Reverse lens macro photography

20th May 2013. Macro photography gives you view into a world you don't see very often. This kind of photography is where you take picture of small object and it will be able to become the same size on your sensor. When this is blown up to a full size a small ring will be able to fill half of the picture. It has specialty lenses and this is usually the best option for macro photography. Of financial reasons you might want to try to take macro photos without investing in a macro lens that is generally quite expensive. Other advantage of reverse lens photography is that you also can get very big magnification. The downside is that the quality will suffer quite a bit. This is not only because of the method but also because macro lenses are known to be the sharpest lenses around.

What you need for reverse lens photography is basically only any lens. You can hold your kit lens reversed in front of your sensor area and take the picture as long as your camera is in manual mode. A more common method is to use a reverse connector. With this method you only attach one lens reversed on your lens connected to the camera.

With both options, with or without reverse lens ring, you will have problem with controlling the aperture. Unless your lens has an aperture ring, you will have to shoot with wide open aperture on the lens in the front. This doesn't mean you cannot great results. It will, however, be an advantage to be able to reduce the aperture (shoot with a higher f-number). You will also have to meter yourself and figure out the shutter speed for yourself. If you are taking macro pictures of flowers or jewelry, this is of course not a problem as you can do trial and error.

What you have to remember is that shooting macro is very difficult. Firstly you have a very narrow debt of field. Secondly you will need a lot of light. The last point is not so important if you are shooting non-moving objects. One of the charms with macro photography is, however, being able to shoot great pictures of insects. If they are moving you will need a strong light source like a flash. Neither of these elements is unique for reverse lens method but something you will have to consider.

The alternative to reverse lens macro photography is regular macro lenses. For someone on a tighter budget you have many good options. For example for Canon you have a 60mm and 100mm non-L lenses for less than $500. For someone with more money the best 1:1 macro lens is by many considered to be the Canon EF 180mm f3.5L Macro. For real specialty lens that can create large 5:1 magnification you have the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens. The latter is the ultimate in macro photography, but also very difficult to use. Both of these lenses cost more than $1000.