I can't afford anything!

I wish I just got a compact.


I want a macro lens please. Donations are welcome and can be sent to

Under The Kitchen Sink,
Behind the Herring Stall,
Over There Street,
Londin,

Failing that what's the cheapest Macro lens I can buy for my K10. It doesn't have to autofocus, it doesn't matter if it's fossillized, but it must be able to take clear close ups of ants teeth.

I've got an old milk bottle with a thick glass-end. You could super-glue
a Pentax mount on to it, and use it with a double-glazed kitchen window
mounted on a reversing ring ? Sell you the complete kit for £1500.00.

1200!

Macro shots are achievable without a 'Macro' lens.
Try putting something like a 70-210mm zoom on your camera. Get a cheap male to male filter thread adapter of appropriate size, and attach a 50mm lens, reversed, to the front of said 70-210mm (set to 210mm).
Or,
Get a K mount to 49mm thread (reversing adapter), and mount the 50mm directly to camera, but backwards.

Finally, try and find a bellows attachment, and a 50mm lens.

You don't necessarily need a dedicated macro lens to take macro shots.

But . . . as you can't afford anything, join two lenses together as in my first suggestion, with electrical tape. You can afford electrical tape . . . . can't you?

So, I have a lens hanging off another lens hanging off the camera?

That is essentially it... Always worries me that something is going to break...

Err . . . yes, exactly. You'll get something like 4:1 magnification by 'stacking' (that's what the male to male adapter is called, a stacking ring) two lenses.

Set the aperture of the 50mm to wide open, then you have all the exposure controlled by the zoom lens. AF is not likely to work but macro shots are best attempted using manual focus anyway.

If you've never tried it, you'll be amazed. As a test, simply hold a 50mm lens reversed against a 200mm lens or similar. DOF is next to nothing, but hey, that's macro for you.

And the pictures look like this?

My first ventures in to Macro were, bought a T-2 mount at a camera fair for
£0.50 pushed a kitchen roll tube on to one end and a M42-50mm lens
on to the other end. Worked a treat.
Why not try your local camera shop for 2nd hand extension tubes ?

p.s. sorry the milk bottle went on evilbay for . . . . . .

Is it ok having the contacts exposed like that? And can I get an adaptor from Jessops?

And what's an extension tube...

No, much better. That one was taken with a Canon.
If you have two suitable lenses and appropriate lighting, or strong daylight, just try it. Then come back and show us some macro pics.

I did exactly this the other day. SMCP-F 70-210 on K10D, SMCP-F 50mm 1:1.7 reversed. Then SMCP-FA 100mm Macro on fully extended bellows, then the same with a 50mm on fully extended bellows. The stacked lenses gave me the highest magnification and little difference in DOF. The shots were just of a 10 centimos coin and handheld so I'm not going to post them here. It was just an experiment anyway. Good luck.

OK!!!!

This is a picture of a Bee, taken with the 18-55mm kit lens on a Pentax DS.
This is not known as a 'quality' lens. So any Macro lens you get would
probably give you far better results than this. ( No extension tubes , just the 18-55 normally mounted. )





You know the "kitchen window" was a joke ??

Where?