I'm looking into buying a Nikon film camera, and theres only one thing making me want to go back to canon is the lack of the amazing Macros that canon has. However, I came upon the Bellows Units, with up to an astounding 11x life size, and with another it doubles that, so, being a far more than avid Macro lover, I went completely insane, however the Nikon site only lists the Bellows, PB-6 as only an attachment for the F5, a -quite expensive- camera, now, if need be I could buckle down and get the f5, however with any preferance I'd like a cheaper one(even just an F100, one step down), so, my question is, does anyone know if the Bellows work on other Nikon SLR cameras, or are there other like systems that work on them? Thanks in advance, mainly for actually reading all this.

Finally an intelligent and handsome person with very good taste! ;) I use a very cheap bellows along with my F4.....and it works great. If you don't need the amazing AF on the F5, you can easily save half the money and get a mint F4s or F4e. Mostly because of the slow AF on the F4, most photo journalists and sports photographers moved to the F5 when it came out. But as far as I've been able to test it, there's no difference in terms of quality, durability or anything you could possible think of. Imo if you travel a lot the F4 is superior, because it's built to last forever...the F5 is far weaker, with it's lcd screen on the outside among other things. The F4 is still one of the best pro cameras out there, with the nikon 801 as a good 2nd imo. The F100 is far behind that. I think it was Alpha who once noted that these are more like 'prosumer' cameras :) Nothing wrong with them, but they just lack that little bit extra. Uhmmm...the only disadvantage of an F4 regarding bellows is the large (and beautiful) shape below the lens, that forms a very natural formed hand-grip when you keep the body vertically. It sticks out a bit and so some bellows might not fit on the body (although a small ring does the trick for me). With respect to the metering with bellows and additional extension rings I can say that it works flawlessly, cause it meters right through the bellows and gives really accuracte readings. The DOF preview works just really well and I wouldn't dream off exchanging my camera for a body of any kind that doesn't have that (and other) stuff. :) Anyway, I hardly ever shoot macros, but here are two very silly examples. This one's shot on Kodak Portra 400 VC, with intentional shallow dof :) No corrections.

This was a test, but same story....t-max and shot with the camera's readings through both a bellows and extension ring (shot #1 had a ring as well between the body and bellows). PS And I don't even wanna talk about Cannnnnon ;)

Stick the smaller power pack (MB21?) on the body and you don't have to worry about the curve at the bottom - makes for a smaller package to lug around, too. I do fully agree, for 35mm macro work, IMHO you simply cannot do any better than the F4 (macro work is somewhat my specialty) The PB-6 works fine on an F4. You might like this combo - a 300mm with a nikon 6T lens mounted on front (no, the step down rings don't create any vignetting) - add to that about 25mm extension, and you're shooting life-size - but from about 3 feet!

I agree with Rork and Wolfsnap, macro with the F4 works like a charme.

Just bought me a used Novoflex bellow and a 12mm Extension tube.
With my 24mm lens reverse mounted it gets me down to aprox. 7:1.
Still waiting to get the first film back.

AFAIK, you'll need a 12mm extension tube to mount the bellow on all modern Nikon AF cameras,
for sure for the F4 and F5.

A cheaper way is to use extention tubes, a reverse adapter (BR-2A) and a good wide angle lense.
here are some test shots with this gears:

http://t-bernt.de/Foto2/macro.jpg

If you just want to shot macros up to 1:1, a good macro lense will do the job,
even the Sigma and Tamron macro lenses gets good reviews.

cheers
Thomas

Dandelion seed heads... Photo made with Nikon N90s, 55 MM Nikor Macro, PB4 Bellows and Ektachrome 100 at 6 to 1. This same bellows also fits the D1.

As all Nikor lenses and adapters are made to fit all Nikon SLR bodies, I doubt the PB6 uses a different mount. The trick to remember is that any body that integrates a verticle grip will require that you rotate the bellows to what would be their verticle position before attaching them. Once mounted to the body, they can be rotated freely without any hassle.

BTW... After tested the F100 and comparing it to the N90s, I purchased a new N90s. The difference in price will cover more than half the cost of a bellows or micro-nikor, and the performance difference could not justify the price difference. Of course I rarely use all the bells and whistles as most of my shooting is done in manual mode.

Gah! Dandelion! Thats it... I think I have to buy it now