[Closed] Macro photography

I believe extension tubes or a reversing ring on an existing lens are the cheap way to do it.

Never tried it though.

Canon 100mm f2.8 macro. Relatively expensive (about £400-450 if you shop around) but great and will last a lifetime.

If you fancy a bit of DIY, have a look at the macro lenses I built from odds-and-ends:
[url= http://jwr.myzen.co.uk/photo/macro1.html ]Part 1[/url]
[url= http://jwr.myzen.co.uk/photo/macro2.html ]Part 2[/url]
[url= http://jwr.myzen.co.uk/photo/macro-extras.html ]Other stuff[/url]

-j

Thanks.

J, those look both impressive and way beyond my ability! Maybe I could manage the light box which looks interesting.

See if you can find some old bellows extensions, a t-mount to fit your camera and any old 50mm lens with a reversing ring. The reversing ring is most important as that's the bit that keeps the pictures sharp.

I couldnt afford a proper macro lens, so at present I just use some coupling rings to attach an old olympus lens to the front of one of my canon lenses. You end up with a circular image surrounded by black border, but you just crop that. Seems to work well - and is a cheap way of trying macro photography out.

50mm with a reversing ring (£7.00 from e bay), works pretty well for the price. Very shallow DOF though.

[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/4036266963_d297ba0f44.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/4036266963_d297ba0f44.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

or you could get some screw on filters
not bad seeing that they only cost £10

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-58MM-MACRO-CLOSE-UP-LENS-SET-4-Filter-Kit-1-2-4-10_W0QQitemZ180460024835QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item2a04417403#ht_3778wt_934

I have a 70-300mm Sigma macro lens which I use. It has a 'macro' mode between the 200mm and 300mm range, by pressing a little switch which allows a greater focus range. You can get the lens for about £100 or so. Although it isn't true macro (i.e. 1:1), it is reasonable for close-ups. Might be worth trying that.

I am going to get the 60mm Canon macro shortly for better macro shots, but the sigma might do you for a while.

You can find several types of adapter rings that allow you to attach old manual-focus lenses to Canons. I use an old Tamron SP 90mm f2.5 macro that cost £60 second hand from my local camera shop

It seems to work well...

[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4257101601_3bbd2685e6.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4257101601_3bbd2685e6.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/4101974748_e742e2b951.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/4101974748_e742e2b951.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Should have said, if you want examples of the Sigma macro shots, have a look [url= http://www.pixelmixphotography.com/index.php?x=browse&tag=Macro ]here[/url].

Not as close up as the above true macro shots obviously.

I couldnt afford a proper macro lens, so at present I just use some coupling rings to attach an old olympus lens to the front of one of my canon lenses. You end up with a circular image surrounded by black border, but you just crop that. Seems to work well - and is a cheap way of trying macro photography out.

Yes, that works well too. No circle if you use a small enough diameter lens attached to the camera itself. Here's one with a 55mm diameter lens on the camera, with a 49mm inverted one attached. No vignetting, and the end of the pair of lenses was mm away from the fly - can't get much more macro than that!

[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2485/3815988920_bdcbd69be0.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2485/3815988920_bdcbd69be0.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Thanks. I couldn't quite believe at first that you were actually putting the lens on backwards with the reversing rings! Looks good though.
Crewlie - what lens did you have attached to the reversing rings for that photo?

I'm thinking of picking up a second-hand lens to use with the reversing rings - what would work best for this?

colande - yeah those were the sort of filters I was looking at - seems a particularly cheap way of doing it.

colande - yeah those were the sort of filters I was looking at - seems a particularly cheap way of doing it.

They are the cheapest and most convenient, but also poorest quality. A reversing ring (or coupling ring to mount the lens on your existing one, like my last photo) and a cheap 50mm prime off ebay will give much better results for not much more...

I was very sceptical about reversing a lens. But I already had a 2nd hand 50mm 1.8 prime ( which is great in itself) so it was worth the few pounds for the reversing ring. I'm pleased with how it works for the cost.

I have a cheapo clip-on lens from the far east via ebay. Results can be spectacular but as has been said, it has a very shallow DOF. Works better on a bridge camera rather than my SLR. I'll see if I can root out any pics...

Works better on a bridge camera rather than my SLR.

Any idea why?

Taken with a powershot.

[img] [/img]

But I get really nice results from a sigma 70-300 macro and my helios manual lens on a x2 extension on my 20D. Got no examples of those though!