Reverse stacking lenses

I have been experimenting lately with reverse stacking lenses.

I am currently using a Pentax A 100mm and reversing a Pentax M 50mm 1.7 onto it, been getting some good results and have worked out a way to incorporate the Pentax AF160FC ring flash in between the two lenses. The built in hood on the 100mm is the perfect size for the flash head to clip neatly over it and you then just screw the 50mm onto the 100mm using a 49mm macro coupler. You get about 3" of working distance with it.
Great setup if you like to get in real close.




And a couple of shots I took with it.

Very shallow DOF, Clarky, but stunning results.

The spider is awesome!

As an aside Have you any shots of the 'red' weather?

Thanks HG its not easy with this setup.

No shots of the dust storm unfortunately. It was just breaking dawn when I left this morning and was too busy getting all the red dust off my car so I could get to work. It was quite eerie though, like a red dawn, I thought I was on Mars. Never seen anything like it.

Clarky, it's very easy to make an adapter to fit your ringflash on the bayonet mount of the reversed lens.

Take an old filter with a suitably sized thread (I chose 58mm) and remove the glass.
Take an old manual extension tube and remove the K mount.
Take some araldite, the two items from above . . . you can guess the rest.

The only thing is the adapter does not lock onto the lens, but that's no real problem.

Notice that you haven't got any light into the ant hole in your second shot. This adapter will probably fix that because at the moment, your reversed lens is causing a black spot.

I thought of that Pete and made an adapter for it, I made mine out of a rear lens cap, I cut the top out of it and glued a filter to it, with the glass removed, but it makes the viewfinder so much darker when trying to compose and takes away most of your working distance which is only a couple of inches as it is.

I tried both ways and found the flash head in between worked best. cheers