Cheaper alternative for macro lens?

[otc]

Taken with reverse ring $35 dollars from fee fee photography, chinatown complex with 28 mm M lens. Pics uncrop, original. DOF is very thin and when stopped down, viewfinder is dim. Still you have more than 1:1 mag, maybe 2:1 ie 2X.

If taking flowers and still life, go for extension tube without A. Tubes goes for 10 over dollars about 60 mm and when you place 50 mm or 28 mm manual lens, provides more than one mag.

For macro, AF is quite useless, cos the dof is in mm.

Hope that helps.

otc

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

these are a few macro shots i took using just the kit lens. okay? ;p

not big enough!!! more macro power needed!!!

 

[silverspear]

I like this thread .

I went home last night, and inverted my kit lens (using 1 lens only), using only my hands to hold the lens to the body, and wow, super tough to hold and get a decent shot man... this is what i got:

this is the screwdriver we use for spectacles.. the small small type.

And as you can tell the vignetting and focusing is poor haha..

 

[Simplytimo]

not big enough!!! more macro power needed!!!

or something like that ...

taken with a macro converter (Panagor)

 

[ishou80]

Reverse macro is fun but you need good light source and a sharp eyes.

Taken with a reverse macro adaptor and a vivitar 28mm at around f5.6 (the stem of a small flower) I think magnification is around 3x at least.

 

[Gengh]

Reverse macro is fun but you need good light source and a sharp eyes.

Actually using some sort of diffuser with the pop-up flash can get you pretty good light, 'cos the subject is so close. Just a piece of white cloth or tracing paper held above the lens in front of the flash is more than good enough. Shot this using the Vivitar 28mm reversed (the same one as ishou80 I suppose). The magnification is fun to play with.

 

[otc]

Actually using some sort of diffuser with the pop-up flash can get you pretty good light, 'cos the subject is so close. Just a piece of white cloth or tracing paper held above the lens in front of the flash is more than good enough. Shot this using the Vivitar 28mm reversed (the same one as ishou80 I suppose). The magnification is fun to play with.

Reverse macro is fun but you need good light source and a sharp eyes.

Taken with a reverse macro adaptor and a vivitar 28mm at around f5.6 (the stem of a small flower) I think magnification is around 3x at least.

Gengh, your shot is crisp sharp. camera supported?

Ishou80, the DOF is very thin. I tried stopping down f11 to f16, very dim though.
External light is a must.

otc

 

[Gengh]

Gengh, your shot is crisp sharp. camera supported?

No, it was handheld. But I stopped down quite a bit (can't remember how much) to get decent DOF, and the lighting was completely from the flash, so handshake was not a problem. I can't get good results with more 3D objects like bugs and flowers though, can't get the hang of the super thin DOF.

 

[ishou80]

If shoot at f11-f16 I don't think you can see anything to focus unless there is a touchlight or strong light shining at the subject.

 

[woefulwabbit]

If shoot at f11-f16 I don't think you can see anything to focus unless there is a touchlight or strong light shining at the subject.

Unless you are using M42 lens, all focusing is done with the aperture wide open. The aperture stops down only when shooting (and M mode stop down metering)

 

[Gengh]

If shoot at f11-f16 I don't think you can see anything to focus unless there is a touchlight or strong light shining at the subject.

Yah, left hand was both supporting the lens as well as holding a maglite. Gets pretty frustrating after a while 'cos it's hard to keep the maglite beam pointing at the right place.

Unless you are using M42 lens, all focusing is done with the aperture wide open. The aperture stops down only when shooting (and M mode stop down metering)

The lens was reversed directly onto the body, so everything becomes 100% manual, the body has no more control over the aperture. So you'd just have to stop the lens down manually and work with a super dim VF. You could press down the tab at the back of the lens to open the aperture for focusing, then let go just before pressing the shutter, but I find that the act of just letting go of the tab can throw the focusing off.

 

[Simplytimo]

This was taken some time back with a couple of guys during a macro shoot.

This was taken with on a 28mm lens reversed if I remember correctly.

It was interesting but super tiring cos you need to go really really low/close to the subject and very difficult to focus cos its very dark.

I think we took like maybe 100 shots but only not more than 3-4 was good.

 

[ishou80]

Yah, left hand was both supporting the lens as well as holding a maglite. Gets pretty frustrating after a while 'cos it's hard to keep the maglite beam pointing at the right place.



The lens was reversed directly onto the body, so everything becomes 100% manual, the body has no more control over the aperture. So you'd just have to stop the lens down manually and work with a super dim VF. You could press down the tab at the back of the lens to open the aperture for focusing, then let go just before pressing the shutter, but I find that the act of just letting go of the tab can throw the focusing off.

I think the best way for this is to invest in a slider ballhead with tripod then that will make it rather easy but only for non moving subject haha :bsmilie:

 

[iFoto]

This was taken some time back with a couple of guys during a macro shoot.

This was taken with on a 28mm lens reversed if I remember correctly.

It was interesting but super tiring cos you need to go really really low/close to the subject and very difficult to focus cos its very dark.

I think we took like maybe 100 shots but only not more than 3-4 was good.

wooh! it is really sharp.

 

[iFoto]

I am using Vivitar 2x Macro Focusing Teleconverter 1:1.
When use it with 50mm lens, you can get until 1:1 macro. It can also be used as 2x teleconverter with the expense of light loss.

Below is taken with 77LE mount on this converter. Since the lens is not 50mm, the picture is not 1:1 magnification.
At that moment, I don't have 50mm lens to use with this converter.

Can google as "vivitar macro focusing teleconverter" for more info.

 

[elavan]

that's some really loooong feelers :bigeyes:

 

[cutiedoggy]

Tamron AF 75-300mm f4-5.6 LD Macro -AF Lens for Pentax USED, worth getting not? i saw the extention tubes very cheap but isit easy mounting it on?

 

[flowerpot]

Tamron AF 75-300mm f4-5.6 LD Macro -AF Lens for Pentax USED, worth getting not? i saw the extention tubes very cheap but isit easy mounting it on?

mounting is the easy part... focusing is the hard part...

 

[cutiedoggy]

think what u meant is the extention tubes? what about the tamron one? maybe i will get the reynox one, just add on with kit lens?!

 

[cubicon]

Tamron AF 75-300mm f4-5.6 LD Macro -AF Lens for Pentax USED, worth getting not? i saw the extention tubes very cheap but isit easy mounting it on?

i seen a few of the zoom lens are listed with the "macro" at the back ... i suppose these can take the type of photos shown in this thread while those w/o the macro can't?

:sweat:still trying to find my feet in photography terms :sweat: