reverse lens macro - my howto

[tzava]

Thought i shoud make a small tutorial ( or just wanting to share a metod )

I`m into macro ( much more than 1:1 ) and having no money i decided to go on reverse lens.

So .. i took my gf`s 70-300 an 18-55 lens
mounted the 70-300 normally on the camera, 18-55 reversed on the end of the 70-300.

now , please do not laugh, i stuck them together with electrical tape ( rubbery like, colored, 1 dollar thingie ). holds very good, leaves no glue marks.

now .. the actual photography, can`t do field work so you have to bring the critter / object home. - light was provided by 2x 300ws excella studio flashes. ( needed focusing light so i used the modeling light - 2x 60w light bulbs )

Zoom ratios are impresive : camera is a canon xti/450d ( 1,6x aps-c )
300mm + 55 mm = ~8.7 times
300mm + 18 mm = ~ 26x !!!!!!

not shure the calculations are exact, but the result is impresive .. see for yourself :
Fly is ~ 3 mm in length . / the screw is a drywall screw ~3cm overall lenght.

fly is captured at 300mm+18mm, screw at 300mm+18mm and 300mm+55mm.



i think you can see the cells on the fly`s back :|


now the screw .. 300mm + 18 mm / lights @ 1/2 power 20 cm distance



300mm+55mm / lights @ 1/11 power 20cm distance

[daft_biker]

Originally Posted by tzava

Zoom ratios are impresive : camera is a canon xti/450d ( 1,6x aps-c )
300mm + 55 mm = ~8.7 times
300mm + 18 mm = ~ 26x !!!!!!

Great job....shame you can't use it out in the field as that would be lots of fun

The crop factor does't count as magnification though - should be approx 5.5x and 16.6x. Still very, very close though There are many individual cells shown in your fly photographs - the "hairs" are single cells called setae.

[MOmilkman]

Always neat to see things you have never seen before for the first time isn't it? Great close ups. Ive been using the reverse macro with my old kit lens (18-55) but havent ventured out to try it with other lenses yet. The adapter I made only works with 58mm so I only have 2 choices... my 18-55 or my 70-300. I need to give it a shot on the long lens.

Thanks for the pics.

[mike1187]

What sort of working distance do you have with a lens setup like that?

[tzava]

well .. about 2.5 - 3 cm from the back element of the 18-55 mounted in front of the 70 -300 .
the " lens assembly " is about 35 cm long .
i`ll post in a few days the mounted lens

[mike1187]

Originally Posted by tzava

well .. about 2.5 - 3 cm from the back element of the 18-55 mounted in front of the 70 -300 .
the " lens assembly " is about 35 cm long .
i`ll post in a few days the mounted lens

I finally got a chance to play around with this a bit last night. I was fairly happy with the results. I was just using my 55-250mm lens, and my 18-55mm lens... with the shorter lens at its longest focal length, I got some pretty nice shots of the end of a ball point pen for the macro assignment in my photography course.

I was not happy with the results at higher magnifications though. There was way too much chromatic aberration and the colors just didn't look right, there was also a lot more distortion to the image than I would prefer.

Very interesting results, but not really practical for much. I guess it'll work for that occasional extreme closeup that I can work on indoors when I dont really need to hook the camera up to a microscope.

[rggeeks]

Placing an extension tube between the camera body and the lens. The tube has no glass in it; its sole purpose is to move the lens farther from the film or digital sensor. The farther the lens is, the closer the focus (and the bigger the magnification). Also, less light will reach the film or sensor, therefore a longer exposure time will be needed. Reversing the lens using a "reversing ring". This special adapter attaches to the filter thread on the front of a lens and makes it possible to attach the lens in reverse. Excellent quality results up to 4x lifesize magnification using fairly cheap, "standard" (not specially designed for macro) lenses can be produced. Magnification ratio is calculated by dividing the focal length of the normally mounted lens by the focal length of the reversed lens (i.e., when a 50 mm lens is reverse mounted on a 200 mm lens a 4:1 magnification ratio is achieved). So having said that let's get it on. Here is what you are going to need, mostly from the plumbing department at your local hardware store.

Geeks

[pax]

Hope you can help me..I've got the exact same setup as you do.And after putting the 2 lense's together , I couldn't help feeling very nervous about the 2 coming apart and the 50mm crashing to the ground... ...So how much tape does it take to keep them together and do u also use something else to give it more stability? Please post a pic of your setup...Thanks in advance

[tzava]

well .. pictures when i get home, untill then

the tape i used was about 2 complete turns. but i had an 18-55, it has an edge, so it fitted better, for the 50 prime you should use a reversing ring .. it`s a 8 -10 $ piece tthat has filter screws on both sides.

i`ll post later today the macro setup

[jkoncepz]

Very interesting. I started doing this about three weeks ago, but freelensing, meaning no adapters or so. But, I've got some shots I've achieved with an 18-55mm lens on a d40x camera: