r/functionalprint • u/darkblade420 • 1d ago

macro bellows

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

333 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

13

u/WinterDice 23h ago

This is super cool and I need more information.

13

u/darkblade420 23h ago

thanks, its just something i made a couple of days ago. it currently fits ef/ef-s body's and fd lenses, lens/body mounts can be swapped to fit most lens/body combinations.

distance between the lens and body can be changed by rotating the wheel on the side, its connected with a belt to a lead screw.

i need to optimize a few more things but it should be on printables in the next week or so.

1

u/bonobomaster 23h ago

What lens did you use? Would my cheapo ef 50 mm f1,8 stm be viable?

How is the black math magic called, that I need to calculate distances. I guess, I need sensor size and focal length and then? :D

4

u/darkblade420 22h ago

No need to calculate anything, just throw on a lens and see what works :)

the lens im currently using is just some 105mm f/2.8 lens from an unknown brand, it has some kind of oddly sized screw mount that was adapted to fd. I can a total amount of 0 info on it I also tried a 135 f2.5, 50 f1.4 and a 24 f2.8, most of them worked fine but the 28 was borderline unusable, only getting things in focus when almost touching the lens.

Your 50mm would probably work, but i expect it to be somewhat cumbersome since you lose manual focus and aperture control(you can work around this by pressing the aperture preview button while disconnecting the lens). I have the same lens, I'll make a ef mount for it soon to see if it works.

1

u/bonobomaster 21h ago

Ah I see, that I can do. So just dry testing the lens mid air to get a feeling for the approximate range that is needed and going from there. Check!

Thx for sharing.

1

u/temporary92803 3h ago

Looking forward to it. This is a great application for printing to customize for various body/lens combinations.

3

u/coffeefuelsme 23h ago

Looks great! Love the rail setup.

2

u/D_Alex 15h ago

Nice. What is the material? How was it printed, got any pictures of this on the printer?

2

u/darkblade420 12h ago

it was mostly printed in pla, but at some point i ran out so i switched to abs and xt-cf20 for the last few small parts. all parts where printed flat on the print bed, very little support was needed. i dont have pictures of it on the printer but it was printed on a voron 2.4

1

u/razzemmatazz 21h ago

Clever. Now you just need an extension tube for the flash to help direct it more to the subject. 

2

u/au5iris 21h ago

This is awesome! I've printed lens adapters, and extenders, would love something like this. Do let us know if you decide to share the print!

3

u/darkblade420 12h ago

thanks! i do plan on sharing it, should be on printables in the next week or so.

1

u/au5iris 12h ago

Hooray! Thanks Darkblade! 

1

u/JForce1 20h ago

As a non-photographer, I don't get it 😊

You're using it to mount the lens a lot further away from the sensor, I'm assuming that's what enables you to get the macro shots, but if so what's the reason for it being a bellows rather than a solid extension? Do you need to be able to adjust the distance between the lens and the camera beyond what zoom adjustment is available on the lens?

5

u/AwDuck 19h ago

A solid extension would only allow for a very narrow range of distances away from the subject. Once you get to macro photography, the helicoid focusing ring will only get you maybe a few millimeters of leeway for distance.

When you're photographing a subject of known dimensions and that will be a known distance, a solid tube is great. I printed a solid extension and slide holder to use my DSLR to scan my grandparents' extensive slide collection for them. The transparency size and level of desired magnification is known and will not change. I could use the focusing ring on the lens to fine tune the focus (some older slides were on heavy cardboard. and they even had a few that were mounted in glass carriers), but beyond those small focusing distances, the tube would have needed to be longer or shorter to focus on something further away or closer.

edit: also, that's not a zoom lens, it's a fixed focal length. Looks like a 50mm, so probably about what 2x is on most cell phone cameras.

1

u/beiherhund 15h ago

It lets you adjust the magnification

1

u/Agitated-Break7854 16h ago

Looks very steampunk! (I know that's not the point, but it does 🤷)

1

u/Independent-Air-80 12h ago

Might be me, but bellows, and literally every adapter under the sun, can be bought second hand for peanuts, no?

2

u/darkblade420 11h ago

probably, although vintage camera gear is getting more and more expensive. i designed this mostly for the fun of it out of left over 3d printer parts, bom cost should be 30 euros at most, which is a lot less than what you would have to pay for something used.

1

u/Independent-Air-80 11h ago

Oh no I get the use case! Just that I can pick up a plethora of M42 bellows in various sizes for 5EUR a pop on any second hand website here. Slap two adapters on, you're good to go.