A Few Reverse-Tele Macros

[Tim_axe]

I needed some material for my English project, for a cover and filler material, and it needed to fit the theme of my project, "Perspectives" (which has been about cameras and photography subjects mainly, and also a couple of poems that show life and view points) so I decided the most interesting "Perspective" I could do from a photography standpoint, to me at least, was Macro photography. Enjoy.


This first one isn't reverse-tele. It was simply to show that I was able to build something with my spare change (mentioned in one of Emberghost's threads). The others are 18-55 Kit @ 55 -> reversed 85 f/1.8 (infinity focus).

17 Cents - A Tower Built Because I Couldn't Get Anymore Creative With Coins.
Digital Rebel Kit Lens (18-55) @ 55mm, f/16, 1/200, ISO100, Flash (420EX) on the Right. PS Saturation / Levels / USM Adjustments.

"Perspectives" Monument - First subject of my Reverse-Tele experiments.
Digital Rebel Kit Lens (18-55) Mounted @ 55mm, f/16, 1/100, ISO100, through reverse-held 85mm f/1.8 lens. 420EX flash at low-angle across top of penny (Bounced towards camera - see shadows) Cropped and Leveled in PS.

"Perspectives" Shelled - I wanted something other than coins.
Same settings. Flash bounced/reflected off of sheet steel like previous picture.

"Perspectives" Connected - Why not photograph my old video card and get credit for it?
Same settings. You can see some vingetting because I didn't crop as tight. The black PCB dissapears into the vingetted area pretty sweetly.

Just A Ruler - I could probably calculate the ratio to life-size with this (full size version), but I feel lazy right now.
Same settings. Except I didn't crop this one. Only resized in PS.

 

[HorsePunchKid]

The photos aren't loading right now, but I saw them yesterday. I remember thinking the very close macro of the penny with the light from opposite the camera was quite good. I've always what sort of quality and focusing ability you have when reversing a tele. I think I saw the photos when you had the wrong "ruler" pic, so I'm eager to see that one. I'm going to have to go home and build a new coin sculpture...

 

[Tim_axe]

It should work now. My router locked up again, and I'm really considering replacing the POS router my ISP sold us with a much better one. Doing that should prevent some of these headaches (although I still have to deal with my ISP loosing their connectivity)...

Enjoy the pictures


Edit: Hrm... We had a recent wind storm that took down my ISP's Antenna Towers, so I had an outage. It's still very windy, but hopefully my 'net connection will stay up.

 

[Tim_axe]

Well, I figured out that my last set of photos were all 0.647x lifetime, as in not nearly as close to 1:1 as I would have liked. So, I went ahead and reversed how I mounted them to get 1.5x - 4.7x lifesize photos

(It turns out the enlarging ratio = (mounted lens / reversed lens), so 85/55 = 1.54, and 85/18 = 4.72)


Don't get it confused with zooming in and using those extra mega-pixels (as someone I talked to earlier was like "woah, those are some 6 super mega pixels man!"; what is happening in the formula I found on the Internet is the actual size-ratio produced and focused in relation to the actual object itself. Like a magnifying glass enlarging print on a newspaper, etc.



I'll start off with a 2.57x lifesize macro:

Back side of a dime - 85mm / 33mm = ~2.57x lifesize
No cropping, some levels & USM in PS

Lincoln in a penny - 85mm / 55mm (?) = ~1.54x lifesize
No cropping, some levels & USM in PS
(Pennies don't look interesting past this much enlarging, at least mine all fall apart into a rough/bumpy mass of porous metal)

Eye of Jackson in a $20 bill - 85mm / 20mm (?) = ~4.25x lifesize
No cropping, some levels & USM in PS
(You can see some vingetting -- it turns out that when I stop my 85mm lens down near f/8 or have the reversed lens slightly off-center, vingetting occurs)

My reverse-lens macro setup
(The camera used to take this picture holds my metal-shop built reflector bowl so the flash is reflected towards the subject - I hand hold the other lens to the mounted one)
(Oh, and yes, my room is painted a very light grey color and *might* be close to the 18% grey used in exposure calculation )

 

[HorsePunchKid]

Amazing! They're so sharp and detailed, and the lighting seems to have worked out very well.

Next step: Hook the camera up to a microscope! That's what really got me hooked on photography back about ten or fifteen years ago. My parents are both biologists, and we had some excellent microscopes at home. We managed to get ahold of a Pentax mount that would hook up to the camera tube on the best microscope we had.

I took tons of pictures of slides and whatnot, but the most fascinating subject was ordinary pond scum. There's an astonishing amount of life in it. I'll try to scan some of my old photos one of these days.

 

[Tim_axe]

The flash does a great job, I was shooting ISO 100, 1/200, and I think something around f/4 - f/8 (until I saw the vingetting at f/8 and above).

Focusing is tricky as the DoF is a really thin 2d plane. Since I'm directly over the subject, my overhead room lights are useless. Which is where my Sony Clié comes in with its light. In my setup picture, it is the silver thing behind the wooden box and beside my lens. I am just able to make out the objects with that light, so focusing/adjustments are possible. I kinda want a Macro Rail now, but I can get by with clamping down the adjustable head on my tripod at different heights while I convince my parents to let me buy a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens before college.


Anyways, here is a 100% crop from a ~4.72x lifesize picture of my bill. Note that if you're on a 72dpi display, I *think* this would be a ~156-188x life size enlargement on your monitor. That 1mm on the bill becomes 15.6-18.8cm on the screen. (at least if I did the math correctly ) Enjoy.

I don't have any microscopes, but I have a cheap-ish mirror telescope I'd love to be able to hook this camera up to -- but that won't happen because the barrel for the eye-piece other attachments are too small for my lenses.

 

[phixt]

Those are some cool shots. I never realized Lincoln sits in the middle of the penny That last pic reminds me of one I took a while ago:

A couple more...

Tip of a pencil:

The side of a pad of blue paper:

All were done with a 300D kit lens (18-55mm) and a 75-300mm telephoto. I would do more now that I have a 50mm f/1.8 but I lost my macro coupling somewhere in the pile of crap that surrounds my computer and haven't gotten a new one yet


I really like the shot of the pile of pennies btw...

 

[Tim_axe]

I think I saw a couple of your pictures a long time ago in the Best Pictures thread, or somewhere. You're probably part of the reason why I decided to start trying the reversed lens thing


I had a $5 bill this morning and would have shown off the "Five Dollar" microprint in the loops, but I spent it for lunch. The owl/spider thing on the $1 bill isn't detailed enough to look interesting upclose. Apart from those things, I'm not sure what else I'm going to try and take macro pictures of -- the setup is too much trouble to take outside and use...I'll have to think of something to do after I finish processing all of my sports pictures from this week...

 

[O'Doyle]

Oh yeah Tim, I never commented on your pics.....


I am thoroughly impressed with the Close Ups on the "Dime" and that "Penny with Abe" hanging out.

What are you gonna shoot next? How about a detailed pic of a BOOGER . J/k, or am I?



How about "Slides", or specimens of some sort.... Oh hell, surprise us.... Please! I wanna see more....... Something detail-ish.... How about a "Stamp?" Or is that too easy for you? Sorry I don't really understand what the concept is or how it's achieved, I just know/ think it looks COOL!

I kinda want to try your "Stack O' Pennies" trick.... It looks cool to try... Do you mind?

 

[O'Doyle]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you....I saw that in your "location" you have Japan to Idaho written down. Do you have any landscape pics of Japan.... I just love seeing either everyday life (urban or countryside) pics of the Japanese culture... I want to visit it one day..... I just love the look of it, the lights, the technology, the cars, the architecture, the provinces, mountainous regions, people..... everything....... if you want, you can even "reverse tele macro" a sushi j/k. I really enjoy looking at pics that pertain to the Japanese culture/ lifestyle.

 

[Tim_axe]

O'Doyle - Go ahead with the stack of pennies. I don't remember who here got us into stacking coins, but if you check out this thread (just scroll down a long ways) you can see a huge stack by HorsePunchKid -- http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=843628&page=3&pp=20

As for Japan -> Idaho thing. Well, I wasn't in to photography as much when I was back in Japan. I didn't own a camera until my last week there, so I don't have any good pictures (I took perhaps 20 total, of family) Ever since that though I've been trying to take photos *everywhere* so I'll never forget where I've been. But I don't take good touristy photos that actually help me figure out where I was, so I just stick to a few candids and sports, and then spend time *trying* to find a place to take rural/urban/town-ish panoramas from where I won't get run over and can easily haul my equipment along by walking (all of my bikes are broken and there are never any parking places).

 

[O'Doyle]

O'Doyle - Go ahead with the stack of pennies. I don't remember who here got us into stacking coins, but if you check out this thread (just scroll down a long ways) you can see a huge stack by HorsePunchKid -- http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=843628&page=3&pp=20

As for Japan -> Idaho thing. Well, I wasn't in to photography as much when I was back in Japan. I didn't own a camera until my last week there, so I don't have any good pictures (I took perhaps 20 total, of family) Ever since that though I've been trying to take photos *everywhere* so I'll never forget where I've been. But I don't take good touristy photos that actually help me figure out where I was, so I just stick to a few candids and sports, and then spend time *trying* to find a place to take rural/urban/town-ish panoramas from where I won't get run over and can easily haul my equipment along by walking (all of my bikes are broken and there are never any parking places).

Dammit . I was looking forward to seeing some shots by you too! Anyway, I wouldn't want to just see some "touristsy" photos, I want to see some nice "artsy fartsy" type snaps!

Also about you taking snaps everywhere you go, so that explains the 9,500 pics in 3 months .


ps: about the penny stacks... wow, HorsePunch did a nice ass shot.... and a time lapse video to boot! I will see what I can do/ come up with....