I am pretty sure I have seen some pics where you guys are using your standard lens and turning it around to do macros? If so, how does that work? Just hold it up against the body or you camera? How do you focus?
Hopefully this is a real trick and I don't sound like a fool right now ;)
Not really. :) It is a real trick and it is really tricky but neat. The DOF (at least the ones I have done) is extremely shallow. Yes I just flip the lens around, up the ISO, and hold the aperture open (little metal switch thingy on the inside of my lens. Focusing is just moving in and out from your subject. If I remember or find time later I'll post a couple of the ones I have done this way. Nothing spectacular but still fun. :)
@sassyinma You can buy really cheap reversing rings on eBay etc. that let you screw the lens on backwards to the front of the camera. Other options include buying macro rings that just move the lens forward from the camera (they're also really cheap on eBay), or putting a close-up filter on front of the lens. I've got a Marumi close-up filter that works pretty well, haven't used it in a while:
Great info from @gurry
Reverse lens doesn't put your lens at risk, so long as your careful about it. There's two ways to do it...
1) Take your lens off and physically hold it to your camera body backwards. Tape if there if you want to. 18-55mm kit lenses are amazing for this -- but I can't remember if they should be at zoomed to 18mm or 50mm... Experiment! Both will give you great results!
This is the not so safe way, but it shouldn't be a problem so long as you're stationary and not hanging out of a helicopter or chasing mountain lions to get shots of their eyeballs. Also, this way can cause light leaks in your shot, but some might enjoy those kinda things.
This is also the difficult way. It's pretty hard to get a good shot because you're holding the lens and the body, which means both could be jittering independently of one another. For people with jittery hands (me, for sure), it can be a real pain. More on this below...
2) Buy a reverse ring that you screw onto the front of your lens like a filter, and then you can actually mount it to your body like any other lens, only backwards. This is the best way to do it.
Now, once you have the lens mounted to your body one way or another, you can take the shot. To focus, you don't adjust the lens at all, but you physically move your camera-body/human-body closer to or away from your subject. (Zooming the lens will have an effect to a certain extent, but I can't really describe what... Again, experiment!)
I always found this is easiest to do by mounting your elbows onto a table or something, and leaning ever-so-slightly back and forth. If you're going with option #1 above, you really have no choice but to do this, otherwise you'll never get a crisp shot -- unless you moonlight as a human statue or a stand-in at a wax museum.
With the lens in reverse, it has a "sweet spot" for its focus. Its depth of field is now like a sliver of a bi-section of whatever you're shooting. It's really amazing to see, actually, and really fun to creep back and forth millimeter by millimeter to see how this affects the DOF. Give it a shot.
Just make sure you either have a flash set up, and/or your subject is very well lit. Looking through your viewfinder can cause eyestrain, especially since your subject is so close. Since you are now judging the focus, you want to make it as easy as possible for your eyes, and also so you can get a sweet shot.
Give it a go, and holla back if you have any questions (I'm so stuck in the 2000's.)
With all that said, here's another reverse lens shot of... Take a guess.
A proper macro lens is much better, but you can try a zoom on macro. If you do get a magnigication filter from 7dasyhop.com. Adds some extra close up. You need to zoom the lens to 300mm and then flip the switch.
Here is a shot of my 70-300 zoom in macro mode. With 2x filter attached.
I've never heard of this. So many times now since I joined this site I've felt like THAT person, you know the one at the dinner party who laughs because everyone else is laughing but you know they didn't get the joke.
@aponi I AM that person! lol. I only heard about it because I did the get pushed challenge and the guy I challenged to do an extreme close up used this method. And then I noted that someone else mentioned it somewhere else ;) You can see I thought I was going to be foolish for asking!
I learned about this since joining 365, and it's been a lot of fun to experiment with. XD
A word of caution, just holding the lens to the camera also means you have a greater chance of dust getting to your sensor or focusing screen. My focusing screen has gained some splotches recently :P
@aponi I did it for a few weeks but had to stop because of the holidays and it being so dark here at night. I want to get back into it this summer again. You should try it, its great fun!
I have reverse macro adapters for my camera, and just bought a lens stacking adapter to try (my 50mm reversed onto my 55-250mm set at 200mm). I need other lenses more than I need a macro right now, so this lets me have fun with my flash during the dreary days. Or you could go with extension tubes, or the close up filters (as mentioned before)...
My attempt with gaffer tape. Before you reverse lens and stick the lens to the body, look through the open end and focus/zoom first then carefully attach securely. I had another idea to use something like a couple of inches of old wetsuit arm to secure the lens to the body...to save cleaning the glue off of my camera...just got go find a wetsuit...maybe from a thrift shop. Just remember, you will have no ability to direct focus or aperature via the camera.
Buy extension tubes... they're cheap an no risk of scratching dropping or dusting up your lense!! :D Highly recommend them... i often use our 50mm with a full set of kenko extension tubes over the 100mm macro! LOL!
@onie Thank you so much for this explanation! I read this this morning and decided to go for it. I just reversed my 18-55mm lens and held it in place. Here is the second shot I took. So excited to explore this "other dimension" with my normal lens! Will definitely look for a reversing ring!
@pizzaboy@sam_cr I just bought a set of extension tubes, but I can't get a clear picture!
I have a Nikon D90, I tried with a 16-85 mm lens and a 35 mm lens, same result. And there is no explanation in the pack I received, so I am not sure exactly how you're supposed to use them!
This is what I did:
* I first put the lens on the camera in the normal way and chose the biggest F stop, the camera being set on M.
* Then I turned off the camera and screwed on the smallest tube, and then my lens back on.
The camera could not display the F stop anymore, and I got a black picture (I could see through the viewer that very little light was coming in).
I think I understand what the problem is (and I'll write it here just in case someone else is interested): I bought a set of cheap extension rings without electrical contacts, so it is not possible to set the aperture with these! Apparently, you should only use them with lenses that allow you to set the aperture ON the lens... Too bad this was not explained in the product description.
So, my advice, if you want to buy extension rings, you should buy the electrical ones (around 120 € in France).
@florrie OK, that makes sense, I mainly use old manual-focus lenses anyway. You could buy an old manual focus lens and an adapter very cheaply and use it on these tubes, but I thought the Canon lenses should work with your trick of setting the aperture first then taking the lens off the camera? BTW, my Tokina 70-200mm zoom was $5:
I've had this description for doing it with Canon cameras:
To adjust the aperture on an automatic AF lens (otherwise the aperture is at maximum diameter):
Attach lens as normal.
Adjust the lens in the camera menu to the desired aperture in the AV or M mode.
Press the DOF-Preview button and hold it pressed.
Detach the lens while still pressing the DOF button.
Insert the adapter then the lens.
Focus manually and take the photo.
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Not really. :) It is a real trick and it is really tricky but neat. The DOF (at least the ones I have done) is extremely shallow. Yes I just flip the lens around, up the ISO, and hold the aperture open (little metal switch thingy on the inside of my lens. Focusing is just moving in and out from your subject. If I remember or find time later I'll post a couple of the ones I have done this way. Nothing spectacular but still fun. :)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raynox-DCR-250-Macro-Attachment/dp/B000A1SZ2Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359728478&sr=8-1
Reverse lens doesn't put your lens at risk, so long as your careful about it. There's two ways to do it...
1) Take your lens off and physically hold it to your camera body backwards. Tape if there if you want to. 18-55mm kit lenses are amazing for this -- but I can't remember if they should be at zoomed to 18mm or 50mm... Experiment! Both will give you great results!
This is the not so safe way, but it shouldn't be a problem so long as you're stationary and not hanging out of a helicopter or chasing mountain lions to get shots of their eyeballs. Also, this way can cause light leaks in your shot, but some might enjoy those kinda things.
This is also the difficult way. It's pretty hard to get a good shot because you're holding the lens and the body, which means both could be jittering independently of one another. For people with jittery hands (me, for sure), it can be a real pain. More on this below...
2) Buy a reverse ring that you screw onto the front of your lens like a filter, and then you can actually mount it to your body like any other lens, only backwards. This is the best way to do it.
Now, once you have the lens mounted to your body one way or another, you can take the shot. To focus, you don't adjust the lens at all, but you physically move your camera-body/human-body closer to or away from your subject. (Zooming the lens will have an effect to a certain extent, but I can't really describe what... Again, experiment!)
I always found this is easiest to do by mounting your elbows onto a table or something, and leaning ever-so-slightly back and forth. If you're going with option #1 above, you really have no choice but to do this, otherwise you'll never get a crisp shot -- unless you moonlight as a human statue or a stand-in at a wax museum.
With the lens in reverse, it has a "sweet spot" for its focus. Its depth of field is now like a sliver of a bi-section of whatever you're shooting. It's really amazing to see, actually, and really fun to creep back and forth millimeter by millimeter to see how this affects the DOF. Give it a shot.
Just make sure you either have a flash set up, and/or your subject is very well lit. Looking through your viewfinder can cause eyestrain, especially since your subject is so close. Since you are now judging the focus, you want to make it as easy as possible for your eyes, and also so you can get a sweet shot.
Give it a go, and holla back if you have any questions (I'm so stuck in the 2000's.)
With all that said, here's another reverse lens shot of... Take a guess.
Here is a shot of my 70-300 zoom in macro mode. With 2x filter attached.
A word of caution, just holding the lens to the camera also means you have a greater chance of dust getting to your sensor or focusing screen. My focusing screen has gained some splotches recently :P
@cassiadawn that is really cool
My attempt with gaffer tape. Before you reverse lens and stick the lens to the body, look through the open end and focus/zoom first then carefully attach securely. I had another idea to use something like a couple of inches of old wetsuit arm to secure the lens to the body...to save cleaning the glue off of my camera...just got go find a wetsuit...maybe from a thrift shop. Just remember, you will have no ability to direct focus or aperature via the camera.
@onie Thank you so much for this explanation! I read this this morning and decided to go for it. I just reversed my 18-55mm lens and held it in place. Here is the second shot I took. So excited to explore this "other dimension" with my normal lens! Will definitely look for a reversing ring!
I have a Nikon D90, I tried with a 16-85 mm lens and a 35 mm lens, same result. And there is no explanation in the pack I received, so I am not sure exactly how you're supposed to use them!
This is what I did:
* I first put the lens on the camera in the normal way and chose the biggest F stop, the camera being set on M.
* Then I turned off the camera and screwed on the smallest tube, and then my lens back on.
The camera could not display the F stop anymore, and I got a black picture (I could see through the viewer that very little light was coming in).
What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help!
So, my advice, if you want to buy extension rings, you should buy the electrical ones (around 120 € in France).
To adjust the aperture on an automatic AF lens (otherwise the aperture is at maximum diameter):
Attach lens as normal.
Adjust the lens in the camera menu to the desired aperture in the AV or M mode.
Press the DOF-Preview button and hold it pressed.
Detach the lens while still pressing the DOF button.
Insert the adapter then the lens.
Focus manually and take the photo.
@ayrinthelife Thanks for the tip!