[Knock]

I've been playing around with reverse lens macro ideas. I don't have a real macro lens, so I had to figure out the best way to use what I had. I seemed to get the best effects from having my 1.8/50 mm DA on the camera body with an old 2.8/28 mm screwmount attached in reverse using a 52-52 coupler. Limiting the vignette was a challenge. I had to be patient with finding a good focus. Straight on shots seemed to give me the better focus, although the tightly focused area was small. When I shot from an angle the bokeh would dominate leaving me with an even smaller point of focus. The heavy bokeh effect could fun to experiment with in the future. Holding the camera during exposure was pointless, so I simply put the camera on the table with the object in front of it (I went cheap when I bought my tripod, so it isn't of much use...you get what you pay for). I also had to make sure there was quite a bit of light on the subject. The first photo is a silver coin--shot with 50 mm lens. The second photo is the same silver coin shot with the 50 mm + 28 mm lens mounted in reverse. Does anyone out there have any experiences with the "poor mans macro"?

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Last edited by Knock; 01-23-2015 at 01:13 PM.

[Old Man]

Anyone interested in macro has used the "poor mans setup", it actually does a good job. Many pictures that have been published have been done with a reversed lens. I use a reversed lens on extension tubes. I have a bellows, but have never used it, it would be great for table top work.
Just do a google search for macro photography and start looking and reading, lots of very useful info.
Here is one place that you can get all kinds of ideas. www.photomacrography.net...Front Page Everything from macro lenses to microscopes.
If you find yourself with a subject that does not completely fill your frame and need a background that would be complementary, but out of focus, go to any place that sells paint that you paint interior walls with. Pick up a handful of the larger paint sample cards, these can be used for your background colors. I get mine at Walmart or Lowes. Get lots of different colors, and experiment.
Your photo of the coin is quite nice.

[stevebrot]

As OldMan says, most people who have fiddled with macro have also tried a reversed lens. I have used a K-mount/49mm adapter to mount the lens reversed directly on the camera. Focus is a trick though since the focus ring does nothing on most reversed lenses. Usually, I will reverse the lens on a bellows. Reversing on bellows is the traditional setup for stamp and coin photography where the reversed position provides excellent flatness of field.


Steve

[dms]

Actually for magnification in the range roughly 2 to 10, if loss of auto diaphragm is not a problem, this is the preferred method. Although vignetting is (as you found) is a problem if the longer FL lens is less than (about) 135mm on FF, and thus a bit less on cropped sensor.

[baro-nite]

Limiting the vignette was a challenge. I had to be patient with finding a good focus. Straight on shots seemed to give me the better focus, although the tightly focused area was small. When I shot from an angle the bokeh would dominate leaving me with an even smaller point of focus. The heavy bokeh effect could fun to experiment with in the future. Holding the camera during exposure was pointless, so I simply put the camera on the table with the object in front of it (I went cheap when I bought my tripod, so it isn't of much use...you get what you pay for). I also had to make sure there was quite a bit of light on the subject.

Good start. You might well get better results from the reversed 28 alone, although you'd need a reverse adapter and extension tubes, or a bellows (some of the Pentax bellows units allow you to reverse the front standard). For using coupled lenses I think the primary (the 50 in this case) should be wide open; the secondary lens acts as a diaphragm. You're getting not quite 2:1 magnification (50:28), meaning you should be able to stop the secondary (28) down to f/5.6, maybe f/6.7, without undue diffraction softening. (Rule of thumb for effective aperture is nominal aperture * (1 + magnification), and you want to keep this below 20 or so on an APS-C camera.) As you've observed, depth of field is tiny at this magnification, and lighting is important. You can get good results putting a diffuser at the end of the lens and using the pop-up flash; this makes hand-holding reasonable.

In addition to the excellent photomacrography site linked above, there's also this forum's own https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/lens-clubs/143202-macro-any-means-necessary-club.html. Have fun!