A thought experiment before I distroy some filters.

OldGoat

What would happen if, just for giggles, I tacked two cheap filters together face to face so that I could mount a 50mm lens reversed to the front of a 18/55 kit lens?

I currently use cheap extension rings on the 50mm but lose all control on the appature which opens to it's full 1.4 leaving me with a really shallow DOF.

The reversed lens should give me macro(ish) capabilities and ganging it to the other lens only costs me the price of two cheap filters rather then the cost of a reversing ring. Would it work? Would I still have the ability to zoom, change appature and shutter speed on the kit lens while using the 50 as a magnifier?

DaireQuinlan

OldGoat wrote: »

What would happen if, just for giggles, I tacked two cheap filters together face to face so that I could mount a 50mm lens reversed to the front of a 18/55 kit lens?

I currently use cheap extension rings on the 50mm but lose all control on the appature which opens to it's full 1.4 leaving me with a really shallow DOF.

The reversed lens should give me macro(ish) capabilities and ganging it to the other lens only costs me the price of two cheap filters rather then the cost of a reversing ring. Would it work? Would I still have the ability to zoom, change appature and shutter speed on the kit lens while using the 50 as a magnifier?

I think it's actually more normal to use a long lens as the unreversed lens , IIRC though the resultant magnification is the ratio of the focal length of the unreversed and reversed lenses, so you'll get roughly 1:1 if the kit lens is zoomed to 55. Vignetting was a problem when I was doing this, and working distance was pretty miniscule, so that you have to be careful about the rear element of your reversed lens. I glued a UV filter to a rear lens cap with the bottom removed for protection for this and for when I was doing just straight reversal.

It's worth a try presuming the whole rather shaky mechanical aspect of it doesn't get too problematical

CabanSail

Why not just use a bit of your Mod Dividends to buy a proper Macro Lens?

DaireQuinlan

CabanSail wrote: »

Why not just use a bit of your Mod Dividends to buy a proper Macro Lens?

Damnit. There are Mod dividends ? I knew I should have been more circumspect.

I found one that I took with a reversed 50mm taped to the front of a fuji s602, which is a bridge camera with some sort of zoomy zoomy lens. This was strobed as well so from what I remember the fuji was stopped down quite a bit



fairly good magnification possible, given that this was handheld on a fairly antediluvian (in digital terms) bridge cam, it's not too bad.

OldGoat

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

I think it's actually more normal to use a long lens as the unreversed lens , IIRC though the resultant magnification is the ratio of the focal length of the unreversed and reversed lenses, so you'll get roughly 1:1 if the kit lens is zoomed to 55. Vignetting was a problem when I was doing this, and working distance was pretty miniscule, so that you have to be careful about the rear element of your reversed lens. I glued a UV filter to a rear lens cap with the bottom removed for protection for this and for when I was doing just straight reversal.

It's worth a try presuming the whole rather shaky mechanical aspect of it doesn't get too problematical

I'm under no illusions as to how shakey the rig up is going to be. It's not a set up I'm going to be taking into the wilds, or even outdoors.
And now I'm thinking that I might be able to sandwich the extension tubes between the lenses to up the focal length of the prime. A step too far?

CabanSail wrote: »

Why not just use a bit of your Mod Dividends to buy a proper Macro Lens?

Pfft, what lens is worth the quality coke of the mods? None I say. Besides if I bought a lens then I'd miss out on the thrill of the bodge.

Gregor Samsa

I did something similar with a filter step-up ring. I had an old Pentax 50mm lens with a UV filter (49mm diameter, I think). Then I glued a step up ring I had who's inside diameter was pretty much the same as the outside diameter of the UV filter. This gave me 55mm threads sticking out the business end of the lens, which I could use to reverse mount on the end of any 55 mm diameter lens. The Pentax lens was completely manual, so I could set aperture as needed.

Depth of field with this setup was very tight. I'll see if I can find an exampe to post when I get home.

I kind of messed it up when I glued a Sigma Ring Flash mount to the mount end of the lens, so that I could use my ring flash with it. I forgot to set the lens aperture to wide open, so it's now stuck at f22 or something - which makes it pretty much useless now. The glue is too strong to pull the ring flash mount off. But I must try it again with another cheap old lens.

Slidinginfinity

I have done something similar.

I bought a cheap 8USD coupling ring from B&H and reverse mount a Minolta 50mm f/2 on the front of a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (or the other way around if I wanted to use it on my Minolta).

Thing is wobbly as heck and damned near impossible to focus, but it's a hoot and 8USD for a "macro" is a bargain.

Link to a few shots I have taken with this rig. Two of these are not using it.