Bellows Basics for Macro Photography 

Allan, Even after 50 years of active photography, I have just learned a bunch of stuff on using a bellows and a better understanding of effective aperture and diffraction, just by listening to you for a half an hour. Thank you.

You sir, sound Australian, British and Southern American all at once. Great class by the way and I am very much inclined towards photographing smaller subjects. The concept of bellows as opposed to a regular macro lens was unknown to me. Thank you for a clear and concise explanation.

As you noted, stacking seems to very popular these days with extreme macro photography and digital photography. I do have an old book on film photography which features a bellows-originated image of the head of an insect with the typically shallow depth of field. And I actually like the look of it. It is an interesting look with the super shallow depth of field. Just goes to show that there is no right or wrong way with this form of photography. A single image with no stacking can look good in it's own unique way though this may depend on the subject.

Seriously, now I want bellows. He explained it all so well. I'm hooked.

Allan, this is one of the clearest, most complete explanations I can recall ever having watched (regardless of photographic topic). You have a gift for making complex subjects understandable. Congratulations on your work and above all, thanks !

Brilliant macro table set-up!

I'm going to start calling Allen "Sherlock" - - he solves mysteries!

Thank you. I just bought a used bellows on a whim, and this tutorial was exactly what I need to get me started.

Allan, you have a great gift for explaining things simply and clearly. Thank you for this video - it was immensely helpful and saved several hours of what would have been frustrating trail and error trying to use a bellows for the first time.

This was excellent, Allan! Thank you so much.

I now realize the world of bellows should have been on my "to do list" 50 years ago...thanks to YOU.... Of course, I subscribed and purchased the low brow Nikon F III bellows. Kudos.

Yesterday, had a beetle eating away at a large flower petal (outside, no flash needed); used this same setup with the reverse lense and set the camera's intervalometer to 1 second intervals and slowly rotated the lower dial as the shots were fired; thought this worked good for live subjects. Turned out better than any handheld work.

Thank you Allan. Very well explained. I have never used a bellows rig, but it was easy to understand, because much of what you explained, I have done, with reversed lenses, and extension tubes.

Excellent video, well explained and easy to understand. The formula for calculating effective aperture is especially good to know, thanks!

Thank you !! I am very happy to be attending this class with a master of photography, we know that our eternity is teaching knowledge and this will make a difference in my professional life. Thank you very much ...

I spent two fruitless hours last night trying to get focus with my bellows. I tried 90mm Flat Field, 100mm, and 35mm lenses, all to no avail. In my 16 year absence from Macro photography I forgot to account for the extension of the bellows and the closeness of the subject distance. I just kept moving the wrong thing! Once I almost achieved focus by moving the tripod. Eventually I gave up and went to Our Friend Google. Alan Walls to the rescue! Easy-peasy explanations in Alan's video, and my brain clicked. The calculator link was a big help, too. Thank you for reviving my long-lost education. Tonight when I set up for Macro I have a sure guiding hand at my side.

Optics made for the large format cameras ( 4 x 5 >> 8 x 10 ) often can be stopped down to f/64 or f/90. Well known brands are Nikon. Fuji, Zeiss, Rodenstock , Scheider, Meyer, Voigtländer etc. Before WW II the photogroup F/64 was famous in the U.S.A.

14:30 also, the light drops off dramatically because you’re enlarging the image circle and the inverse square law comes into play. That’s why, regardless of aperture used, the picture gets darker and darker as the mag goes up.

Thank you so much for this wonderful informative video. I have read several books on macro photography and none of them covered Effective Aperture. This was critical information since I'm just getting involved in extreme macro photography. Please keep up the great work.

All interesting stuff (as usual) Thanks. I have my bellows and all the adapter rings I think I will need. Just (yesterday) sourced an el nikkor 50mm F2.8 N, can't wait for it to arrive, so I can put my new found knowledge into practice...

Thanks for making this video. I knew the basics in theory, but it really helps to have someone walk through it in such a approachable, step-by-step fashion.

A very well explained to the full detail as usual.Keep up your good work.

I've now got a headache... and that's ok. Thanks for your hard work.

I have been using Nikon bellows (PB-4 and PB-6) for many years. Like Lysander Spooner who commented earlier, I am also using my PB-6 with an adapter to attach a Fujifilm X-T3 body. One of my favourite lenses to use in this setup is a scarce (rare?) short mounted Nikkor 105 mm f4 lens. In the good old film days I used these bellows with a Nikon F2 and a reversed mounted 28 mm f2.8 Nikkor to photograph live individual specimens of freshwater plankton swimming in a single drop of water. Electronic flash for lighting.

An excellent video on the use of bellows. Thank you!

Thank you Allan. I bought a mint condition PB6 a few months ago. Haven't used it yet and now I am motivated to do so with your clear and concise directions. Look forward to watching all your streams. Thanks again. -Jim

Brilliant video Allen , as usual.

Hi Allan !! Nice to see you once again, this has been the only video I have seen in which there is a basic and simple explanation of how to use a bellows correctly, I thank you very much for all the time you take to research and prepare your videos because apart from your experience, you research and document yourself very well to make your videos, you are a professional and that is why I value you so much, I belong to two macro photography forums on facebook and every time they ask for advice or how to start macro photography, I recommend that they see your RU-vid channel and subscribe. Take good care of yourself there and I continue to enjoy and learn from your videos !!

Wow, what an amazing video! 🌟 This tutorial on operating a bellows in macro photography is absolutely top-notch! 📸 The way you explained the technical aspects of using a bellows was so clear and easy to follow. Your expertise and passion for the subject really shine through, making it a joy to watch. Keep up the fantastic work and thank you for sharing your knowledge with the community. 🙌💯

My bellows just arrived now to watch this another couple of times. Great stuff thanks.

Very informative! Thank you, Allan!

I must say I came across your Videos quite by accident this morning while researching for Objectives. So glad I did you've managed to make me want to get back into some macro work. Many thanks Allan, excellent work mate.

Dhason Freddy used this nikon PB 6 Bellows for many years for very minute and Accurate closeup photography. I appreciate this video

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Bought a used like new PB-6 several years ago. Reading the manual didn't help much. Your video was an immense help. There are also the aperture levers that need to be addressed. Blessings to you.

What a great little video, thanks. Keep well keep save and be happy.

Very practical advice, well-delivered.

Absolute pleasure to learn about bellows

This is brilliant Allan! 👏👏👏👏

Amazingly good lecture! Thank you!

I just got my bellows connected to a digital camera, a dream I've been brewing for many years. It's a D5300 and my initial problem is setting the light metering. You have me a crucial clew about working with f5. Thanks for your excellent post. My next challenge is to get more light with a slave flash setup.

Brilliant tutorial. I have learnt so much in this video clip.

I wonder if there's anything on RU-vid about things to do with my bellows once I have finished digitising my slides? Yup - and very clearly explained too. I think you've saved me quite a bit of head scratching! Subscribed.

Hi Allan, a bellow is something i want to put in my equitementvault for a long time. So nice video again.

Glad I saw this video!! I acquired a mint condition Nikon PB-4 bellows and was very disappointed when I couldn't get my Nikon D810 to mount on it. I was considering selling it when I came across this video and learned the "secret" to mounting a DSLR! Thank you!!!

Thank you so much for this video! This was so helpful!

Brilliant video glad I found it as I ordered a PB-6 bellows from eBay

An informative post and a cracking shot of an eye at the beginning. PB6 with copier attachment PS6 and cable currently at £175.00. To replace my PB4 today with its PS4 £199-£350. I think I paid over £100 in 1976 My main interest is micro photography on things I can't study with my eyes like Occulli, insects tongues and their sex organs. I've attached mine to some CNC rail and a stepper motor, but I've since altered it and now use a hand crank. I've geared it so every click is a fraction of a millimeter. I use an engineer's ruler to see how much depth of field I have with whatever lens I'm using. It took 111 shots the last time I did a small flies eye, My 10x Microscope lens needs 210mm of extension and luckily it has a 17mm working distance. I keep my bellows closed and use tubes for most of the extension as a lot of my use is outdoors and I don't like too much sun on the bellows. One thing I don't have is a adjustable deck and at high magnification the best position of the model is quite difficult to achieve. Adjustable lights are usefull, Jansjö lights from Ikea are cheap led ones and will run off Usb power packs and the mains.

Super clear and helpful!

Very informative. Brilliant. Thank you very much.

awesome and detailed explanation

Thanks a lot. lovely video. very informative .

The most famous bellows brand in the world is Novoflex; the company cconstructs the bellows for Hasselbladand Rollei. Plus the universal models with auto aperture with every camery body mount. Plus reflexmirror box for Leica M cameras.

Quite clear and precise

Great video . One suggestion - it may help others . If you use high magnification and you have issues with shallow DOF I use macro rail to move forward ( or backwards) instead bellows . It’s more precise especially if you have scale build in .

Just what I needed! Bought a bellows year’s ago and boxed it up because I didn’t know how to use it properly. Your video explained the process and expectations superbly. It worked right out of (the old) box! Thank you. The bad news is I hate bugs and macro photography has its obsession with those critters. The less bugs the better, I say. I noticed you worked one in at the very end. Flowers and pollen are boring. Have you ever photographed a spark? 20 amps on 220 V? Just wondering. I have been told I can be difficult. But I sure enjoy your art of structure and process.

Really informative. Thank you

Allen where were you 45 years ago. I know home computers were in the infancy stage. But thanks for the heads up and the formula.

Awesome video! Thank you!

Really helpful video, thanks

Thanks again Allan - very timely as I have a Nikon Bellows on its way to me. Barry :)

Great video. I had the PB-6 but gave it up for the PB-4 for the front element shift and tilt functions. Both good though.

Love your work! Been shotting with a g7 and g85 using just the on camera flash and a reverse mounted tamron 28mm. Been looking for a good source to learn and I just found it

Allan, Thank you for your very informative and thought-provoking video! I think you've allowed me to take my bellows game (which i dusted-off and used for the first time in about 10 years because of your video) from a "C-" to a solid "B+"! Until now, I never fully understood the relationship and ultimate purpose of the three "knobs" on the bellows - adjusting focus vs. adjusting the reproduction ratio (aka "magnification"). Also, until your video, I'd never put two-and-two-together regarding how we're magnifying both the aperature and the glass diffraction effects: the proverbial circles-of-confusion at higher f-numbers; and, chromatic aberrations (colour fringing) at lower f-numbers. Once you explained the image "cone", things made so much more sense! Sometimes, it's the simplest thing that serves as the lynch-pin to our understanding! With macro photography, we're effectively "pixel-peeping" before the image becomes pixels! In my experience, using my lenses at their sharpest (sweet-spot) aperture when mounted "normally" on my PB-6 bellows works the best for achieving clear images regardless of the level of magnification. Meaning: my 50mm lenses seem to be sharpest at f/8 and f/11; in most cases f/16 and f/5.6 are "acceptable"; whereas, due to the aforementioned diffraction effects, f/4 and below and f/22 are unusable on my D850 for anything beyond a 1:1 reproduction ratio. Even regular photos (no bellows) taken with my old 50mm lenses on my D850 are noticeably soft at f-numbers below f/5.6 and above f/16. Maybe I missed it, but, I think you forgot to mention how to actually engage and lock the selected aperture using the levers on the sides of the front bellows element or using a mechanical remote shutter release. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge! Cheers, Scott. instagram.com/wsh.photos

Thanks again Allan.

Pro Tip: Keep up the great work of art & sience :) Thank you Sir.

Hi Allan thank you very much for this video. The way you put things makes it so much easier to understand. It would be nice, as a suggestion to make a video about the use of flash with macro photography. Particularly the use of a shutter release cable with two ends. Keep bringing this videos as they are magnificently useful.

Thank you Allan!

Good tutorials for Extreme Macro Photography

Thanks for the video, I myself shoot macro with fur from my hands and a tripod. Very handy gadget for macro.

Excellent info, Allan. I managed to find a PB-4 bellows, near mint condition, at a good price on eBay a while back. Decided to go for that even though cost more than the PB-6 so I can have the tilt/shift feature. I have to admit to being bit of a T/S junky as use a 24mm and 85mm in other areas of work. Such versatile and exciting lenses to use! Because fitting the camera to the bellows as you demonstrate is a little fiddly, I keep an old but robust 12mm extension tube on the back of the bellows, gives that little but of extra space. Don't use cheap plastic tubes for this though. You will probably cover this when you discuss reversed lenses, but I always felt a bit ansty abut the exposed rear element of the lens when reversing it. I solved this by attaching a Nikon BR-6 adaptor to the lens mount, then putting a 52mm filter onto the adaptor. The lens is protected, and you can pop a lens cap onto the filter when work is finished. The BR-6 also has the facility to stop the lens down and locking the aperture after focusing.

Thank you very much this helped me out a lot

Nice tutorial, thank you

Thank you for this great video. My set of Canon FD bellows arrived yesterday. And an M42 set should arrive later today. I tried out a few test shots with the FD bellows and my wife's house plants yesterday afternoon. I eventually, mostly, sorted out focusing through trial and error. I knew to focus by moving the entire rail. But I didn't realize calculators exist for sorting out what the actual working distance is. I also quickly discovered that my cheap but (normally) serviceable tripod isn't up to snuff for this style of macro photography. And while I have cable releases for my film cameras, I don't have a remote shutter release for my digital yet. But at least I can understand the problems my first attempt surfaced. I'll be checking your other videos for any details on your setup shown here. You link to a similar lab lift. And those are easy enough to find at affordable prices online now that I know what to call them. But it looks like you've got a tripod head mounted onto a slab of wood or countertop to provide a stable base? That makes sense to me given my experiences with a more standard tripod yesterday. When your depth of field is a couple of millimeters thick you really can't do too much to eliminate camera movement. My wife shoots large format view cameras so I have a vague grasp of bellows extension factor from her. I believe that's the same thing you discuss here when calculating effective aperture? For her purposes it's usually more about sorting out exposure than diffusion. I'm sure the calculator could help me figure out how much bellows she'd need to get 3x magnification with a 14 inch lens on an 8x10 view camera. But I don't want to think about it. You've earned a subscriber. And I'm sure your videos will help me suck less with using my bellows.

Great video.

Silly, but I had not noticeced that diffraction depends on magnification, even rhough it's perfecly logical. Thank you, Sir!

Hi Allan I know you get inundated with questions but do you have any examples, before and after, of the affect of internal reflections using bellows with shiny surfaces from adapters and reversing rings etc. Keep up your great work you have been an inspiration to me thank you.

What an amazing video! Highly informative. I am curious to know more about the stand you are using to keep the bottle. It looks great. Thanks,

im going to order these bellows tomorrow i hope they r as good as new, like the seller states 😀😀

Thanks very much Allan, it was a great tutorial, I learn a lot, now I have to buy a Bellows. I ask my wife if she wants a 12' insect mural and the answer was: NO.

Sometimes the macro bellows is the lthick/long i when it is all turned together. Then a extension tube is needed. Extension tubes are sold in a set of three or four. In 10 mm, 20mm , 30 mm length.

Thank you Allan! :)

THANK you so much!!

thank you for the info..

Nice explanation. I would like to flip lens and check if diffraction reduces at the subject of focus. The image might still be softer but wondering if the diffraction problems are towards the perphery like vignetting or so. Just thoughts, need to confirm.

Dear Sir, have you ever tried to use the helicoid tube to take place the bellows. One year ago I purchased it from eBay at around $35.00. However, it’s moving distance is much shorter than the bellows, but it’s much more convenient than using a bellows, especially when using it in combination with extension tube and EL lenses, such as the Nikkor EL 50mm f2.8.

Hi Allan I did the same too after seeing you excellent video, the PB6 arrived yesterday and looks mint. Thanks for your inspiring words. What shutter speed ranges do you normally work with an aperture 4-5.6?

Nostalgy. I begin this since lot of years with Canon FD bellows and I have ask the question why do canon do not replace his bellows at the beginning of EF adventure? And the answer have come, The MPE-65 mm. I have hesitate to use my bellows on the field, but with the MPE I use almost always in the field. It is so versatile and easy (compare to other ultra magnification systems). We can consider today bellows as completely out of date for field work. (for studio it is different). I knows that the PB-6 is a very good bellows but I prefer the PB-4 what have tilt and shift option (The Canon FD was as the PB-6 without tilt and shift option). Indeed today if you look for bellows the best are Novoflex with electronic contacts and tilt and shift possibility. Perfect communication between the camera and the lens (especially for aperture settings and TTL). Construct like tank. A little expensive. For lesser specialised people today there are more versatile solutions like the Laowa lenses what allows true 2:1 (3,6 with APS-C) magnification without accessoires if you want higher magnification the Laowa 25 mm 2,5X to 5. It is so good priced when you compare to our lenses during the eighties (I remember an Olympus macro lens at 2500 euros)! The quality is incredible. Indeed I continue to love the aesthetic of bellows but definitely not for the field. All the best.

Hi, Thanks for the great video. Just bought some bellows the other day. Thanks for the magnification link. Though I was wondering where you got that raise platform that you have the bottle on? Regards

Bought my PB-6 in the mid-1980’s. It’s still going strong after a lot of usage. That said, it still needs to be handled with reasonable care. I wish they still sold them new. The third party choices are generally too cheap or too expensive. The PB-6 is a great choice for Nikon users.

Hi Allan, thank you for explaining the Bellows, I have a set of Canon Bellows and would like to ask if you have a 'T' ring fitted to the Bellows so that you can use your Digital Camera? Tony

Very nice. Beautifully put. While discussing about effective aperture, its actually the the intensity of light reaching the focus plane . As the distance between the optical center of the lens and focus plane increases the light reaching the film/sensor proportionately decreases. As the magnification increases, the depth of field decreases. In cameras like Mariya RB/RZ 67, we find scale in the sides to compensate for the same. That was needed as the cameras had no built-in meter.(barring one waist level finder?). With TTL metering in place in most cameras now, the manual competition is very helpful in most cases. The effective aperture here is only the light gathered at the film plane. By the way, Nikon made some beautiful, tiny lenses for their bellows, both short focal length and medium focal length. One of the tiny lens offers upto 27x or so on the bellows. No word of those lenses made specifically for use on these bellows, nowadays. Any idea, any one?? Really interested. Thanks.

Thank you.

I can't thank you enough for help. My eye sight isn't what it use to be. Have you used a tether cable for focusing on a large computer screen? Thanks again you are an inspiration.

A great instruction! Is there truly no need to crop the image on the digital camera? It seems so strange that the bellows can create such a distance without adding a vignette or blackness around the image. Very interested in exploring this, and I wonder if the size of the bellows is important (besides the connecting points).

Hi Allan. Your explanations possess wondrous clarity. I don't see my question in the comments so I'll ask it. Is it possible to use the PB-6 with a Stackshot? Thanks. Owen

The Olympus bellows is just as good and Olympus cater more readily for high mag macro users. The most important consideration for buying a bellows is the condition of the extending part of the bellows itself. With modern mirrorless cameras, it doesn’t matter what bellows you use. All you need is an adapter.

i have a olympus bellow, great bellow and you can mount lens in reverse...

Hey Allan, first of all, thanks for a very good instructive video on the bellow photography. Recently, I got a Nikon Bellow PB5 and a Nikon dia slide Copier PS5 from a friend of mine. Would be very grateful if you could make a video about how to use this equipment in the best way when you digitalise dia slides. Also bought a second hand micro Nikkor 55/3.5 lens which I think will make a good job of working on the PB5. Please also let me know what lens you consider to be optimal on the bellows. Thanx a lot, kind regards from Marten Dalby - Sweden

Very informative. Would 3:1 magnification be about right if I wanted to fill the frame with the head of a fly? That's what I want to photograph specifically with a bellows with good detail in the eyes. So I guess I would shoot at around f5.6 in that case. Additionally, there are some very simple bellows units available that just have a knob to move the lens forward and back (just that one movement.) So I assume that movement would be dual purpose - to alter the magnification and to focus.

The Depth of Field problem: Why stay with the 50 mm lens? With a longer lens, the working distance for a given magnification is longer and the depth of field is deeper. Result, single photo rather than stacking. Just before we went digital, I was taking jewelry photos for advertising. I used extension tubes on a 135 mm lens from several feet away from the subject. The whole piece of jewelry was in sharp focus and I could fill the frame with a single ring. Thanks for the refresher course on the bellows.