Macro fun with a retro adaptor

I bought a retro adapter for my 52mm lenses (I have two: the 50mm/1.8D and the 28mm/2.8), just for fun, just to try it out... its a small adaptor ring that is attached instead of a lens, and then the lens is attached to the retro adaptor ring - in reverse. In Germany, this thing is also called "Umkehrring" (reversal ring). You can focus just unbelievably close that way. So close that a 1 Euro coin or a pussy willow does not fit into the frame.

The major problem is the focussing itself: you can only find the focus point by moving the camera back and forth. Which probably requires a macro focussing rail like the one from Really Right Stuff. Which is - IMHO - darn expensive. :-)

The photos are not very shiny examples of composition :-) but I am simply impressed by the magnification that can be achieved with the reversed lens, so here we go:


Liverleaf flower (spring is here!) - reversed 50mm/1.8D lens, 1/4s at f/22 (the flower is about 2cm in diameter)

The liver leaf was particularly problematic because I couldn't get close enough with my tripod. I removed half of the middle column and was able to get within focus range that way. I think I spent 10 minutes or something crawling on the forest floor until I was within a range and position where both focus and light would work... :-}

Another problem is the metering - the camera simply says "f/0" because it has no aperture information. The light meter of the S5 works in manual mode, but of course I had to manually stop the lens down (and depth of field is really really thin being that close to the subject), which as a result turns the viewfinder veeeery dark. Manually stopping down means the lens must have an aperture ring, so only the older lenses can be used in a way that makes sense (that means in the Nikon world, the "G" type lenses don't make sense with a retro adaptor).


Pussy Willow - reversed 28mm/2.8 lens, 2,5s at f/22 (the whole thing is about 1cm in reality)

And then there's the shutter - at low ISO (which I prefer for quality reasons) the times are really long because you need to stop down the lens as much as possible for sufficient DOF. I used the self timer for these shots, but manual mirror prerelease (M'up) and a cable release would have been ideal.


1 Euro coin - reversed 28mm/2.8 lens, 6s at f/5.6 (indoor, artificial light)

I have to admit that I never understood the fascination of macro photography (all these insects and other creepy stuff - brrrr!), but at these magnification rates its quite appealing (the "wow!" factor). I read about the retro adaptor in the "Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photography" by Tim Fitzharris first (I mentioned that book previously), and its a nice - and very cheap! - first step into macro photography.