[mtngal]

I've been playing with a home-made extension tube and a Viv 105 macro lens. DOF is tiny, flash a must and it took me a while to figure out the flash. My extension tube started out in life as a K-mount 2X TC so it doesn't have contacts, making my lens a manual lens. Not a problem - I used a 540 flash set to A mode. The only thing that I had trouble with is figuring out that I lose a bunch of light due to the extension tube, so needed to use something around f16 while the flash was set to f22, or else use a higher ISO (those types of things don't come naturally to me).

I've been thinking of trying to reverse a 50mm 1.7 lens in front of the macro lens. Does the DOF become as minimal as it does with extension tubes (I don't have a geared focusing rail)? Would it be any easier to deal with, or would it be so heavy a combination it would be practically impossible to use? Since wider lenses give more magnification, would it make any sense to try using a 24mm lens? I think my 24mm lens is the same 52 threads as the macro lens, while the 50mm is 49 and I would be stepping down. I might be able to spring for a male to male ring, but know a Raynox is beyond my means at the moment.

[Canada_Rockies]

I have found that the depth of field is basically based on the amount of magnification of the image. More magnification = less depth of field. It will be extremely difficult to see through the assembly. The more extension, the more light is lost. It's a lot of fun, though!

[m8o]

Richard, here's a great thread from a while back... note post #9: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/13422-macro.html (screw needing/having that Canon body mentioned earlier )