When I perform intraoral surgery, I usually take pre-operative and post-operative photos with my friend's Nikon's Medical-105mm (with flash ring). I wonder what flash ring model can fit my Marco 35-70/f4 best for such purpose? Albert, do you have any idea?

-- Michael Fan (fanmichael@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002

Answers

Sometimes it is easier to have a camera and lens dedicated for clinical macrophotography; you at least then can maintain a single type of film stock in the camera body without wondering whether you need to change film from whatever you may have been using. Leica is probably not the best platform for this type of photography, although I have not personally used their reflex cameras for this purpose. I have done a fair amount of this photography in my ophthalmic plastic surgery practice and have had excellent results from both Minolta and Nikon systems, using their respective dedicated ringflashes. Leica doesn't make a ringflash, so you are going to need another brand flash and a 60mm to 62mm size step-up ring (or whatever other size the flash ring attachment requires for its lens adapter). Both the Nikon and Minolta ringflashes include adapter rings as part of their kits (Canon, OTOH, does not include adapters, go figure). My brief survey at the B+H website shows no dedicated TTL-meter-controlled ringflash options for Leica, but the last word would have to be from the people at Leica. One word of encouragement: the Minolta 100/2.8 macro is an exceptionally fine optic and you do not need an expensive body to get the most from this lens in clinical photography (FWIW, a "mint" Maxxum SLR body and a similarly good condition ringflash kit would cost less than the lens itself). Charles, email me if you want more details as this is sort of off-topic for Leica.

-- Christopher Henry, M.D. (henryjc@concentric.net), April 28, 2002.

Michael, I meant, my apologies.

-- Christopher Henry, M.D. (henryjc@concentric.net), April 28, 2002.

Michael: I agree with Henry. One further thought, a medical camera will be handled by someone (ie, you) with latex gloves. Do you want the talc to wreck a Leica? That would be a crime. I suggest you get a cheap Japanese macro lens and say an N65 body for this potential messy work.

-- Albert Knapp MD (albertknappmd@mac.com), April 28, 2002.

Thanks for all the helpful opinions.Well, it sounds like my Leica have to stay out of my surery!

-- Michael Fan (fanmichael@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.