I spent part of yesterday reading up about lens stacking as an easy and cheap way to do macro. So, after a bit of reflection yesterday evening, I decided to try my hand at it this morning. As you can see from my list of goods below, I have 3 lenses at present and decided to try out the 18-55 with the 70-300mm. This would, I thought, give me a good range of magnification. I set about joining them together using the adapter rings for my ring flash wiith a strip of foam rubber and a hose clip. All looked good and well.
Now I'd read a bit about the problems of hyper-macro - vignetting, chromatic aberation, etc. - so I decided to start small - 70 + 55. With the apertures set at max, I was amazed to find that I had a small circular image. Only thing to do was to increase the length of the main lens. 200mm was the minimum length to get a full image but we are getting into the realms of 4x macro. This was the first full shot I took.
220mm + 55mm
f/5.6 + f/5.6
1/500th sec, ISO 3200.
Manual mode, hand held. No flash.
Uncropped.
Next up:
300mm + 55mm
f/5.6 + f/5.6
1/1000th sec, ISO 3200
AP mode, hand held, no flash
Uncropped.
So what can I make of this?
Firstly, forget about focusing. Both lenses were set to infinity and I focused by moving in and out from about 2-3 inches. Don't waste time worrying about being in focus; if it looks okay just snap.
Secondly, forget about a tripod. By the time you've set it up and got it in the right position, your bug will be a mile away.
Thirdly, this is not ideal for use in the field. It takes an age to actually find the thing you want to shoot; I was lucky to find two flies which didn't move but spiders do not like camera lenses and generally shy away. Besides, taking photos of flies' eyes soon loses its charm.
Would I use this method again? Only if there was no other solution and if the conditions were ideal, eg indoor shot with stationary subject and good lighting. If you're going to take photos in the field then rather buy macro tubes or a good macro lens or both. Do I regret doing it? Certainly not. It was great fun, though it might have been easier with two fast primes.
Now I'd read a bit about the problems of hyper-macro - vignetting, chromatic aberation, etc. - so I decided to start small - 70 + 55. With the apertures set at max, I was amazed to find that I had a small circular image. Only thing to do was to increase the length of the main lens. 200mm was the minimum length to get a full image but we are getting into the realms of 4x macro. This was the first full shot I took.
220mm + 55mm
f/5.6 + f/5.6
1/500th sec, ISO 3200.
Manual mode, hand held. No flash.
Uncropped.
Next up:
300mm + 55mm
f/5.6 + f/5.6
1/1000th sec, ISO 3200
AP mode, hand held, no flash
Uncropped.
So what can I make of this?
Firstly, forget about focusing. Both lenses were set to infinity and I focused by moving in and out from about 2-3 inches. Don't waste time worrying about being in focus; if it looks okay just snap.
Secondly, forget about a tripod. By the time you've set it up and got it in the right position, your bug will be a mile away.
Thirdly, this is not ideal for use in the field. It takes an age to actually find the thing you want to shoot; I was lucky to find two flies which didn't move but spiders do not like camera lenses and generally shy away. Besides, taking photos of flies' eyes soon loses its charm.
Would I use this method again? Only if there was no other solution and if the conditions were ideal, eg indoor shot with stationary subject and good lighting. If you're going to take photos in the field then rather buy macro tubes or a good macro lens or both. Do I regret doing it? Certainly not. It was great fun, though it might have been easier with two fast primes.