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The poor man's macro

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G6u7a1m

G6u7a1m

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I took these using reversed lens handheld just test shots. cc welcome







 
Interesting you have done this - reversing a lens.

It was quite common with film cameras but I have never seen it mentioned before on these forums.

The dollar bill shot shows a narrow band of sharpness across the horizontal middle of the photo. Was that because the d.o.f is so narrow minuscule variations in the bill's flatness end up out of focus?
 
the dof is extremely shallow. i read it online and thought id give it a try. i used my trusty sam50f1.8. it was pretty hard trying to hold the aperture lever wide open.
 
G6u7a1m said:
the dof is extremely shallow. i read it online and thought id give it a try. i used my trusty sam50f1.8. it was pretty hard trying to hold the aperture lever wide open.
Click to expand...
I am curious why you would hold it wide open? I would have thought you would want it to stop down to get better d.o.f. I assume off camera the 50 sam just stops down to the smallest aperture so you hold it wide open somehow?

If so I would try it stopped down all the way just to see what you get. You might be surprised.
 
I think a closeup filter set would do better on a budget. Actually a used Minolta 50mm Macro can be had for a pretty reasonable price and definitely does a very nice job.l
--
Dave
 
i held it wide open to see if it would work. i just ordered an old minolta manual lens and the reverse mount adapter for sony a mount. so i will have better aperture control.
 
it was actually a test shot. i was just holding the lens in front of the camera.
 
G6u7a1m said:
i held it wide open to see if it would work. i just ordered an old minolta manual lens and the reverse mount adapter for sony a mount. so i will have better aperture control.
Click to expand...
Post some photos when you get it. I would be interested to see the results.

I have an old Russian 58mm manual lens I could reverse which would give me mnaula control but I am not sure what I could reverse it on. I am not sure reversing it on a 16-80 CZ or Minilta 28mm F2 would work!
 
they actually sell an adapter on amazon to mount it directly to the camera. i just ordered one for 11usd shipped.
 
I use a Raynox DC150 on my Tamron 70-300 USD (typically at 200 mm for 1:1). I had a fine Sigma 105 macro for several years but sold it since I rarely carried it with me. I too tried the reverse lens (Konica 57 f1.4) and it works but no AF and fiddling with aperture lever was a pain. Just some food for thought.
Bert
 
the tamron 90mm f2.8 macro is in my amazon wishlist but i dont think the wife would appreciate it after spending over 2k usd on my new toy (A77) LOL
 
BertIverson said:
I use a Raynox DC150 on my Tamron 70-300 USD (typically at 200 mm for 1:1). I had a fine Sigma 105 macro for several years but sold it since I rarely carried it with me. I too tried the reverse lens (Konica 57 f1.4) and it works but no AF and fiddling with aperture lever was a pain. Just some food for thought.
Click to expand...
I have several of the apochromat close up add on lenses from Nikon, Minolta and Marumi. Mostly use them on my bridge camera, or when I want to travel lighter than bringing along a macro lens. They are a far easier option than the reversal game and the apochromats give very good IQ. And reversing lenses does not always give all that good IQ. It's something that works pretty well in optically symmetric lenses when you are shooting closer than the lens to sensor distance. But the more asymmetric the lens is the less well it works.
 
I found out extremely fast that reversal wasn't easy. When I read I could achieve magnifications greater than 1:1 how could someone resist the attempt. Did I forget to mention that both images were full size shots and no cropping whatsoever.
 
I have been using the reverse lens technique for a long time. I've had success with lots of different glass, but even my trusty old 18-55mm kit lens can deliver great results. Here are a few quick samples (a Canadian nickel) with the backwards 18-55mm SAM. It's a ton of fun, and all it cost me was a dollar for an adapter!

Another way to do this is to mount two lenses together, face to face. Try it; it's a blast!

Glen
http://www.FocusOnNewfoundland.com





http://www.FocusOnNewfoundland.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fogoislanders/

 
let me know what you think all shots are handheld. as always cc is welcome.















 
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