Hackberry Emperor

[zeroendless]

Last image taken with my 150mm macro lens... i broke it into 2 peices minutes later.



My temporary macro solution is now a reversed 50mm on 135L, $15 for 2.7 magnification.

[Roy]

Daniel, That's a beautiful shot I'm not sure it's worth braking your lens over. Yikes! What happened?

[zeroendless]

I hang bean bag right over lens for damping, tripod tripped but i manged to get hold on it. unfortunately weight of the bean bag took part of the lens with it. Lesson learned, need 2 bean bags for counter balanced...

[lightsnshadows62]

Hey Daniel,what do you mean by "reversed" how's that done?

[lextalionis]

Great art work Daniel! I don't use bean bags...interesting. I do find it hard to use a tripod...99% of my macro work with my 100mm 2.8 is hand-held.

So, you've sparked my interest using the 50mm. I've only been shooting with a DSLR since this past May and the only two lenses I own is the 100mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.8 (nifty fifty). Can I use my 50mm reversed with my 100mm? I would need two reversing rings right? How to you coordinate the focus of the two lenses. Just a Ditto to what Fredy asked.

Thanks,
Roy

[zeroendless]

Originally Posted by lightsnshadows62

Hey Daniel,what do you mean by "reversed" how's that done?

Mount you lens in reverse. :)

There are quite a few articles on "reverse macro" if you search on google. I used the most easily one without any modification and still maintain AF and A-exposure (but it's useless anyway since the focus plane is too small, manual is all one can do), reversed lens on existing lens.

To mount a reversed lens on another, one can get a macro coupler, popular size where you can get from B&H is 49mm-52mm-58mm (that's your filter size).

In my case is a rev 50mm (52mm filter size)on 135mm (72mm), i used a step-down ring (72mm-58mm) then a macro coupler 58-52mm for the 50mm. Mag is 135/50.

The downside is the focus plane is barely mm, and MFD is few cm away... it's too darn hard to get a usable shot.

[zeroendless]

Originally Posted by lextalionis

Great art work Daniel! I don't use bean bags...interesting. I do find it hard to use a tripod...99% of my macro work with my 100mm 2.8 is hand-held.

So, you've sparked my interest using the 50mm. I've only been shooting with a DSLR since this past May and the only two lenses I own is the 100mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.8 (nifty fifty). Can I use my 50mm reversed with my 100mm? I would need two reversing rings right? How to you coordinate the focus of the two lenses. Just a Ditto to what Fredy asked.

Thanks,
Roy

I prefer ambient light background and flash for fill only. That usually leave me with very low shutter speed, so i use whatever i can to prevent user-error :)

Rev 50mm on that canon macro 100 is a perfect macth!!! I wish i have that lens for rev coupler. You only need 52mm-58mm macro coupler. Search "macro coupler" from BH

[snidow]

Beautiful work Daniel, the first shot is stunning and the colors on the second really stand out.

[erisian pope]

I am incredibly sorry for your loss, Daniel. And for ours (your macro shots are always incredible).

These shots are terrific!

[zach-e2]

Originally Posted by zeroendless

I hang bean bag right over lens for damping, tripod tripped but i manged to get hold on it. unfortunately weight of the bean bag took part of the lens with it. Lesson learned, need 2 bean bags for counter balanced...

i learned that with lights!
set up the light before i had the sandbags in place..
light fell over and hit the client.
ugh.

[zeroendless]

Originally Posted by erisian pope

I am incredibly sorry for your loss, Daniel. And for ours (your macro shots are always incredible).

These shots are terrific!

Thanks Christian, not loss in term of finance but my insurance agent wasn't too happy about my version of story

One broken lens is another excuse for an upgrade.

[gardener]

Daniel: When one lens is reversed like that, do you have any focusing capability at all other than just moving the whole setup back and forth? From the extreme detail you captured, I would think that one or the other focusing ring might give you at least some leeway but thought it worthwhile to ask.
You also mention the very small/short DOF which I've read before but how much working distance do you have or need to make the reverse lens setup work?
Thanks for any info as this macro stuff intrigues me...
Steve W

[zeroendless]

Originally Posted by gardener

Daniel: When one lens is reversed like that, do you have any focusing capability at all other than just moving the whole setup back and forth? From the extreme detail you captured, I would think that one or the other focusing ring might give you at least some leeway but thought it worthwhile to ask.
You also mention the very small/short DOF which I've read before but how much working distance do you have or need to make the reverse lens setup work?
Thanks for any info as this macro stuff intrigues me...
Steve W

For simplicity, let's call

Lens that mount on body : primary lens
Lens that reversed : Rev Lens

The whole set up in sequence is

Body>Primary lens>macro coupler (Plus step-up-down-rings if needed)>Rev lens.

Like i mentioned earlier, there are many ways for rev macro, using rev on primary just doesn't involve extra works like manual lens tricks, disable AF, AE and Aperture control. Cost is between $5-$20 depend on which coupler and lens.

Magnification is Primary lens/Rev lens, so it's 2x if you rev 50mm on 100mm.

The whole thing is easy but getting a shot before subject get away is almost Zero. They usually long gone before one manages to get them on viewfinder. LOL. Working distance is within mm, mfd is cm from subject. Hint, Give them insect some goodies, ripe fruit usually help. It's hard to use but the detail is breathtaking compare to regular macro lens. Hey, it's only $10 to try if you already got the primary and rev lens.

Also, One need to crop sides off due to vignette... if going from smaller barrel to larger.. Like mine setup. Light in 52mm>72mm.

[Donb10]

Daniel:

A long time ago, I used this same method (Reversed lens) with an Olympus OM series camera to do copy work. I could convert my enlarger to a copy stand and move the camera and lens setup up and down as I needed. It worked really well.

I got a bright idea one day to try something different. I had and old Crown Graphic camera with a 2.25 x 2.25 back. I took the camera and back to a friend who is a gunsmith. He machined a new back. We then drilled a hole in it, removed the lens mount from a cheap 2X entender and mounted it on the home made camera back. With this, I mounted an Olympus OM-2S on the back of the crown graphic. The camera had a very sharp 101mm lens. I then mounted this setup on the copy stand, used the camera bellows system to focus, and really got some good macro shots. The OM-2S had spot metering and work well shooting throught the crown graphic lens.

I got away from photography for awhile, sold everything, and now wished I still had the crown graphic back.

[zeroendless]

Sounded like a great set up, Don.

Wish i have a handy buddy like you do, i got my eyes on this to get better precision but it's pricey. :(

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...all_Mini_.html