Homemade macro

[Jacob6176]

This lens was from a Canon AE-1. I found an old lens cap, cut and fit it to the lens, and the back of the old cap fits perfectly in to my XT body. Snug fit, no light gets in. I have been messing around with making an extension tube for it for macro shots. This extension is 3/4 of an inch long. The focal plane of the Rebel XT is farther away from the lens than the AE-1's focal plane, so there is added magnification from that as well. Here is a shot of the lens (canon 50mm 2.8), with extension, and a shot of a pair of fingernail clippers I had laying close. The full view of the clippers is best, just click the pic to be taken to the flickr page with it.







Let me know what you think.

[mcenut]

I'm not sure I understand how the lens mounts on your Canon XT, perhaps a picture of it mounted on the camera would have been more help. Oh well, C'est la Vie.

The macro shot of the clippers is very clear and close, however I do not find it interesting. More of a horror show with all the dust and old finger nail shards.

[Canadian Mum]

great use of existing equipment.
Looks like it works well on the camera...
nice clear shot of the clippers.

[Jacob6176]

Originally Posted by mcenut

I'm not sure I understand how the lens mounts on your Canon XT, perhaps a picture of it mounted on the camera would have been more help. Oh well, C'est la Vie.

The macro shot of the clippers is very clear and close, however I do not find it interesting. More of a horror show with all the dust and old finger nail shards.

The clippers was just handy and i took the shot just to show what the lens could do, it wasn't meant to be interesting. But the "horror show" comment made me laugh, i never really thought of it that way.

I have no way of taking a shot of the lens mounted to the camera, it is my only camera (the AE-1 has no film). You can see the end of the extension is rounded, and the mount on the XT has guides for a lens, the rounded section just sits snuggly in the body mount. I guess friction fit, or snug fit, is holding it in place. It is a tight fit that I have to put a little umph into to get it back out after I put it in.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by mcenut

I'm not sure I understand how the lens mounts on your Canon XT, perhaps a picture of it mounted on the camera would have been more help. Oh well, C'est la Vie.

The macro shot of the clippers is very clear and close, however I do not find it interesting. More of a horror show with all the dust and old finger nail shards.

yes.. i always find dust a problem !

its quite hard to find things that are clean and ready for macro..

[wulf]

That is a very respectable result. Try taking a picture of a ruler as close as you can get in focus and then compare that with the size of your sensor - this will let you know what ratio you are getting. With my Raynox DCR-250 on my 50mm lens I reckon to be able to achieve about 1:2.

Wulf

[Elmo]

A similar thing can be done using a body cap. When I first started using Zuiko lenses on my canon I epoxied An Olympus rear lens cap to a canon Body cap. No focus any where near infinity but I had a great 85mm f:2 macro.

[Jacob6176]

Originally Posted by wulf

That is a very respectable result. Try taking a picture of a ruler as close as you can get in focus and then compare that with the size of your sensor - this will let you know what ratio you are getting. With my Raynox DCR-250 on my 50mm lens I reckon to be able to achieve about 1:2.

Wulf

I totally don't know what you mean by that..?? You mean just take the shot of a ruler, anywhere on the ruler, and then do what? Maybe you could post up a visual of what you mean, or a link maybe.

edit: strike that, I found a link.. I'll let you know what it comes up with

[Jacob6176]

ok I lied... I still don't understand. My sensor size is 22.2 x 14.8 mm. I took a pic of a ruler and can fill the frame with 1 and a half inches.

1 1/2 inches = 38.1mm

I am lost at this point. What do I do from here to get magnification???

[Nathan deGargoyle]

Assuming your ruler is parallel to the long side of your sensor that works out to about 1:1.8