Macro photography snowflakes7/27/2023 Note-when adding more than one close-up diopter, it’s best to put the greatest magnification on first, and stack others on top of it. By adding a couple of close-up diopters (+4 and a +1), the magnification was almost exactly the same as with a reversed 24 mm lens-a field of view of about 1/4″ high x 3/8″ wide with my Nikon APS sensor. I have also experimented with close-up diopters to see how much magnification I can get with my Nikon 105mm f/2.8D macro, which already has 1:1 life-size magnification (greater on an APS sensor). One issue to remember with a reversed lens is the inside element is exposed when photographing, so be extra careful! I thought I’d also take a look through my 105 mm macro lens backwards to see what a longer focal length would do, and it simply doesn’t produce a useable image. I also took a look through my 35-70mm f/2.8 zoom backwards, and found it becomes a macro zoom with the reversing adapter and a Nikon BR-5, 52mm female to 62mm male step up ring, available at Adorama. I found each has a different degree of macro capability, with the shortest focal length having the greatest magnification. My 24, 28, 35, and 50 mm lenses, all have 52mm filter threads. I still have a number of prime lenses from my film days that work fine with the adapter. While it’s possible to hold the aperture pin to stop down the aperture with newer automatic lenses, at this magnification the slightest camera or subject motion shows up in the final photo. In order to make aperture and focus adjustments while the lens is reversed, it’s best to choose a lens that has both a manual focus adjustment as well as an aperture ring. Reversing any lens shorter than a 60 mm focal length turns it into a macro lens. Various adapters are available for Canon, as well as other brands. This reversing adapter has a Nikon lens mount on one side, with 52mm threads on the other for screwing the filter threads of a lens onto the adapter, so the lens is mounted in reverse on the camera. I dug deep into my camera bags and found the Nikon BR-2A reversing adapter (available at Adorama) I’d bought some years ago, which can be used on my Nikon D300S. Stunning: I was able to get incredibly close to my subject and photograph snowflakes in incredible detail. Since wide-angle lenses take a large landscape area and focus that on a small area in the camera, reversing them hones in on a small subject area, and spreads that over a larger area on the sensor. While I’ve been using wide-angle lenses for many years in the usual mode for shooting landscapes, I decided it was time to try looking through them backwards. However, my current project was writing a Landscape Photographer’s Field Guide, and I wanted to show some different options for close-up and macro photography. I’d been itching to experiment with photographing close-ups of snowflakes for some time, but got sidetracked all too often by various project deadlines. Note how the lens mount is facing towards the subject-be careful with that! My set-up: I used a wide-angle lens with manual focus and aperture rings attached to the camera via a reversal ring. In this article, which I wrote especially for the Adorama Learning Center, I’ll show you how to use reversal rings and wide-angle lenses on your DSLR to shoot stunning super-macro closeups showing the beautiful details of snowflakes.Įditor’s note: All items described in this article are available at Adorama. They covered the grass and ground like a fluffy layer of goose down. Looking out the window in the morning, I saw the lightest and softest flakes of snow falling gently to the ground. Only a couple of days later we had a really cold night. Then a meltdown around New Years took us back to bare ground and dry grass. We had just enough snow this year for a white Christmas in our corner of the Adirondacks. How to use reversal rings and a wide-angle lens to get stunning super-close-ups of snow flakes.
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