Introduction

This series leverages older film camera equipment with modern DSLR cameras. The older equipment is available on Craigslist, eBay or Keh. No special skills are required to configure the equipment and I promise there is no cutting, welding, taping, grinding, gluing or trips to a machine shop for custom parts. All that is required is to reuse solutions that were in place when folks shot film and a willingness to integrate the lenses and equipment with your current DSLR camera via some readily available adapters.One of the benefits of purchasing older film equipment is you can get professional equipment inexpensively. This article will discuss two approaches; Option A with a dedicated prime macro lens and the Option B with a 35mm bellows and an enlarging lens. I do not find one approach is necessarily better than the other; rather it depends on what I am photographing. The total cost for each option listed below should be about $100 per option. If you have priced Canon’s or Nikon’s modern prime macro lenses you know this is an attractive alternative.

The series is broken into sections that can be navigated to from the left Navigation panel. In addition at the end of each section there is a link to the next part. In general you will want to read sections 1.) and 2.) first. You can then decide if you want to read about prime lenses or bellows and pick those topics.

All of the photos for this series were taken by Steve Walker and are posted in high resolution. A link to the online Photo List is in the left Navigation panel.

Before I compare and contrast the options there are a few things both have in common. Read on under section 1.) Dial "M" for Manual to learn more.

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