Through a Magnifying Glass

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by matthewchj

Nope, haven't tried this...

But (yes, this is gonna sound REALLY weird) I have shot through the lens and viewfinder of an SLR in reverse. What I did was to attach the lens with the biggest aperture that I could find (50mm 1.8) onto an old film slr (EOS 888) and then put the subject behind the viewfinder of the 888. I then positioned my XT with kit lens to point directly at the 50 such that the two front elements were touching together. Then I took the picture using the XT.

Sorry for hijacking the thread!

Now that's interesting I've held my 50mm lens up to the kit lens in reverse, but I've never tried shooting in reverse and through the viewfinder of another camera.

[wulf]

One thing all the experimenting does is make me appreciate the benefit of having lenses that fix to the camera and allow easy focusing to sharp resolution!

Wulf

[matthewchj]

Okie then:

Picture through lens and viewfinder of another camera:


The actual subject:

[jiminyClickit]

Tried this in the '80's with a Polaroid. If you have a smaller lensed camera, a loupe (variously used by jewelers, textile workers, graphic artists) sets conveniently on the closed flash, draping forward to lens. The results are remarkable for a $10 accessory:



1440 x 1440 ppi on Flickr will illustrate better. Each of these squares is 8" x 8". They are reduced from a 16" crop out of originals.

Linen tester:

[jiminyClickit]

Normal Macro from Fuji FP S3100:



Normal Macro plus linen tester:

[YoAshnish]

but finally purchased a magnifying glass and here is one of my results. I do find it a bit tricky to have fairly good focus. Practice, practice, practice

[wulf]

Originally Posted by YoAshnish

Practice, practice, practice

... and have fun. It looks like you are doing that - nice results. The leaf is my favourite of the shots you have put on Flickr so far. Was the magnifying glass at an angle to the lens? It looks like a shot from a tilt/shift lens.

Wulf

[ezzabazza]

Wow, that 3rd pic on your Flickr accout Wulf, I just love it!

[YoAshnish]

Originally Posted by wulf

... and have fun. It looks like you are doing that - nice results. The leaf is my favourite of the shots you have put on Flickr so far. Was the magnifying glass at an angle to the lens? It looks like a shot from a tilt/shift lens.

Wulf

Yes, Wulf, the magnifying glass was at an angle to the lens...it was by 'accident' but I liked the results Thank you for the comment and the reminder to have "fun" with it....though really, for the most part, I am having fun with it...so that is definitely a good thing

[jiminyClickit]

Yo_,

Depending on what final results you really hope for, if you can get the magnifying glass closer to your camera's lens, detail and color will be greatly improved. Or use tubes of various lengths (from paper towels, PVC plumbing, something lightproof) between. Fun and good photos are not strangers. The first few I shot were weird (forgetting to line up the glass) because of the excitement of seeing the giant insect images in the viewfinder, unexpected from the simple setup. Now I can get photos that match and better the camera's Macro alone. Still exciting, more fun now because of a more stable attachment.