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12-28-2019, 08:15 AM - 2 Likes   #1
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Doing Macro on the Cheap

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
12-28-2019, 08:58 AM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by veato Quote
So now let's add a 52mm to K mount reversing ring for around £5, bringing the total cost for far to £30
You forgot the step-up ring to get from a filter diameter of 49mm to 52mm

But nice demonstration anyhow.
12-28-2019, 09:01 AM   #3
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The Pentax 50/1.7 formula is quite good reversed for macro, as you've shown.

Another cheap approach is to get a thread-to-thread coupling ring, and stack lenses. In my experience the results actually tend to be better than using plain extension, and now you have two or more prime lenses you can use normally.
12-28-2019, 09:07 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by othar Quote
You forgot the step-up ring to get from a filter diameter of 49mm to 52mm

But nice demonstration anyhow.
In which case it's a 49mm to K mount and I got my number wrong

12-28-2019, 09:26 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by veato Quote
They were also mostly taken handheld too.
Impressively done. Nice demonstration of what can be done with minimal gear and investment.
12-28-2019, 09:33 AM   #6
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Thank you for sharing with clear example photos. The wonderful thing about macro is that there are so many solutions.

This earlier article pretty much covers all the bases:
CHEAP MACRO -- Buying or exploiting a lens for ultraclose work - PentaxForums.com

As do the following thread and Club
Macro By Any Means Possible - PentaxForums.com
Macro by any means necessary club - PentaxForums.com
12-28-2019, 09:49 AM   #7
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Love it! I just gifted my dedicated macro lens because I just don't play with it enough to justify it. But now you have me interested in 3D printing some extension tubes and adapters for use on my cheapo lenses. Thanks for sharing.

12-28-2019, 09:55 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Not a Number Quote
Thank you for sharing with clear example photos. The wonderful thing about macro is that there are so many solutions.

This earlier article pretty much covers all the bases:
CHEAP MACRO -- Buying or exploiting a lens for ultraclose work - PentaxForums.com

As do the following thread and Club
Macro By Any Means Possible - PentaxForums.com
Macro by any means necessary club - PentaxForums.com
Ha! Ha! You beat me to it! Cheap macro has a long and productive history here on the Pentax Forums.


Steve
12-28-2019, 10:09 AM - 1 Like   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by baro-nite Quote
The Pentax 50/1.7 formula is quite good reversed for macro, as you've shown.

Another cheap approach is to get a thread-to-thread coupling ring, and stack lenses. In my experience the results actually tend to be better than using plain extension, and now you have two or more prime lenses you can use normally.
+1 to this. I've had decent results with the 50/1.7 reversed on the (often-maligned) DA 50-200.
12-28-2019, 10:42 AM   #10
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If you have a 28mm or 24mm lens you don't even need the extension tubes, you can get some amazing magnification that way, especially inverting the 24mm lens. But the 28mm is already good for getting some nice shots of salt or sugar grain

The downside is that you need to stop down a lot (at lest f/16) and that makes for hard focusing...

As far as sharpness goes, the best results I usually get are from my M 50 1.7. The lack of field curvature in the Pentax 50 1.7 lenses makes them ideal for 1:1 macro photography with the reversal ring.
12-28-2019, 10:59 AM   #11
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Very nice. My first attempt at using reverse rings was a sigma 105 2.8 + a reversed M 50 1.7. it was fun!
12-28-2019, 11:26 AM   #12
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Nice examples of each combo, will have to look at buying some reverse rings.
12-28-2019, 12:04 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChristianRock Quote
But the 28mm is already good for getting some nice shots of salt or sugar grain
Back in my film days I reverse mounted my Tamron-F 28mm f2.8 M42 lens and took a shot of a few table salt grains that filled the 35mm frame. I no longer have this lens, but if anyone is interested, there are several versions currently on e-bay in various mounts for very low prices. If you are reverse mounting it, who cares if it's adaptall, Canon, M42, etc.
12-28-2019, 01:21 PM   #14
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Thanks for sharing your R&D.

Next item: a bellows. Prices on bay start at about £80 plus shipping. Is that low budget enough? M42 bellows are much cheaper, if you happen to have an M42 lens and K mount adapter..

A 28mm lens on the reversal ring will yield more magnification than a 50mm. They can be procured on a low budget as well. There are plenty of third party 28mm MF lenses on ebay for less than £20 plus shipping. A reversed 20mm will magnify even more, but these are not cheap.

I have all of the above. The photo gear is at hand, but I will have to dig around for a Lego brick. I am sure that there are some of them in storage somewhere - the kids are all grown up now, hehehe.

If there is any interest, I will do some testing tomorrow. Local time is 22:20 and macro work is easier when you have some sunlight.
12-28-2019, 02:10 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wasp Quote
A 28mm lens on the reversal ring will yield more magnification than a 50mm. They can be procured on a low budget as well. There are plenty of third party 28mm MF lenses on ebay for less than £20 plus shipping. A reversed 20mm will magnify even more, but these are not cheap.
Hence my suggestion for 24mm. I believe it yields almost 3x magnification. Cosina, Tokina and their rebrands like Vivitar are all great 24mm lenses - sharper than the Pentax 24 2.8 versions in fact (Pentax wins in terms of color rendering though, and flare resistance). The curvature is relatively flat as well, from what I can tell. They can be found for about 60 dollars in the US, I guess £50 might get you one. Add a few dollars/pounds for the Sigma Superwide, which has excellent reputation.

If you don't care about the mount, Minolta MD and Canon FD lenses are cheaper even, but I'd always get one that I can also use as a regular 24mm on my Pentax... in fact I ended up with 3
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