18-55mm Kit reversed upto 4:1 Magnification

Tintin124

Tintin124

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Bryn
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After seeing @simon ess extreme macro attempt it got me thinking to try reverse my 18-55 kit lens. @mattd85

All done with the 20 minutes of Sun showing up today. :eek:

At the 18mm end I seem to be getting 4:1 ratio magnification, yep scene width of just over 5mm.

Here are some shots...

55mm Setting


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8844-01 by bthomas124, on Flickr

I know I missed focus on eye... but this was just a test to see if I could get close to flies with this setup.

Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8860-08 by bthomas124, on Flickr

35-24 Setting


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8861-09 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8863-10 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8845-02 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8858-07 by bthomas124, on Flickr
 
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18mm Setting


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8849-04 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8850-05 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55-8851-06 by bthomas124, on Flickr

Ok some not up to standard but you can see what the kit reversed can do.

Kit setup:

18-55mm reversed, 58mm-52mm thread converter (due to having 52mm reversing ring), reversing ring, 58mm UV filter. I suspect that the thread converter and UV filter are creating a mini tube.

OCF with straight and C bracket (with ball head) to allow the flash to be ontop of lens as per Kurts (@orionmystery) backup solution. Will try his concave sleeve idea too. :D


20140529_211457 by bthomas124, on Flickr

@TimmyG technique to try and diffuse the light a little more as can be quite harsh.


20140529_211547 by bthomas124, on Flickr

All comments welcome and appreciated.

:ty:
 
BillN_33 said:
they look good Bryn
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment Bill

hoftwi said:
Now have just read your post, makes me want to go bugs hunt in the garden again:p I need early night:eek:
I think I need to get a C bracket too.
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:D The reversed lens setup is not very handy at night unless you have a bright torch and can shine it on subject for focus purposes. However I think if I get a ball head hot shoe mounted led light... then maybe I can cast enough light on subject to shoot... ummm
 
hoftwi said:
You are evil:p I am not going to try the reversed lens set up, yet:) I am happy what I am playing at the moment but I do need a C bracket:D
Click to expand...

Are you in the garden? :p

Note the c bracket is connected onto a straight bracket.
 
Amazing Bryn that's some magnification
Looks like it's working well great shots :)
 
It's amazing what you can get with the kit lens. These are all great quality, and the magnification is really impressive. I won't have any excuses about OOF eyes, but you managed to rectify the issue with the next one :)

Very cool wasp!

I don't think the bubble wrap will be helping in this situation. I put it within an ice-cream box diffuser to try and spread the light around more, and block some light from directly in front of the flash head (that was creating a hotspot), as I'm increasing the size of the light source. From that image it looks like you have a "sto-fen omnibounce" like diffuser, which spreads the light around after it leaves the diffuser, but doesn't really increase the surface area of the light source. I suspect adding the bubble wrap will not make too much difference to distributing up the light particles, but it may block light resulting in your flash having to work harder than it really needs to. I'm guessing though. Try some tests with and without the bubble wrap and see if you notice a difference.

If you are finding the light too harsh with that setup, have a go at increasing the surface area of the light source.
 
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@LCPete thanks mate I'm finding it very interesting don't seem to get light bounce issues.

@TimmyG in this case blocking light is a good thing as in some cases I needed to set flash set to 1/128 and it was still too strong. But it is making light bounce round the sto-fen diffuser first. Don't think a bigger box is needed in this case due to it already being a large light source compared to subject. Will have to check with real shiny subject to see if it has hot spots. I know what wonderful light you get from you lunch box :snigger: and is a massive light source compared to subject.
 
Interesting read Bryn, I enjoy reading yours and others DIY ideas and thoughts, most goes over my head though, I really should learn more technical sh** lol
You've some ace ones here, I'd just fav'd a few on Flickr so it's good now to put the process with the images :D


Sent from The Moon.....
 
I cut the bottom off of a plastic milk container to work as a diffuser - works quite well. I attached it using sticky becked velcro.
 
Nice idea - given me food for thought Bryn, cracking set by the way

Les ;)
 
Jelster said:
I cut the bottom off of a plastic milk container to work as a diffuser - works quite well. I attached it using sticky becked velcro.
Click to expand...

Removed the bubble wrap from stofen and put foam sleeve wrapped around lens but as the lens moves it was a pain. So did this instead initial tests seem to suggest it works.


20140530_082032 by bthomas124, on Flickr

Lez325 said:
Nice idea - given me food for thought Bryn, cracking set by the way

Les ;)
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Just bear in mind how close you need to get to subject some flies are more willing than others.

Also anyone got any ideas about focus light as it is very hard to see subject through lens and hence get focus. Was thinking of led top and bottom of lens. Either attached to battery pack or somehow cabled to connectors on hot shoe.
 
Bryn thank you for very openly sharing your experiments & it is truly amazing what can be achieved with minimal cost. Reversing rings are less than a tenner so fantastic idea for newbies to macro to give it a whirl :)
 
Nice shots and great quality for a kit lens. I want to try this myself. How does the reverse ring work? Does it just mount onto the camera body like a lens the you screw the lens onto the ring?
 
CaveDweller said:
Nice shots and great quality for a kit lens. I want to try this myself. How does the reverse ring work? Does it just mount onto the camera body like a lens the you screw the lens onto the ring?
Click to expand...

Exactly right how it works. Though you need to remember to set your aperture prior to reversing.
 
CaveDweller said:
To do that do you set the aperture you want and hold down the DOF button when you take the lens off? Cheers.
Click to expand...

Doe this apply to every DSLR model though :thinking:
 
Here some shots with old setup....


Reverse Kit Test 18-55 mkII-8868-01 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55 mkII-8874-04 by bthomas124, on Flickr

Tried to capture above image without the bubble wrap but crane fly flew off...

With new setup above.


Reverse Kit Test 18-55 mkII-8887-06 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55 mkII-8891-08 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55 mkII-8893-09 by bthomas124, on Flickr


Reverse Kit Test 18-55 mkII-8897-10 by bthomas124, on Flickr
 
Tintin124 said:
As far as I'm aware the DOF button trick only works with canon but could be wrong. I've only own a canon so that is the technique I use.
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Mine is a Nikon so I would need to have a dig around Google but Ta for getting back to me (y)
 
orionmystery said:
Nice work, Bryn. How do you control the aperture?
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Unfortunately you can't you have to set it in normal mount then reverse so its a bit of a pain if you need to change it. So far I have it set to F11 and it's working Ok.

Saying that I have seen somewhere a company that sell a wired connection so you can change aperture whilst reversed mounted.
 
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Thanks, Bryn. You mean you set it to F11 when the lens is correctly mounted on a DSLR, then release the lens while pressing down the DOF Preview button?
 
I tried that on my Tamron 17-50, and guess what happened? The aperture blade jammed. Cost me a few hundred (Ringgit) for repair. :(

A Flickr and FB friend of mine uses staple pins to control the aperture. Not sure about the details though. https://www.flickr.com/photos/abikeodyssey/3347421864

Incidentally, I found this while googling for reversed lens aperture control. A reversed lens adapter that allows you to control the aperture, but only for Nikon. I wonder why.

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Reve...443045&sr=8-1&keywords=fotodiox+reversed+lens
 
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orionmystery said:
I tried that on my Tamron 17-50, and guess what happened? The aperture blade jammed. Cost me a few hundred (Ringgit) for repair. :(

A Flickr and FB friend of mine uses staple pins to control the aperture. Not sure about the details though. https://www.flickr.com/photos/abikeodyssey/3347421864

Incidentally, I found this while googling for reversed lens aperture control. A reversed lens adapter that allows you to control the aperture, but only for Nikon. I wonder why.

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Reverse-Aperture-Control-Protector/dp/B005ODKHG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401443045&sr=8-1&keywords=fotodiox reversed lens
Click to expand...

Its only the 18-55mm kit lens so if it breaks it breaks they are 10 a penny. Its not a lens that I have actually used in the last 2 years ;)
 
orionmystery said:
I tried that on my Tamron 17-50, and guess what happened? The aperture blade jammed. Cost me a few hundred (Ringgit) for repair. :(

A Flickr and FB friend of mine uses staple pins to control the aperture. Not sure about the details though. https://www.flickr.com/photos/abikeodyssey/3347421864

Incidentally, I found this while googling for reversed lens aperture control. A reversed lens adapter that allows you to control the aperture, but only for Nikon. I wonder why.

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Reverse-Aperture-Control-Protector/dp/B005ODKHG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401443045&sr=8-1&keywords=fotodiox reversed lens
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Kurt & also on Amazon UK :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fotodiox-Reverse-Aperture-Control-Protector/dp/B005ODKHG0
 
btw for stuff like this I strongly recomend "small things big" by paul harcourt davies

Also you can try getting an old MF 50mm (any make will do since you arent mounting it via the mount - mine is Zeiss) with apperture control on the lens (about £10 or less on ebay).

You can either reverse it , or reverse it on to the front of another lens

(theres also an instructable for bulding a huge extension tube out of a pringle tube - which gives massive mag (although also issues with wobble)

 
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