Hello. Forgive my ignorance, I am fairly new to macrophotography, so this question that I have, might be basic knowledge for most of you.
I have a mirroreless Canon M100 camera which I use with some pancakes lenses from Olympus and Konica for normal photography. To use this lenses I have to add an adaptor to compensate for the flange distance.
Now my question is, if I want to use these lenses to do macrophotography with a lens reversion ring do I need to compensate the flange distance as well when reversing the lens or just the reverse lens ring and the lens would be enough?
Thans so much!
Mirrorless camera and reverse lens rings
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
-
ray_parkhurst
- Posts: 3439
- Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:40 am
- Location: Santa Clara, CA, USA
- Contact:
Claudio...welcome to the forum!
When mounting lenses in reverse for macro work, the lens will need more extension from the camera than it does for landscape or portrait. You will need to add some extension (fixed extensions, helicoid, bellows, etc) in addition to the adapter you're now using.
If you already have the reverse adapter, it may be best to use extensions that have the same lens mount type, but there are many ways to go about achieving the correct extension for achieving the desired macro magnification.
As an example, if you have a 50mm pancake lens, your existing adapter will compensate the flange distance so it can achieve infinity focus. Additional extension from the lens helicoid will allow you to focus to perhaps a few feet away, with a maximum magnification of 0.25:1 (this is just an example, your lens may be a bit different). Reversing the lens will increase this magnification somewhat due to the lens extending farther than in normal mounting, but you may still not be able to achieve even 1:1 magnification just by reversing the lens.
If you want to use that lens in reverse for macro shooting at (for example) 3:1 magnification, you will need to add more extension. Assuming reversing the lens allows you to achieve 0.5:1 magnification, then to get 3:1 you would need to add ~125mm of extension between adapter and lens.
When mounting lenses in reverse for macro work, the lens will need more extension from the camera than it does for landscape or portrait. You will need to add some extension (fixed extensions, helicoid, bellows, etc) in addition to the adapter you're now using.
If you already have the reverse adapter, it may be best to use extensions that have the same lens mount type, but there are many ways to go about achieving the correct extension for achieving the desired macro magnification.
As an example, if you have a 50mm pancake lens, your existing adapter will compensate the flange distance so it can achieve infinity focus. Additional extension from the lens helicoid will allow you to focus to perhaps a few feet away, with a maximum magnification of 0.25:1 (this is just an example, your lens may be a bit different). Reversing the lens will increase this magnification somewhat due to the lens extending farther than in normal mounting, but you may still not be able to achieve even 1:1 magnification just by reversing the lens.
If you want to use that lens in reverse for macro shooting at (for example) 3:1 magnification, you will need to add more extension. Assuming reversing the lens allows you to achieve 0.5:1 magnification, then to get 3:1 you would need to add ~125mm of extension between adapter and lens.