I love photography...

[Curt]

Now to anybody that knows me, that probably doesn't come as a surprise.

However, I did something today I thought I'd share. It's stuff like this that make me love it even more...

I really enjoy macro, but unfortunately don't really have the money for such a luxury as a "proper" macro lens (although this doesn't stop me watching them on eBay in the slim hope one comes up...).

So, thought I'd try a cool trick.

Take 1 body cap:



A filter:



An old Olympus OM prime lens left over from my old camera:



Smashy smashy:



Cut a hole in the cap:



Sanded down the knurled part of the filter to make a flatter surface for the adhesive:




Stuck them together:



The finished article, one reverse mounted lens!



On the camera (sorry, shit phone pic):



Total cost, £5 for the filter from the local shop. Obviously if you have one, it's free.

Considering I made this today and only had a quick play, I'm pretty happy with it! The shallow DOF means that I have to step down and therefore shoot at a higher ISO.

Here are some of the results, all hand held:


DSC_7620 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_7834 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_7835 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_7838 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_7880 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_7980 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


Anyway, that's it really .

Cheers.

[Niall]

Christ Curt that has worked brilliantly!

[samass]

love it!! surprsingly good results for what is technically a bodge

[Curt]

Cheers lads

Oh yeah it's a complete bodge haha, you can buy proper reverse mounts... but this was more interesting

[Niall]

Can i borrow it to send some pictures of me to the missus?

[Just Sean]

That's awesome!!

[Curt]

Can i borrow it to send some pictures of me to the missus?

It's not that good...

That's awesome!!

Cheers man

[Matt]

f*cking awesome stuff man

[Curt]

Cheers mate

[Grant]

Jesus Curt, thats awesome! Repped.

If you use a longer lens (i.e 55-200) would you be able to get closer images?

[Curt]

Thanks Grant, I hoped it would be of interest/help .

No, unfortunately you would get less magnification as it works the other way around! Prime lenses are ideal for this tbh.

Also bear in mind, if you have a modern lens with no physical controls, you can't control the aperture at all. You would have to fix the aperture on the camera when you remove the lens... Which is why older lenses are great. The bonus is, there's lots about so they can be had cheap.

If you want to use a 55-200 for macro, extension tubes would be what you want. I have some coming tomorrow, so more to play with haha. I think a tripod would become a necessity on the longer focal lengths though.

I'll take some with varying lenses when they arrive, hopefully be able to get some good 'uns.

[Just Sean]

Should make them and sell them on eBay

[Curt]

They're actually already all over the place and cheap . I was just being impatient, thought why not, and using an awkward size lens so made one.

[Grant]

Fair play Curt. Keep us updated on how this goes. Genuinely love this idea. Likewise to you I want a macro lense but am not willing to shell out for one.

[Pete]

The bee shots are awesome! Everybody loves a macro shot.

[Curt]

Fair play Curt. Keep us updated on how this goes. Genuinely love this idea. Likewise to you I want a macro lense but am not willing to shell out for one.

Will do. It's a really good budget alternative! It's tricky and requires patience, especially with bloody bees (which must be the must indecisive creature ever, (apart from Dum-Dum...)). If you're interested though, definitely grab an old manual lens and try it! I got mine for £30, I think, a couple of years ago. Equally the extension tubes are supposed to be a good alternative, with lighting being the only issue. I also have a cheap ring "flash" on the way (not really a flash, but we shall see).

The bee shots are awesome! Everybody loves a macro shot.

Thanks Pete! I'm liking it more the more I do it.

[c.gerrard]

Awesome photos!

Someone's husband I work with bought a macro lense to get photos like that and he apparently spent all day trying to get a photo of a bee looking down the lens. He failed

[Curt]

Cheers dude

Haha, guess it doesn't matter how much gear you have if you can't use it/your subject doesn't want to play ball.

Going to try and find some spiders to annoy tomorrow!

[amiek]

that is amazing!

[Curt]

that is amazing!

I was pleased with it

I have some more to upload once I've gone through them, I couldn't find any spiders though . Although I found lots of flies!

[ozonehostile]

Ooh nice idea. Good stuff dude :-)

[Curt]

Cheers man .

Here's a few more from today.

This lot are the same set-up, reverse mount:


DSC_8209 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8199 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8260 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8293 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8062 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr

100% crop:


DSC_8062 Crop by Curtis Footman, on Flickr

The next lot are using extension tubes, which arrived today. 36mm+20mm, so still 12mm left, with my 55-300.


DSC_8512 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8514 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8430 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8426 by Curtis Footman, on Flickr

100% crop:


DSC_8426 Crop by Curtis Footman, on Flickr

[ozonehostile]

that last one of the flies head is awesome!

[Pompey306mark]

Curt these are really good love the detail in the last one.

[Grant]

DSC_8426 Crop by Curtis Footman, on Flickr

[Toms306]

Wow...not much impresses me but those shots really are awesome! Nice one Curt!

[Curt]

Grant

Curt these are really good love the detail in the last one.

Cheers Mark, I'm pleased with it. Going to stick the last tube on tomorrow and see what I can find

Edit:

Wow...not much impresses me but those shots really are awesome! Nice one Curt!

Thanks Tom

[Grant]

But on a serious note Curt.

That last photo of the fly is


AMAZING!!!!

[Curt]

Cheers man, it's awesome when you zoom in on a photo, it's in perfect focus and all the details are there. Problem is I get carried away, too excited and scare them off

There's quite a few more worthy of cropping like that one, but I left them original as it shows what was achieved purely with the lens set-up more.

[Curt]

Here's a couple more crops, not 100% as they didn't look right.


DSC_8496 Crop by Curtis Footman, on Flickr


DSC_8209 Crop by Curtis Footman, on Flickr