Novoflex BALPRO T/S adapter review: Part 1 – Design, Operation, Controls, Adapters

guest post by Nathan Wright (ohm-image.net)

Introduction

Two years ago I did the switcheroo from Nikon’s F mount to Fujifilm’s X mount for all client work which took me outside of the studio. That would be model stuff, event stuff, and the like. Like many photographers, I am now work 100% mirrorless. I’ve also managed to shy away from posting the ridiculous “I ditched my (insert dSLR name) for (insert mirrorless camera name) and here are pictures of my dog to prove it” blog post.

I don’t have a dog. I don’t do weddings. Live with it.

I’m a still life photographer. My clients manufacture, and sell, geeky things: earphones and headphones, microphones and speakers, lenses, fountain pens, straight razors, and the like, for and to the geek that scoffs at the mass market. (Irony: I don’t mind using mass-market cameras for most of what I do.)

Regarding my geek, I’m as bashless as they come. Here’s my CV: My favourite universal earphones: Grado GR10. My favourite modified digital audio player: the Mezzo Hifi-modded MSAK100. My favourite closed headphones: Mr. Speakers Alpha Dogs. My favourite portable headphone amplifier: Vorzüge PURE II. My favourite mid-end DAC: Linnenberg Vivace. My favourite artisan straight razor: Jenes Sándor Custom Straight Razors.

I guess you could say that I shoot what I love. (BTW, none of those products are made by my clients; I just dig them.)

Back to photography. Which lens do I best love? is a question with many answers. For personal stuff, my favourite is the Leica pre-ASPH 50mm Summilux. It’s a lens that is capable of being more than just sharp, or contrasty: it is dreamy, and ghosty when called for. But it’s not a lens I could use for work. Nor would I want to. For work, I need good macro lenses, or a great bellows system.

Until a year ago, I put Nikon’s excellent PC Micro tilt shift lenses into constant use. The 85mm PC Micro was my favourite. Both it and its 45mm sibling provided tip-top resolution, resistance to flare, and contrasty colour to my subjects. But when the D800’s poor live view and lack of WiFi preview moved me onto shallower flange mirrorless cameras, I looked further afield.

Today, my favourite lens is the Schneider APO-Digitar 5,6/100 Macro. It is sharp, contrasty, resistant to flare, and all that. Better yet, it is small, light, and comes with Copal shutters/apertures, which makes perfectly adaptable to pretty much any shuttered and non-shuttered system.

I use it on a number of cameras, the most recent of which is the Novoflex BALPRO T/S. The BALPRO T/S is a 6×7 bellows macro camera onto which you can fit almost any lens or imaging device imaginable. It is more stable than the Horseman VCC Pro while offering more generous camera movements. The best part is that it weighs a mere 975 grams, and hides easily in hiking backpacks.

No, it can’t fully replace a full-size 6×9 Arca Swiss F Line technical camera, but at less than half the weight and cost, it shouldn’t have to.