I wanted to have a look at cheap, dirty and easy macro. Forget your expensive lenses, magnification ratios and specialist equipment and let's see what can be done with some very modest kit.
First a reference image. This is a Lego brick, roughly 15.8mm x 9.6mm x 7.8mm, taken with a manual Pentax 50mm f1.7 at its minimum focus distance. A similar lens should be able to be found on eBay for around £25.
50mm Lens by
Philip Veater, on Flickr
Not very macro at all! So now let's add a 52mm to K mount reversing ring for around £5, bringing the total cost so far to £30.
50mm Lens Reversed by
Philip Veater, on Flickr
What a difference a fiver makes! I think we can get closer though. Let's spend another £10 on some cheap-as-chips plastic extension tubes. Sure you can spend £50 on some metal mount auto tubes but we're aiming for cheap! Now we've spent, including lens, reversing ring and extension tubes, a grand total of £40.
50mm on Extension Tubes by
Philip Veater, on Flickr
Now you're talking. But we've already bought the reversing ring and don't want to waste it so let's add that back into the mix. Now we have the 50mm lens reversed onto a set of extension tubes. Total cost still £40.
50mm Lens Reversed on Extension Tubes by
Philip Veater, on Flickr
OK so you've got to contend with reduced light as your start adding tubes and reversing, etc but I lit all these photos on a windowsill in daytime with no fancy lighting rig. They were also mostly taken handheld too. For a potential £40 spend I wouldn't complain. Finally for reference here's the same Lego brick taken with a £349 Tamron 90mm Macro lens.
90mm Macro Lens by
Philip Veater, on Flickr
There we go. Macro on the cheap. Sure playing with manual focus, aperture, etc is a little more tricky than a simpler, dedicated, Macro lens but for £309
less not only can we get some macro shots but we can actually get in closer!
Last edited by veato; 12-28-2019 at 09:30 AM.
Reason: typo