Extreme macro with an 'empty lens' -- IMAGE HEAVY

I will start by saying that this is not my idea. It is fully documented at link by an (ex?) PU member.

There are several problems with really close-up macro: Use of long extension tubes deprives you of any kind of aperture control from the camera; the light loss means you often can't see anything anyway and the depth of field is so shallow that most of it is out of focus.

The major problem (automatic aperture control) can be solved by taking all the glass out of any old f1.7 or f2 lens that has an 'A' setting. Mount that on the camera and you have an extension tube with an auto iris --focus wide open and stop down as you please - but wait a bit and read on. Screw a male/male reversing adapter into the filter ring and reverse mount (in my case) an old FA 35-80mm zoom. (you can use others so do play around).










Set both lenses to infinity because you won't use the focus rings at all. Focus is achieved by physically moving either or both of the camera or the subject whilst watching the result in live view. I fortunately have a field monitor (purchased from Smudge - thank you!) that makes life even easier.




The lighting is natural and the exposure is being metered by the camera on Av. I have the room lights on here to warm the harsh light from the snow outside!
Release is by IR remote on 3sec delay. In this shot, focus was achieved by raising/ lowering the tripod column. You can get an even brighter focussing image by increasing the EV somewhat (but remember to restore it to a normal level before taking the shot).




Getting a detailed image of this tiny gypsophillia (baby's breath) bloom would be hard with a normal macro lens




Focussing this time was done by physically moving the flower away and towards the lens so do mount your subject on a moveable platform.




Notice the considerable working distance I have between lens and subject. Also check out the enormous
depth of field, even at f4, with these crayons and remember you can also stop down the taking lens manually if you wish.




As well as good DoF and high magnification, you can also capture considerable detail, as with these black peppercorns.
Again, focus was by moving the platform forwards and backwards.







So, where is the catch? You can get considerable vignetting,




It isn't really a problem though since you can always crop the good bit out of the middle.

looks like a winner

There is a thread on this forum somewhere about it as a few people (myself included) tried with quite decent results.

I also have tried this, but haven't given it enough chance to get really good results. Yours are good David

Very impressive! You are certainly putting the field monitor to much better use than I ever did. The considerable depth of field you are getting with this setup is a surprise to me.

Interesting setup. Might give it a go.
Cracking results
Well done sir.

Hi David, I've done this too, but not the way you've described it. I removed the glass from an automatic zoom lens, which is then mounted on the camera as normal to preserve aperture control. I then mounted a Nikon F2.8 Enlarger Lens (reversed) onto the filter ring of the de-glassed zoom. This too provides extreme magnification, but at a shorter working distance than you have here. I used it to shoot insects in their natural surroundings, which is a pretty difficult task with that setup, but can yield some spectacular result with a lot of practice and favourable outdoor conditions (no wind, even a light breeze scuppers this). Here is one example of a shot taken this way:




Cheers
David

I got as far as buying the zoom, the enlarger lens and the connecting ring, but chickened out of gutting the zoom. I really must finish the job...

Love the pencils.

K.

Wow thank you for this ...

Excellent and very informative. May give it a go later in the year when I run out of extension tubes to add to my recently acquired macro lens.

Regards

Karlo

Wow. Thanks for all those positive comments. For those about to have a go, there are at least three 'A' series f1.7s going for peanuts on E bay right now. De-glassing them is not difficult.

The detail you got on that damsel fly's eye is absolutely marvellous David. I think I shall butcher a zoom too because it looks like you can use the manual zoom mechanism for focussing? What happens if you were to try and 'auto focus' it? The camera will still see the image from the reversed lens on the front even though its own AF lens has no glass in it? The flange distance remains correct, the projected image is just going to be a bit of a strange one to the AF algorithm.

Nice work. Love the coloured pencil ends...

Like David I butchered a cheap zoom I bought off Ebay but mounted a A series 50mm f1.7

As for AF I never tried it as you just can't get the precision needed 99% of the time using autofocus with macro, manual is the way to go every time.

What a fantastically simple idea, thanks for sharing it. I assume therefore that you could achieve different lengths of extension tubes by removing the glass on a number of lenses, depending on the body length?

We have a local camera store that has a table outside full of the odds and sods they can't really use for real bargain prices, I've often fancied raking around to see what I can find but this gives me a better excuse for a visit.

I think that's why you'd use a zoom lens
As that will give you your varying lengths.