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Hello,
I'm new to this world of macro photography and want to understand what exactly the above means since I am planning to connect Pentax 1.4HD Teleconverter to the Camera and then connect Pentax 100mm macro WR on top of the Teleconverter and use a male to male connector to reverse mount Pentax smc M50mm or Pentax 15mm Ltd or 8mm Manual focus lens to achieve extreme Macro.

I had read through and still reading through this forum as well as read extreme-macro.co.uk

Appreciate further help and references.

[barondla]

Hello Prasath00.

I am a little confused by your question. Seems you are talking about 2 different macro methods.

1. Reverse mounting a single lens requires a reverse mount adapter. So you need a reverse mount adapter that is PK mount. The other end of the adapter will have filter threads. If you can't get filter threads the same diameter as your lens, stepping rings can be used. Reverse mounting a single lens is usually done with 50mm or less focal length. Since the lens is mounted backwards on the camera there is only 1 focus distance and magnification.

2. Stacking 2 lenses. As an example put the 100mm on the camera and using a male to male coupling ring reverse a shorter focal length, say 50mm. Basically the reversed lens becomes a high power closup "filter". This combo will usually vignette (darken corners of picture). Might even make a circular image. This is usually fixed by using extension tubes between camera body and 100mm lens. Your 1.4 teleconverter will also crop out the dark corners. Stacking lenses allow multiple focus distances and magnification. The male coupling ring must fit the filter screw threads of both lenses. If not, use stepping rings to accommodate both lenses.

Best book I have seen on close up/ macro photography is Close Ups In Nature by John Shaw.

Best website by far is extreme-macro.co.uk.

Macro is fun but requires a lot of practice. Luckily it can be done at the kitchen table.

Thanks
barondla

[old4570]

Ok ..

1.4x TC .. 100mm lens , 15mm or 8mm Lens ...

So here is what I would do : ( Have done )

1.4x TC to body , 100mm lens to TC and then reverse the 15mm lens to the 100mm lens ...

What I have done ...

1.5 TC , 100mm lens with a 50mm lens reversed .. That gave me 3 to 1 Macro ( 150mm to 50mm Reversed = 3 to 1 )
Why do it this way ?
1) Maintain aperture control
2) 3 to 1 Macro

If you 1.4 - 100 - 18 reversed ( 140mm / 18mm = 7.7 to 1 Macro )
That is seriously extreme macro , and you must be photographing really small stuff because your field of view ( side to side ) will be very small .
Your DOF will be small ...
You will need a lot of light to maintain a decent shutter speed to counter movement ...
Remember , the more you magnify - you magnify everything and cut the amount of light ...

You need light ! , you need shutter speed ,


Your description of what you are doing is a little confusing ...
But if you are lens stacking ? I would suggest starting off a little less extreme ...
Try 2:1 Macro , then maybe 3:1 and 4:1 and see how that difficulty factor is working out . ( Because it gets harder )
I did manage 3:1 , but @ 4:1 it got very Miss rather than Hit ( I shoot free hand )

So possibly a picture of your set up , and camera settings ( ISO - SHUTTER - Fstop )

[old4570]

I just got me one of these click here for Feebay item

Be called a " Macro Coupler Coupling Lens Reverse Ring Close Up Adapter " Thats a mouth full .. But its the sort of thing you want when reversing a lens in front of another ...
Now you may need a " step up " coupling ring or a " step down " coupling ring , or possibly a matching coupling ring ..

Many Pentax Lenses being 49mm on the filter ..

I just ordered some bits for a new project / experiment for this coming spring / summer and essentially I will be reversing a lens in front of various other lenses to see how effectively you can macro on what I would call a budget .
Remember , reversing a 50mm lens in front of another 50mm lens effectively gives you 1:1 macro .
Why do that ?
I would do it to maintain aperture control .. The lens mounted in the body will have functioning aperture , and the lens reversed in front of it will simply remain wide open .
Easy peasy lemon squeezy .

I will be testing various lenses from 50mm on up to possibly 150mm + .
One lens I really want to try is a 135mm Prime with a 50mm reversed in front of it , that would be about 2.5:1 Macro .. ( I really want to try that )
And how about a 50mm Macro lens ? ( 1:2 ) with a 50mm reversed in front of it , should be 1.5:1 ( Lots of things to try )

[Prasath00]

Thank you all for the information. Sorry that I did not mention what I was planning to do. Just modified my first statement.

I connected 1.4 HD TC to the Camera and then connected Pentax 100mm WR Macro, I was able to get the magnified results of of the subject. Then I added male to male connector to the set up and then added Pentax SMC M 50 1.4mm reverse mounted but could not get any results (all I could see was a blurred output and nothing much). Tried different sort of settings (like using Tripod, changing the aperture settings, using the focus rings to manually focus both the lenses) but nothing worked and I don't know why. I would be playing with this set up more to see if I could get the results.

Any suggestions on what should I do further to achieve results?

[old4570]

Yeah , whats happened is you have adjusted your focus range to MACRO !
Adjust the focus on your lenses to infinity , you will not get infinity , what you well get is some Macro distance ..
With both lenses adjusted to infinity see where you have focus .. I can't tell you , but it just might be something like 5 to 10 centimeters ( ? ) in front of the lens .. ( or maybe closer ? , I don't know )
If you set the 100mm lens to close focus , the focus might be behind the front element of the reversed lens .

Been a while since I did it , and I plan on doing it again especially as I want to move to 2:1 macro this spring / summer .
Sorry I don't remember more , but its been a long time since I did 3:1 macro .
And keeping things steady is very important ...

Remember , when you magnify , you magnify all the problems as well . ( a few mm the wrong way and you are out of focus as your DOF is now very small )

I would suggest setting up a tripod and table and a subject to photograph , just to work out you focus distances ..



Thats 8mm from the left side of the image to the right side ... @ 3:1

[BrianR]

Try without the teleconvertor first, just the DFA100mm with the 50mm reversed on it, the magnification will be high enough that you'll want to practice getting used to it before adding more.

The focus ring on the reversed SMC M 50mm won't change the optics of your setup, it just moves the outer body of this lens forward or back, so you can ignore it (I'll sometimes set it to the minimum distance so the rear element is recessed a little bit for protection and shading).

I'm just eyeballing it but:

With the DFA100mm set to infinity focus, the magnification is twice life size and the focus distance is roughly 4cm from the rear element of the smc m 50mm.

With the DFA100mm set to minimum focus, the magnification is roughly three times life size and the focus distance is roughly 2cm from the rear element of the smc m 50mm.

These are tough distances and magnifications to work with, tripod, non-moving subject, and appropriately positioned lighting are all important when starting out.