cheap macro (microscope!) lens order.

I have finally got my hands on a 28mm prime (Soligor 28 2.8 ) - £4.50 (possibly all it's worth, but it seems nice) Anyway..
I reversed it on my 135 3.5 and it is clearly my best combination yet - the penny test (about 6x):


Then I put 65mm ext tube between them and the camera and shut both lenses down to f22, (bit too far me thinks)


Seems to have potential (about 10x now) but I am experiencing the usual vibration and focusing issues now.

firstly, does this sound like a good combination?
if so, where should the two aperture rings be set?
and what effect does focusing the various lenses have?
this might sound like a daft question but it is really difficult to tell because everything changes when I touch it and I just end up moving the camera.

Clearly I need some belows or something but I think I'll use my skateboard for now!
Are these things any good? http://cgi.ebay.com/4-way-Macro-Focusing-Rail-Slider-for-Nikon-Canon_W0QQitemZ310014671944QQihZ021QQcategoryZ30097QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

this morning Loki (left) donated one of his passengers and I managed to capture the beast well enough to try out some campaign ideas!
again this was the 28mm 2.8 reversed onto the 135 3.5 and 44mm extension tube. I took off 21mm (from 65mm) as the little blighter was too big! I also opened up both lenses to f16 and as he was still alive and thrashing around I put the camera on 1 second and fired the Metz 58 by hand.
Possibly should have used an old milk carton or something on the flash to soften the highlights.



The image was cropped to show about 1mm, sharpened very slightly, levels pulled in both sides a tiny bit and the dodge tool (set to highlights) used to whiten the slightly grey background.

I now need to get the gruesome little dude to stand and face me as the composition is a bit lame.

try the 28mm reversed on bellows without the 135mm . The quality will be much better but all manual .

And btw when you "stack" two lenses together , leave the reversed lens at F4 ( if its a F2.8 ) , generally close one stop .

And don't stop down too much like F22 , diffraction ruins the image .

have fun

yes, of course!
seems obvious now you point it out! - so I just consider it one lens with a big light collector at the front and stopped down at the back for DOF. That would certainly explain the vignetting on the second one. Sometimes I feel like my brain just stops functioning! anyway, I'm learning fast (believe it or not!) and having fun in a slightly pathetic way. Has anyone guessed I'm stuck indoors with multiple babies?

I did something similar, take a look:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tyr.francoperlak/81MacroAlmostMicro.

This is the 'adapter' I devised using a Pentax A28F2.8 and my DA200 lens hood:

Thats a nifty idea Tyr i will give it a try myself
I reversed a 50mm M f2.0 onto my 200mm A f4 but found it difficult to get any decent results. I used sticky tape to join them
This was one of the better attempts (excuse the 800iso i forgot to change it) This tiny bug was only about 1mm in size.
Its a fiddly exercise but a lot of fun

Ah yes, I have seen your work before Tyr, great shots, in fact one of the first things I did with this latest setup is shoot a ball point pen, so I could compare it with yours! I got in nice and close and sharp but your lighting and a shinier pen beat mine so mine is destined for the bin.

I bought some cheap extension tubes totaling about 200mm! so I can try my prime lenses on their own. and I feel a spell in the garage coming on to knock up some sort of sliding mount.

I got the flea looking at me - very scary, and the lighting was much nicer but after a day stuck to a post-it note and then being super glued to a wire, he was looking a bit worse for wear! so I'll have to wait till Loki starts scratching again.

incidentally, for anyone considering messing around with their old lenses, the penny now looks like this (I think this is about 24x as the letters are roughly 1mm and they take up the whole sensor... is that right?)
65mm ext. tubes, tamron 70-300 at 300 f16 with the 28mm on f4 stuffed into the Tammy's hood a la Tyr.




Dan still gets the cigar

Anyone know the answer to the original focussing question? it must be better to have everything focussed properly before moving the camera

Thats incredible.. I spent about 5minutes trying to find where IRB was on a penny, only by looking at the original pictures could I work it out, theyre so small!

Sensor is like 24x15, so yeah, 24:1.
Nice work

Thank you, it's just a quick and dirty test to get a feel for the magnification and quality, I got the idea from this original thread: https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3835&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 where Dan was (and still is) the clear winner I think, with a pin sharp, well lit shot, closer than my slightly soft one above.

I like the test because it is more than just size, the penny is difficult to light with all the facets and getting in so close (in my case) and people in the UK at least, can really relate to it.
BTW, not all pennies have the IRB underneath the Queens head.

is there no worry that you will get dust etc inside your reversed lens though?

You can clean the rear element of a lens just like the front element, with a cloth.

I suppose, if you're worried about having dust fall off the rear of the lens onto the sensor, you can dust it with a blower before putting it on.

Significant amounts of dust can't 'enter' a lens through normal use, even reversed.

Hey guys. I'm thinking this would make a great how to video.
here's my take with the reversed lens, and a really cheap ($1.00) lighting modifier.
pen



walnut

Blymey Don what have been doing with that pen?

nice nut!

What do you mean by lighting modifier?

I curved a sheet of paper over the flash and down behind the penny on the table to create a sort of infinite wall of light.

but then when I got in closer I had to take the flash off and fire it with my finger on a slow shutter.

it was rolling around on my floor, under my desk.

can you wait till next week when I make a video podcast? (for the light modifier?) I'm gonna produce em on alternate mondays & tuesdays. once per week.