I didn't really think this one through carefully as to what I would need, and I was a little disappointed in it. An enlarger lens is "mounted" on some sort of backwards Bronica "adapter" , which is then "mounted" on the bellows. I used quotes because it is clear that none of these pieces are supposed to fit togethe - what the guy did was wrap the mounts of both lens and "adapter" with duct tape.
The 3 pieces (lens, adapter, "adapter", and bellows) are held together purely by friction from the added widths of the duct tape. This part of the unit seems very flimsy and not confindence inspring; rotating the aperture ring on the lens causes it to rotate either in the "adapter", or the "adapter" in the bellows mount, and usually one side of the lens will tilt somewhat out of the bellows.
The lens mount seems to be in good condition, however, so I thought I could just replace the enlarger lens and "adapter" with a Mamiya 645 lens.
What do I need to do this ?
- I'm assuming I need to use a metering prism, which I have.
- Are all Mamiya 645 lenses leaf-shutter ?
- How would one trigger the shutter, and how would I get it to work with the 500CM ? Is there some sort of dual cable release I need that would synchronize the mirror with lens shutter ?
- is there a lens that is both well-suited for use on a bellows, and inexpensive ?
Any help here would be much appreciated.
thanks - terry
p.1 #2 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
J man,
he has a 500 series 'blad so no focal plane shutter action.
I guess if he gets a LS lens he could lock the 'blad barn doors (rear body baffles) open with the "T" switch on the blad body shutter release and trip what ever lens he gets via a cable release.
I agree that it would just be more flexible to convert the rear adapter to EOS (assuming he shoots canon) and use an slr with a boatload of choices for mounting lens.
p.1 #3 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
Part 2 - all of my comments above were with respect to the lens mount at the front of the bellows. I just had another look at your auction and remembered/re-noticed that it has a kludged Hassy adapter at the rear standard as well. Of course, this lets you mount it on your 500CM, but you'll have to replace it for a DSLR. For most setups (and as shown in both photos above) I use a generic M645 to EOS adapter at the back standard, which you can see is connected to the original M645 "back-end". You would only need a HC to EOS adapter to connect your bellows to an EOS DSLR (or similar for other DSLD brands). OTOH, if you want to use the bellows for infinity focus with MF and LF lenses (I suggest lenses for formats up to 69, not 45 or larger), then you want to minimize sensor or film plane to front standard distance, and you can replace the whole back-end with a homemade slim adapter. Let me know if you want more info on this.
p.1 #4 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
brucemuir wrote:
J man,
he has a 500 series 'blad so no focal plane shutter action.
Thanks. I guess it's easy to tell that I haven't used the 500 series bodies.
brucemuir wrote:
I guess if he gets a LS lens he could lock the 'blad barn doors (rear body baffles) open with the "T" switch on the blad body shutter release and trip what ever lens he gets via a cable release.
You can't use the M645 LS lens shutter to both open and close, as you would for a LF shutter.
p.1 #6 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
Jim and Bruce,
Thanks so much for your replies, people here are wonderful.
When I bought the bellows I wanted to experiment with MF macro photography, but was hoping not to have to invest too much money. But clearly, I didn't think this through very carefully
jcolwell wrote:
You can't use the M645 LS lens shutter to both open and close, as you would for a LF shutter.
Does this mean that there's no good way to do this with my 500 CM ? I'd need the lens shutter to both open and close, wouldn't I?
If there's no good way to use this with my Hassy - and I am beginning to appreciate it would be a much more involved and difficult undertaking for so many reasons - I would be willing to work with it on my DSLR (Nikon). But then there's the business of the camera-side Hassy V lens "adapter" which seems to be glued or otherwise fixed on pretty darn tight.
I know there are V-to-Nikon body adapters, but would I be better off trying to free the "adapter" with a heat gun and buying a 645-Nikon F adapter instead ? Would the heat damage the leather for the bellows ?
(I'm sure it would be ideal to remove the bellows before trying to free the 645-to-V adapter, but I tried removing disconnecting the bellows leather from the rear standard, but somethings keeping it in. I unscrewed the large top pin, and I see a smaller metal protrusion on the inside of the standard which clearly fits through a whole in the bellows, but I just seem unable to lift the bellows out of the standard completely. Is there a trick to doing this or am I missing some retaining mechanism ?)
Finally - if I decide to go SLR on the back end, is there a lens that is would do well for higher magnifications and is (ideally) quite affordable ? As I mentioned - I was hoping to be able to play on a budget - for now !
p.1 #7 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
Also - I understood that the auto N bellows was supposed to allow the camera to rotate 90 degrees. How is this accomplished ? At present, with the Hassy "adapter" on it, there is absolutely no play at all.
p.1 #8 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
tmark wrote:
...I tried removing disconnecting the bellows leather from the rear standard, but somethings keeping it in. I unscrewed the large top pin, and I see a smaller metal protrusion on the inside of the standard which clearly fits through a whole in the bellows, but I just seem unable to lift the bellows out of the standard completely. Is there a trick to doing this or am I missing some retaining mechanism ?)
The leather bellows frame should come out of the back standard frame when you loosen the top screw, as you describe. The top of the bellows frame angles-out and then the bottom lifts off the little stud or peg at the bottom. It's designed to be an easy operation, as you often replace the accordian bellows with a bag bellows, to allow movements with shorter focal length lenses (and tighter bellows compression). It sounds like you're doing the right thing to get it off. Try taking the bellows off the front standard, then you can look inside and maybe figure out what's going on.
p.1 #9 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
Arggh. Mine just does not seem to want to come out. All sides of the bellows frame seem to move within the outer frame a few mm or more - I can pull the top part of the frame out so far that I can see the back of the frame - but it just doesn't want to come out.
As for the rotation part that has been replaced - it seems a shame that this functionality has now been lost, when a real 645-V adapter could have been used. I was told that the original seller was some sort of camera repairman, so he probably kludged this all out of spare junk he had lying around.
p.1 #10 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
I assume that you were bidding against somebody to get this, eh? You should be able to sell it for about what you paid (minus shipping), and start over.
p.1 #11 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
if you want to use it with a hasselblad, you just have to buy a hasselblad F- / 200 / 2000 series camera, these have the shutter built into the camera. they also work with shutter in the C/CF/CFi/CFE lenses.
p.1 #12 · Mamiya bellows with Hasselblad, what do I need ?
jcolwell wrote:
I assume that you were bidding against somebody to get this, eh? You should be able to sell it for about what you paid (minus shipping), and start over.
Yeah, I could do that, but knowing how poorly put together the lens and its "mounts" were, I'd have a hard time asking anything for those parts.
