June 29, 2008
After viewing a bunch of macro-related galleries linked through digg, I came across a comment which said that reversing a wide-angle lens and putting it up against the lens of your camera can act as a macro lens.
This past week, I’ve been experimenting with this technique and have achieved some pretty satisfying results:
I’ve heard of people that have bought an adapter so that the lens will connect to the lens currently mounted on your camera but I doubt the wide-angle lens I own will fit with an adapter as it is intended for my camcorder. What I’ve done was just hold it up to the lens. Here’s how I go about it:
The materials needed
- Zoom your lens to its furthest distance possible (my lens is 17-85mm so I zoomed it to 85mm)
- Adjust the focus to the closest macro setting possible (on my lens, it will be the shortest focal length that can be reached while rotating the ring clockwise)
- Hold up your wide angle lens in reverse to your lens
Hold up the wide-angle lens in reverse like shown, but hold it up flush against the lens of your camera - Try to take a picture of something really up close but if it turns out blurry at first, distance yourself around with your feet rather than trying to adjust the focal length on your lens to gain focus — both of your hands are occupied already
- If you have a flash and are using it, point it directly up so you don’t get a funky shadow due to the extra lens being held in front
I actually was screwing with this as well a few weeks back, I liked the results but I’ve decided to buy a macro lens pretty soon.