Macro Photography: Reverse Lens Method

Reverse Lens Photography

So you want to do some macro photography, huh? But you don't have any cash. No problem. There is a great, cheap alternative to buying those expensive macro lenses: reverse lens photography.

What is it?

Perhaps you've heard of the reverse lens method before by looking through collections of macro images. This method of photographing is fairly simple and straightforward. It works just like it sounds. You take a normal DSLR lens and put it on backwards. Simple as that. Of course, you will need an adapter, unless you want to hold the lens up the whole time you're shooting. There are also a couple of other things you will need to tweak in order to get it to work right, but we'll get to that later.

Now, you're probably thinking, how well can this really work? Admittedly, using a reverse lens is not an easy task. It takes some patience and a lot of practice to understand how to work it. A lot of the difficulty comes from doing macro work itself. Whether with a reverse lens or regular macro lens, close-up work takes quite a bit of skill to master. For those who have tried to the reverse lens method before, it is often discouraging when dealing with the technical hurdles that macro work throws at you. Lack of light, slow shutter speeds, and very narrow focus are all things that you will encounter in macro work and must overcome. So just remember not to be too disappointed when your first reverse lens shot comes out to be a mess of blurry shapes and colors.

Obviously, this is a simple and cheap alternative to buying a real macro lens. Typically, a reversed lens is not going to give you the quality or simplicity of a real macro lens. But this is no reason to disregard this method. Below are some advantages and disadvantages to using the reverse lens method.

Advantages:

You can get to very high magnification ratios. Any real macro lens has a magnification ratio of 1:1 meaning that the size of the subject your shooting is the same size on your camera's sensor. This is called “life-size”. With the reverse lens method, you can go beyond life-size. A standard 18-55mm lens can get you to3.7:1 magnification ratio. That's almost 4 times life-size! The only lens that goes beyond 1:1 without the use of extension tubes or other accessory devices is the Canon MP-E 65. This lens only goes from 1:1 to 5:1, but it is ridiculously expensive.

Another advantage, depending on the lens you use, is that this setup will typically be less bulky than using a real macro lens. Macro lenses can be bulky and heavy, especially when you get up into the 150-200mm range.

The best advantage? It's so cheap. For $6 you can take amazing macro photos.

Disadvantages:

Of course, there are some disadvantages. One is quality. Typically, macro lenses are very sharp and produce great quality for macro work because that's what they are designed for. The quality of images you get with your reverse lens setup will depend on the lens you use. If you use a sharp prime lens, then you will have great quality. But you're standard kit lens with not produce the same high-quality photos. Having said that, they are not bad. Especially Canon and Nikon kit lenses. I have used my 18-55mm for all kinds of macro work and I am satisfied with the quality. The reverse lens also produces better quality than diopters.

You have to meter manually. This means that you have to set the aperture and shutter speed yourself. Now, you may think this sucks, but I personally don't mind it. After a while, it's almost automatic. You can look at a scene and realize what aperture and shutter speed combo you need. I think it's a great learning experience.

You have to rig the aperture lever. Since your lens is on backwards, the camera cannot set the aperture(assuming you have a lens without an aperture ring). You will have to do this yourself by adjusting the lever on the back, but we'll talk more about that later.

How it Works:

Alright, using a reverse lens on your camera for macro work is quite easy. First of all, you need a DSLR and a lens, any lens. I'll let you know now, when you reverse the lens, a wide angle will give you a really high magnification ratio. A telephoto lens will give you a lower magnification ratio. It's kinda backwards.

Now, assuming you have those two things, you'll need to buy an reversing ring for your lens. The size of this ring will depend on the filter size of the lens you wish to reverse. For your standard kit lens(18-55mm) you will need the 52mm reversing ring. It is very common. Make sure that the ring is for you camera(Nikon, Canon, other). There are some expensive ones, such as the BR-2A, for $50. Then there are cheap ones for about $6-8. There really is no difference. I bought a cheap metal one off of ebay for $6 and I have never had a problem with it.

Okay, so you get the ring, you screw it on the front of your lens like a filter, and then you put it on your camera, backwards. It may look weird, but it will work, I promise. Now here's the important stuff:

• Switch the camera to Manual Mode(M) or else your camera will complain that there is no lens attached.

• You have to be really close to something to be able to get the picture in focus. The lens will no longer focus to infinity. In fact, it will focus nowhere close to infinity. You'll need to be only a few inches away from your subject in order to get it into focus.

• You need to control your aperture. This is a problem most people face when they first try the reverse lens method. When a Nikon lens is removed from the body, the aperture closes all the way. Therefore, your subject appears too dark. When a Canon lens is removed from the body, the aperture opens up, but you will still need to control it. This is assuming you have a newer lens. If your lens has an aperture ring on it, you can easily adjust accordingly.

• If not, look at the back of your lens(which is now the front). You will see a very small lever sticking out. This is the aperture lever. If you move it back and forth and look through the camera, you will see everything get brighter and darker. This lever controls the aperture opening.

• The only real solution is to wedge something into the gap that will keep the lever pushed to the side, opening the aperture. If not, the lever will snap close. I usually fold up a small strip of paper and wedge it in there. I have also used small sticks before. Just don't forget to remove it when you're done or else you might forget and put the lens in normal with whatever thing you jammed in there. I know this sounds bad, probably because I'm using the words wedge and jam, but it's really fine. But as I said, just don't forget to take it out.

• You will have to meter manually. Move the aperture lever to adjust the aperture, and set the shutter speed on the camera.

A Few More Things:

You're depth of field will be extremely narrow and you will also need lots of light, probably even a flash. These are common issues in dealing with macro photography, and not just a product of the reverse lens method. So if you haven't shot any macro before, you may need to do a little research on how to shoot macro subjects.

That's all:

So that's it, now you can take wonderful macro images without spending a ton of money. And if you have any doubts in the in results, just take a look at the images on this hub. Every photo here was taken by myself using a reversed 18-55mm lens.

Good luck and happy shooting.