    AF Nikkor 17-70 mm G
    AF Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4
    AF Nikkor 70-300 mm F/4-5.6 G
    AF Nikkor 35-70 mm f/3.3-4.5
    Sigma Apo "Macro" 70-300 mm f/4-5.6
    Sigma 10-20 mm f/4-5.6 D DC HSM EX
    Sigma 100-300 mm f/4 Apo D DG HSM EX
    Sigma 50-500 mm f/4-6.3 Apo D HSM EX
    Sigma 600 f/8 R
    Tamron AF LD 28-300 mm f/3.5-6.3 "Macro"
    Tamron 300 f/2.8 SP AF LD (see also here)

Focal length multipliers
    Nikon TC-20E
    Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 N-AFD 2x
    Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 N-AFD 1.4x
    Sigma Apo Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG

Electronic flash and accessories
    Nikon SB-800
    Flash extender
    Flash diffusers, reflectors and soft boxes
    Homemade flash brackets
    SC-23 flash cable
    Vivitar 285HV (modified for UV)
    Boling BL-300 (modified for UV)
    Lumedyne 800 Ws bulb (modified for UV)

Tripods, tripod heads and accessories
    Gitzo G1227 tripod
    Gitzo G1557 tripod
    Gitzo G1321 leveling base
    Gitzo G449 circular camera platform
    Gitzo G1518 column
    Manfrotto #074 tripod
    Manfrotto #144 tripod
    Manfrotto digi #719B tripod
    Manfrotto #468MGRC0 ballhead
    Manfrotto #136 video head
    Manfrotto #501 video head
    Manfrotto #115 3-axis head
    Manfrotto #141 3-axis head
    Manfrotto #029 3-axis head
    Manfrotto #234 monopod head
    Manfrotto #234RC monopod head
    Velbon Neopod 6 monopod
    Manfrotto #244 Friction Arm
    Manfrotto #814 Mini Hydrostatic arm
    Manfrotto Light-duty Flex Arm
    Manfrotto #131D horizontal beam

Focusing racks
    unknown brand and model
    Pentax focusing rack 
    Velbon Super Mag Slider 
    Olympus OM focusing rack
    focusing racks salvaged from old equipment
    focusing jacks

Other camera supports
    IFF 90 cm repro stand
    Manfrotto #131DDB accessory arm
    Manfrotto mini hydrostatic arm
    Manfrotto gooseneck arm
    Manfrotto clamp

Other equipment
    microscope stage 
    Nikon eyepiece accessories
    Nikon PB-6 bellows
    Nikon PB-6E bellows extension
    Nikon PB-6D bellows spacers
    Nikon PS-6 slide duplicator
    Nikon extension rings
    Nikon BR2A reversing ring
    Olympus PE 2.5x photomicrography eyepiece
    LM microscope relay lens
    Nikon Lens Scope Converter
    Kenko lens scope converter
    Olympus Telescopic Auto Tube 65-116mm
    Olympus U-SPT microscope photo tube
    Zeiss Photomicroscope I (re-built)
    Olympus Auto Bellows
    Schuler UV filter
    Baader U filter
    Hoya U-360 filter
    Fuji IR 82 filter
    Nikon AF-2 filter holder
    Nikon AF-1 filter holder (also here)

Viewfinder accessories
    DK-22
    Diopter compensation lens
    DK-5
    DK-21M
    DG-2
    DR-6

Accessories for field and outdoors photography
    Wildlife Watching Supplies tripod leg wraps
    Wildlife Watching Supplies dome hide
    camouflage tape

Old literature - This page makes electronic copies of several old manuals and booklets available for download. They describe photographic (especially Nikon and Nippon Kogaku) and microscope equipment, some of which is reviewed on my site. I moved this section to a separate page, since it keeps growing.

Photography resources - A short list of the web sites and books on photomacrography and/or Nikon equipment that I find most useful.