quick video 4 , extreme macro photography trick
31 July 2008
30 Comments
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I’ve always thought this was a cool little trick that got me thinking about macro photography in new ways. Don’t have a real macro lens but want to get really close? Grab a lens in the 100mm range and also your 50mm standard lens and stack them together for a 1:1 magnification. Or try different lens combinations to get in even closer. In the video I hold the two lenses together but you can also purchase a reversing ring to screw them together
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That was WAAAAAAAY cool! Thanks you taught me something I didn’t know (and I am a real know it all!)
I really love these videos. They are the best I have found.
Thanks once again
MArk
Hmhmm even easier – I use my 50mm kit-lens with a reversing ring (5$ on eBay) and get exactly the same picture you have with two lenses.
I used to only hold the lens in front of the camera in reverse, but the reversing ring makes it a lot easier.
Nice tutorial, though!
That’s cool, just using the 50mm and no other lens! Having less glass in the path is always a good thing. Dennis, can I ask what you’re shooting with? If it’s Canon is there a way to still control the aperture on the lens?
I agree with Mark, reverse rings are great. I have the original Nikon one (called BR-2A I think), and it allows me to use the lens directly on camera in reverse position. You can only use lenses that have an aperture ring of course unless you can live with the aperture being fully stopped down or are willing to risk some hacks. I have used both the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 and a Tokina 24mm f1.4 with great results. The shorter the focal length, the bigger the subject in the image. The nice thing is you can use cheap manual lenses that were made for other camera systems (my Tokina has a Pentax K-Mount for example) since the reverse mounting ring only connects to the filter thread. You could get one of those Canon lenses that were produced before they changed their mount for example, they are pretty cheap these days.
One downside is that you have to get in really close, which might be a problem when photographing animals. The other thing is that there are obviously no UV filters for the back of the lens, and it’s sometimes hard to judge the distance from the subject through the viewfinder so you have to be really careful not to scratch your lens. But I guess you’d have the same problem with your two-lensed solution. Moreover, I often find it hard to focus correctly when the lens is stopped down and I’m not using a tripod. The image in the viewfinder becomes quite dark rather quickly, so I like to use bright continuous light sources instead of regular flash.
Peter
Neat trick. I have heard of reversing rings, but didn’t know what they did. For myself, I use a set of Kenko extension tubes that will meter and autofocus with any lens I have. I usually use them with my 50mm f/1.8.
I’ve worked with this set up quite a bit. Both a 50mm mounted directly to the camera body and with a 50mm mounted reversed on my 70-300VR.
To mount a 50mm reversed on another lens I use two Cokin P adapters face to face. A while back I posted some photos of this when I was still using pbase: http://www.pbase.com/pauld1/macro_coupler
The great thing about the P adapters is that they’re interchangeable. I have one for the thread size of each lens that I own and can mix and match them to experiment.
Here’s a photo of this setup:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldandrea/2520068546/
And my set on flickr of macro stuff:
http://flickr.com/photos/pauldandrea/sets/72057594103696772/
Another great video, Jim. Thanks.
I’m going to have to give that a try. I’ve thought about different ways I could go about doing this. Jim, your method looks fun. I can easily do that. I might have to look into the extension tubes for my 50mm f/1.8. Craig, you have any photos you can link to?
That was new and exciting. I wouldn’t thought of that myself.
Thanks for another great video, Jim. I’ve experimented with the reversed lens setup but found it a bit cumbersome. Not owning a macro lens, I can still take some very nice macro shots of varying magnifications using the Kenko extension tube set and a high quality Nikon diopter mounted to the front of my 85mm 1.8. Used to think there was no way around investing in a good macro and I’d still like to own one. But the setup I describe works very nicely with an SB800 mounted on a Kirk butterfly bracket – flash just above the lens at about a 45 degree angle to the front plane of the lens – a nice setup for shooting insects. As long as the flash to ambient light ratio is set correctly, motion blur can easily be eliminated.
John, here are a couple links of shots took with the extension tubes.
My most recent set with them: Our World http://taallyn.zenfolio.com/p485799948/
Inside a quartz crystal: http://Taallyn.zenfolio.com/img/v0/p785769648-5.jpg
And some shots of Indian Pennies I inheritted from my grandfather: http://taallyn.zenfolio.com/p471707970/
There are also close-up filters that do similar things. They seem to be more convientent than the extension tubes, but will only work with one lens size unless you also get step-down adaptors. They are usually less expensive as well.
Nice video!
I tried to do some similar experiments with old Helios /f2 glass (with manual f-stop ring) and it worked wonderful. The most important thing, when stacking two lenses for macro photography, is good flash (off shoe) with softener.
If You have some old, broken lenses You can try to create Your own macro lens, as I did. The instructions are here:
http://the-art-of-light.blogspot.com/2008/02/diy-macro-lens-for-10-english-is-not-my.html
Cheers,
Robert
Just put a couple of quick shots of my dog’s paws up at http://www.flickr.com/groups/794303@N23/ I used extension tubes with a vivitar 105 2.5 lens. I have used reversed 50’s, 28’s and stacked them. I find for best results, it is hard to beat a teleconverter, extension tubes and a good, sharp macro lens.
That is really cool, never thought you could do such thing, very clever indeed. thx for sharing that.
there are some (not mine) photos taken with reversed helios 44M attached to the kit lens. enjoy:
http://canon-board.info/showthread.php?t=35859
Another great site to check out is Mark Dijstelberge: http://blog.mdsign.nl
He does fantastic macro work using these techniques. Much of my fooling around was started using his explanation in the Information section.
Thanks for the tip! I just tried it and put a picture up on my photoblog here: http://comfortabledog.com
Keep them coming!
[...] to an awesome post at Pro Photo Life, I learned a really cool and interesting technique to do Extreme Macro Photography (you gotta watch the video on that post). In short, if you have a telephoto or zoom lens and a [...]
[...] saw this video at ProPhotoLife.com and found it to be very useful. I just need to get a reversing ring to try this out at home. I [...]
[...] Voir le vidéo [...]
hello jim, nice video… i try it before but not with two lens like you do it, but i put off my lens and set like the 50mm you do it so i have the same result but maybe better with your way jim, thank you for the trick…
dewo – Hamburg
after seeing this video. this was my first test shot. and I am very happy with outcome.
http://pixcellz.deviantart.com/art/G-SHOCK-Giez-100603147
I will practice more
Great tips Jim, I tried to do it and I got partially good results. It definetely macro like but the picture came out with a vignete; instead of the image being in a frame it looks like it i in framed by a circle. Any idea why? I must be missing something.
Miguel, are you using a zoom lens attached to the body (or is it a fixed prime)? If you are using a zoom lens, zoom it in till you don’t see the vignette. On my 70-300VR / 50mm combo I think I have to zoom past 200mm for the vignette to go away.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU….U SAVED ME LOTS OF £££ ON A MACRO LENS!
[...] Makrospielerein Hab heut
[...] gestimmt ist und ich trotzdem Fotografieren wollte habe ich heute, nach dem ich ein Video über Makrofotografie für die Dummen und chronisch Armen auf http://www.prophotolife.com gesehen habe dachte ich ich versuch auch mal mein Glück. Die Ergebnisse [...]
I alwasy wondered about doing somethin glike this, i was goign to try a magnifying glass, but that works just as well LOL
Brilliant! Can’t wait to experiment
Another trick is to directly reverse mount a lens onto the camera. The focal length is then inversely proportional to the zoom ratio. You can get more than 1:1 ratios doing so.
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