On Wed, 28 Oct 1998 22:54:12 +0100, "Dr. Piero Bayer" wrote:

>for macro I use a 1977 Nikon FM with an old Nikkor 2/50mm and the original
>extension-tube.
>The 1:1 photos are very fine.
>Is it possible by adding close-up-lens to the above components to arrive to
>a 2:1 or 3:1
>magnification ?

Yes, possibly, since the early 50mm f2 was a fairly flat lens, with
the front not very recessed (as Rudy Garcia pointed out, you will at
some point wind up too close to the subject for practicality, and
reversing the lens (losing the auto diaphragm, though...) can help.
Optically, combinations of achromats (2-element close-up lenses),
tubes, and teleconverters can get you sharply to about 3X on
compatible lenses (see "Bugs" on my web page, under "may appear
here" [I think...! ;-] for high-magnification images made with
combinations). It helps to use the marked f11-16 stops, and a
TTL flash with the head mounted up near the lens end and pointed
at the tiny subject, though (the light is soft, since the source
size is relatively large...).