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Answer to some questions.
kartoffel says:
That's really an amazing setup!! I was trying to have the similar setup as well but at the moment still can't get my hand on the male-male adapter.
BTW, what is the teleconverter for? With the lens reverse mounted already reduce the light, wouldn't the teleconverter reduce light even further?
Dulcelife says:
Tele-converter essentially makes the 105mm micro-nikkor f/2.8 into a 410mm f/5.6 lens for a lot less money than Nikon's extraordinary 200mm micro-nikkor. Strapping the 50mm on gives you 4X magnification (210/50=4.2) before that provided by cropping. Yes each unit reduces light further. The reason the set-up works well is due to the quality of the components.
The 105mm is already a fine lense which still retains it's good quality when doubling it's focal length with the TC-200. And, the the 50mm f/1.8 is a fast wide lens also of excellent quaility so it all works well thankfully.
kartoffel says:
Thanks once again for your explanation, you are GREAT!!
I was thinking of using my 75-300 f/4-5.6 and the kit lens 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 reversed, what do you think about this? I know both lenses are not good but really can’t afford anything too expansive right now. May be I will get a 50 f/1.8 just for this purpose :-).
dulcelife says:
I don't think that combination is usefull kartoffel and I would tell you to get the 50mm lens and play with that. Then again you already have both lenses so just hold them together with some tape and see what you can achieve.
Posted 83 months ago.
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do you think I could do the same but with a 60mm micro instead of the 105?
Posted 83 months ago.
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Yes you can. The 60mm would be 120mm on the TC-200. Reversing a 50mm would give you maximum magnification of 2.4X before that provided by cropping. With good technique and tight cropping you can easily achieve close if not equal results.
The one extra item you will need is a 62mm to 52mm step down ring to fit in front of the 60mm and mate with the 52mm reversing ring.
Posted 83 months ago.
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Incredible shots, Luis...and thanks for taking us all behind the scenes as to how you're making those images a reality....
If you don't mind sharing, what's the cost on each of those components you show in this explanation...?
Posted 83 months ago.
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You are welcome Jeff and no I do not mind sharing the costs. My total cost of the combined components delivered was $414.89 USD all on eBay. I don't know how long the links will work but here are the auctions I won:
105mm micro-nikkor f/2.8
50mm f/1.8
52mm – 52mm adapter
TC-200 teleconverter
I am a big believer in careful and patient use of eBay. The way I approached this was systematically. I wanted a 105mm micro-nikkor but was unwilling to pay top dollar for new especially knowing there are non-D versions out there. D means absolutely nothing for me; yielding zero difference to non-D versions of the same lens.
I'd heard that the TC-200 was good only with a high quality lens and figured it would be a cheap way to get 200mm micro-nikkor quality so I put it on my list but, the cheapest used one on Adorama at the time was $90.00 so I held off. What I really wanted was a 50mm f/1.8 to reverse mount so I concentrated on finding that.
The 50mm I did get was defective as advertised. It would not AF but this did not matter for my use. Then I saw images shot with it and I just had to tackle repairing it which took an hour. It was just dried grease.
I finally found the TC-200 on eBay and was really expecting a G condition unit for $23.00 and no end caps, I mean really. This was a very pleasant surprise as it could not have been in cleaner condition.
Naturally I am very happy and feel very fortunate to have done well and the reason I go into all this detail is to really counter those who sincerely believe eBay spells disaster. It does not.
One last note on the TC-200 it works acceptably even with a 70-210mm F/4-5.6 so if you can find one buy it! It will bring macro capability to these lenses.
These shots were taken with the 210mm TC-200 combo. Not great but, a good start.
Cheers
Luis
Posted 83 months ago.
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Talk about rare stuff. I was watching this auction thinking I might get something interesting to play with cheap. boy was I wrong. Turns out this lens is so rare even Bjørn Rørslett doesn't list it anywhere.
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=753321536...
Posted 83 months ago.
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Thanks for the recap....you've used eBay very well.....heck a new 105mm micro-nikkor is so expensive, I would have thought you whole "mac-gun" would have cost over $1000.....
I'm impressed....and will have to consider your approach after I get over the initial shock of the D70 purchase....
Thanks for posting the details...MUCH appreciated....!
Posted 83 months ago.
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Early macro set-up
dulcelife excellent post?
Posted 82 months ago.
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tawfique [deleted] says:
wow! it looks like a rocket launcher ;-)
but how do u get a portable setup?
for lesser quality but more portability, i happily use raynox 250. its nor novices who doesnt own a slr or who doesnt wanna spend money ^_^
Posted 82 months ago.
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>but how do u get a portable setup?
My portable is the Nikon Coolpix 4500. It is a venerable macro machine. It's the little guy in the center
Posted 82 months ago.
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dulcelife :
Great Pictures!!
Since the whole operation is manual could you use manual (older and cheaper) versions of the lens you have here to get the same effect?
When looking to set up a system like this how can you tell that the combinations of lenses will be able to focus?
I have the following equipment:
Nikon D70, Nikkor AF 17-70 F3.5-4.5, Nikkor AF 70-200 F2.8, Nikon AF 85mm F1.8, Nikon AF TC-20EII Teleconverter
I assume that all my lenses are not applicable for this setup because they do not focus close enough, thus a trip to my local used lens store looks like it is in order.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Posted 75 months ago.
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Nick Lawes [deleted] says:
I can see I there are a few more things to experiment with to get some higher magnification. I think I'm at about 2x at the moment, shooting from 18 inches and getting a couple of mm DoF... I use 3 extension tubes, 1.4x TC, close focusing lens on a 300mm zoom.
A great post, thanks.
 
Posted 73 months ago.
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This is oustanding... Do I need to have the TC ?
I have everything but that, my 52-52 is coming.
What I find challenging is the lightning setup and the DOF, D70 has an average viewfinder. Do you use any flash units ?
Constantin
www.goodstockimages.com
Posted 71 months ago.
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i have a similar set up but go around the backgarden without using a tripod !
Posted 69 months ago.
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Luis, I saw this thread ages ago and cannot describe how inspirational it was. It inspired me to ever more ridiculous lengths in the quest to avoid just buying one macro lens ;)
Initially, as I had an old OM10 with some Zuiko and OM-fit lenses, I just went for the plain old 135mm tele and reversed 28mm wide combination (these old manual focus lenses adapted onto a Canon with an OM-EOS mount adaptor):
which gets me a fairly comfy 4:1 or 5:1 magnification (photo is the entire frame, uncropped):
But not to stop there, I have vaguely high hopes, lighting and support stability allowing, for the ultimate obsessive combination of techniques (tubes, teleconverter, tele lens and reversed wide):
That lot must go beyond 10:1, but as I said, if I can keep the whole lot stable it'll be a miracle.
Posted 69 months ago.
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How do you handle the apertures?
Do you leave the 50 wide open, and control it with the 105, or what?
just seems like it would take a good deal of fiddling to get it "right".
Posted 57 months ago.
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i have a D80 with the 90mm tamron and 50mm..my question is would the tamron 90mm work when coupling with nikon's 50mm? The tamron has the extending barrel when focusing macro, so i'm thinking it might not be a good combo?
Posted 57 months ago.
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and one more question, would this work with other teleconverters other than the tc 200? thanks
Posted 57 months ago.
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gosh..this is addictive practicality - love it
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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farissshafee II edited this topic 52 months ago.
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which lens do you focus with? what do you set the other one to?
Posted 51 months ago.
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hehe, any longer and the law enforcement officers will stop and question you... joking
and having 2 x 105mm nikkors coupled together also does wonders
Posted 49 months ago.
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Well, the smaller the reversed lens the more the magnification so reversing a 100mm lens is really waisted space for the most part.
I use a sigma 150mm, TCs and a kenko set along with a reversed 50 and I get around 10:1( measured on a metric ruler.) I've even been able to pull off over 10:1in a mobile setup.
You focus with your true macro lens and leave your reversed lens on infinity and aperture wide open.
Originally posted 49 months ago.
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Brian-D edited this topic 49 months ago.
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well, thanks for pointing out the fault in my setup
I will have to replace one of my 105mm with a 35mm macro
Posted 49 months ago.
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It doesn't have to be a macro just pick up a cheap 50mm f/1.8 both nikon and canon make one(brand don't matter for the reversed lens) and they are both sharper than anything in my bag.
You want a fast lens to avoid vignetting. Your cheapest option is to get a fast 50mm. You don't want to reverse even a f/2.8 lens. You'll have to do a good bit of cropping.
Posted 49 months ago.
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thank you again
I _had_ a 50mm f/1.4 D but it's now replaced with my 35-70mm f/2.8 D
I guess my zoom lens will do for now
Posted 49 months ago.
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Thanks for this informative write up. Very clear and easy to follow/understand. Have got my self the items i needed to complete the set up for under £30 from ebay, and am now addicted to this style!!
Posted 49 months ago.
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a nice way to do this with out much hassle is to get s nice lens with small zoom like 18-55mm or 17-40mm
reverse it with an adapter and the more zoomed out u r the more ur zoomed in since the lens is in reverse :)
Posted 46 months ago.
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Based on your information, I reversed my Canon 18-55mm kit lens and mounted it to my Sigma 70-300mm DG macro tele lens. I was able to get one reasonable image thus far with this combo on my Canon 350D and on my heavy-duty old 1970s vintage Slik tripod. I have the two lenses held together with several turns of electrical tape. The kit lens is very lightweight and the tape works well. With my Sigma lens set to 300mm and the kit lens set to 18mm, I calculate about 16.6X. I have my kit lens pre-set wide open and I played with the Sigma's aperture and the camera's shutter speeds until I found a combination that worked ok. I imaged in full manual mode and MF on the lens. This is my best shot so far and is an icon on my computer's desktop as seen on my CRT monitor.
Posted 45 months ago.
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Right now I'm using a 55 with a lens reversing ring, which works well for carrying around, but I'd like to do what you're doing for flower & insect shots.
Here's what I have so far:
flickr.com/photos/jlt/sets/72157594205143718/
I'd like to mutliply this by about 10x.
I guess using older, non-AF lenses will save money, right? There's really no reason to spend extra on super fancy optics I guess?
Posted 44 months ago.
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A 20mm AI lens will make it 3.4X.
Posted 43 months ago.
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Hi, I am a complete total newbie at photography but am really getting into this.
I really want to build this "macro" ens. I believe I have some of the correct components, but if you could tell me for sure I'd appreciate it.
Here's what I have:
1) Sony DSLR Alpha a100
2) Minolta AF Lens - 50mm 1:1.7 (22)
3) Tamron AF Lens - 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 TELE-MACRO (1:3.9)
4) Standard Sony lens that came with camera - 3.5-5.6/18-70 mm
What else do I need? Will any of this work for what you're describing? I've seen some TC-200's on ebay, but they all say Nikon. Will they fit my Sony camera? Is there even such a thing as a TC-200 for a Sony? Thanks for any help. Maritza
Posted 41 months ago.
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Hi, im planning to do this. But im not quite sure if it will be compatible on my gears.
Nikon D80
Nikkor AF(non D) 60mm micro 2.8
Nikkor AF-D 50mm 1.8
52mm-52mm reverse lens adapter
62mm-52mm step down ring
Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 2x
Am i missing something? Will this AF on my camera? Anyone tried this?
Originally posted 40 months ago.
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Popo dela Cruz edited this topic 40 months ago.
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Dulcelife, thank you for the very helpful information. I have finally managed to get all the components together and started the other day.
once again thanks.
Posted 33 months ago.
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Awsome Tread!
I have a question.
Would it work the D90 with the Kit lens 18-105mm attaching to it the inverted 50mm?? Or it's better if I just invert the 50mm directly?
Posted 29 months ago.
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You get better results by inverting 50 mm lens direct to camera body. In ebay there are available "macro reverse rings" and "macro reverse adapters".
The rings are for fitting two lenses together, and adapters are for fitting the lens to body backwards.
Automatic lens reversing adaptor:
Posted 29 months ago.
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Thanks Kansalainen!
But, why would they put all these lenses inbetween if just inverting it directly gives better results? What would the difference be?
Posted 29 months ago.
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nice setup,
glad i found this thread as I needed some idea of everything I'll need.
I'm pretty new to macro but so far am really enjoying it
Posted 26 months ago.
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I have a stacking question. I'm new to this and have a stacking ring but am coming to realize that possibly, the lenses I have will do me no good.
Am I right in thinking that stacking a 50mm prime 1.8 on a 50mm 2.8 macro lens will yield me no better results b/c I'm not increasing my magnification?
I appreciate any advice more experience macro enthusiasts could give me. Thank you!
Posted 26 months ago.
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@ bluefrogi
You will get some gain from the stacked prime. With the macro focused on infinity the combination will give a macro magnification of 1:1 but as you focus the macro lens closer the magnification will go up.
If you have a wide angle to stack instead you will get higher magnifications which should make it more worthwhile.
(If you don't have one you can get an old manual one for very little remember the mount doesn't matter so it can be one that's in low demand as it won't fit on a DSLR)
Posted 18 months ago.
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Hi Guys, I have been trying this combo: 100mm Macro + 50mm prime reversed (no teleconverters/ET as yet) on a Canon 550D. But it was hard to focus. I moved close and far but still the object looked blurred.
For this test i was only looking at Lens cap, camera on a tripod + shutter release switch to minimise the shake. At this moment i dont have male-to male coupling ring so the 50mm was in hand.
Please suggest what should the focussing distance?
Posted 17 months ago.
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