Reverse Mounting my Lens?

[mikoyan]

I remember doing something similar when I took photography in high school. I got some pretty nice shots of coins and other small things but I seem to remember having to light the subject very well. I have never tried it with my DSLR though.

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by Biomech

Wow, reverse mounted lenses - you learn something new everyday! So I'm guessing it's like a lens mount with a filter thread on the other side? Surely that's not ideal, I've always considered the "connection end" of the lens to be much more fragile than the glass end

Yes, you have it figured correctly.

I've ordered the reverse mount--cost me less then $10, and I have an old prime lens with the aperature rings that was laying in a bag collecting dust, so I figure if the whole project is too much of a Pain in the ......I'm only out $10bucks!

solves the problem of setting the lens, solves the issue of removing the lens while the camera is on, lighting is not going to be an issue, so that leaves me with seeing if i can get anything in focus...lol....then when I hit the lottery I'll run out and grab my macro lens I want.

[loons49]

Sony NEX-5, #1 & #2 Extension Rings, Fotasy Nikon Adapter, Nikon 50mm 1.4 AIS Lens @ F5.6 1/15 Second ISO400 Handheld. PP with sharpening in Lightroom 3.5

[mrteacherdude]

I've played with reverse mount for a couple of years. I started out "ghetto" by simply flipping my 50mm f/1.8 around and pressing it against the camera. Intrigued with the possibilities, I did as you have and purchased a reverse-mount ring for probably the same reason you did... CHEAP

As you mentioned before, if you set your aperture to what you want, press the DOF button and remove the lens while holding the button, the aperture will stay shut down to where you want it to be. It's a PITA for sure, but it works. However, like you, I was digging around in my collection of old glass that is all manual adjust and I found a 50mm and a 28mm... perfect. The 50mm gives me about a 0.75x, and the 28mm almost 2x (I think). I actually have two different reverse mount rings and a set of filter step-up rings to accommodate a variety of different lenses at this point.

The shot below is one of several that I got of some aphid-farming-ants on a leaf of a cottonwood tree in my back yard. I superimposed a scale that I shot with the same lens to get some perspective of size. Even though this was taken in bright daylight, I did supplement the light with an off camera (hand held) flash. Focusing is all manual by moving the camera back and forth until you get it to just where you want it. And it helps to throw it into burst mode so you can increase the chance of getting a sharp photo. It can be quite challenging for awhile as it is surprising just how much your body moves back and forth when you are really close to your subject and it's difficult to see because the aperture is so small and not letting much light through. But you tend to get used to it and with practice get better. I often find myself in some awkward positions in attempts to brace myself. The flash makes a huge difference though because you can use faster shutter speeds.



It can be a bit tricky to work at night (I like night critters) since the aperture is so small, so I find myself throwing some extra light on my subjects with an LED headlight or a small LED flashlight held in my mouth just so I can see them well enough to focus. I caught this moth laying eggs on the side of my house and she wasn't too disturbed by my flashlight (off camera flash too).



You can get good results with the reverse mounts, and there are people out there doing truly amazing things with reverse mount setups. Ultimately I will probably get a "real" macro lens (the MPE 65 would be nice), but for right now I'm happy with playing with the reverse mounts and saving my money for some of the other lenses that I'm lusting after that will probably be, for me, more useful on an everyday basis for awhile.

Wow! I think I ended up rambling here... my apologies. I hope there is something useful here for you.

[LMAshton]

Originally Posted by Biomech

Wow, reverse mounted lenses - you learn something new everyday! So I'm guessing it's like a lens mount with a filter thread on the other side? Surely that's not ideal, I've always considered the "connection end" of the lens to be much more fragile than the glass end

Well... Not exactly how I did it...

I didn't have a lens mounted on the DSLR. I hand-held the old lens, backwards, over the lens mount, so a very imperfect fit. And then I did my best to focus, moving in and out on my subject.

It worked. Like I said, not perfectly, and a bit of a pain in the butt, yes, but such is life.

[mshockley]

I am so looking forward to giving this a try. Now I just wait for my friendly UPS guy to bring me the reverse mounting ring! Should be here Tuesday