Ghetto macro

phreeky82 · 6th March 2009, 12:05 PM

I'd like to hear of other peoples ghetto macro setups and what sort of results they've achieved. It seems to be one of the most likely fields to involve dodgy solutions due to the various issues it presents.

So I'll start with my latest ghetto rig

I was playing around in the backyard the other day with a not-so-ghetto setup - a 20D with a 70-300 IS on about 65mm of cheap extension tubes (no elec contacts), stopped down to ~F/16 I believe, and a 420EX boosting the light. I found it quite good, with one massive exception - I couldn't see a damn thing through the viewfinder with the lens stopped down like that, so focusing was near impossible. A few photos I got anyway (a tad over-sharpened I think but you get the idea):

http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/IMG_3992.JPG
http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/IMG_4004.JPG
http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/IMG_4012.JPG

So I've rigged up a piece of aluminium that mounts to the tripod mount, and has a bright LED at the front. It's focused to light up the object when it's in focus at MFD on this setup, so determining whether something is in focus is not only easier due to the subject being brighter, but also ensuring it was actually lit up at all. I still use the 420EX to do the real work.

So far I've only played with it inside, but the LED has itself proven bright enough to make focusing easy, yet dim enough to not actually show itself affecting exposure visibly when stopped down. Here are some shots of the setup:

http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/P1020231.JPG
http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/P1020232.JPG

P.S. the LED is of the 30,000Cd variety, feeding it slightly lower than its listed Vmin

^catalyst · 6th March 2009, 12:15 PM

Nice!

Nikon used to do a range of 'Medical-Nikkor' Which had a ring-flash and focussing lamp built into the lens!! This looks like nice ghetto-ism of that.

Curious though, how do you go with that big foam pad thing on the flash-head? Do you lose a lot of light through it?

phreeky82 · 6th March 2009, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ^catalyst

Nikon used to do a range of 'Medical-Nikkor' Which had a ring-flash and focussing lamp built into the lens!! This looks like nice ghetto-ism of that.

Yeah I did look through the net for proper macro setups. I really wanted to grab a macro lens at the least and possible a macro ring flash, but I recently bought an UWA so that's not going to happen.

Quote:

Curious though, how do you go with that big foam pad thing on the flash-head? Do you lose a lot of light through it?

It just diffuses it a bit, and the flash has enough of a punch to provide sufficient light anyway.

chylld83 · 6th March 2009, 12:55 PM

nice... but i think my hand-sanded tupperware lid diffuser is at least as ghetto

(granted you aren't using a proper macro lens, your shots are great considering that!)

Click to view full size!

phreeky82 · 6th March 2009, 1:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chylld83

nice... but i think my hand-sanded tupperware lid diffuser is at least as ghetto

(granted you aren't using a proper macro lens, your shots are great considering that!)

Haha nice!

The thing I like about mine is that I can wonder around the garden with it, doesn't get in the way and is quite easy to use. Your setup clearly demonstrates the issue with my flash though - it doesn't always light up the subject very well, and an extension towards the end of the lens would be handy.

chylld83 · 6th March 2009, 1:09 PM

well i don't use that setup anymore

you might want to try these ideas (sorry to hijack your thread btw) :

1. translucent plastic duct-taped to the reversed hood:

Click to view full size!

2. a4 paper sticky-taped to the top of the speedlight:

Click to view full size!

method 1 is handy because you can use the in-built flash, however all of my best macro shots were taken with method 2

phreeky82 · 6th March 2009, 1:20 PM

Cheers! Hijack? The thread was created to share ghetto macro setups!

Method 2 looks like it could work alright. Unfortunately it's pouring down rain here at the moment (well it's actually going almost sideways

), so I can't try it right now.

deadtiger2 · 6th March 2009, 4:47 PM

You got some pretty damn nice results from a 70-300!
Whats the DoF like with 67mm of extension tubes? If its anything like my ghetto setup http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...65&postcount=4, then you'll get razor thin DoF.
To be honest I'm quite surprised you need the LED to help you to focus and see the subject clearly (unless I haven't properly understood why you use it). On bright days you shouldn't have a problem focusing without the led

Nice setups Chylld83.

phreeky82 · 6th March 2009, 5:18 PM

Oh yeah I wasn't always using it on a nice sunny day

In fact I was using it when it was getting dark actually, so LED was badly needed. I stop the lens down quite a bit and it starts to look quite dark through the viewfinder, for example even indoors with lights on it's hard to see whether something is in focus properly or not at F/16, and the LED fixes that.

jaghori · 7th March 2009, 3:52 PM

Hi, since everyone is showing off their master piece I though I do the same

Here is my setup and works really well for objects that are covered by the shadow of the lens. The issue is with the bit on top of the lens which stops me from certain shot, I may get around this by making it a bit shorter though.

Click to view full size!

Here are the comparison shots.

Click to view full size!

Plasmodic · 10th April 2009, 11:01 PM

I know this is an old thread but I felt like digging it up.

So I read that you can flip lenses to make a ghetto macro lens. Kind cool! =) So I tried it with my 50mm f/1.8. Just put it on the camera, stopped it down to f/8, took it off (while holding DoF preview button) then flipped it and just held it on the camera for some test shots. I'm amazed with the results! Total spending cost comes to $0.

And here's a 100% crop:

Sorry if this is beating a dead horse, but I didn't realise you could do this with such a common lens. One downside is I have no focus control at all, have to move the camera till I get it right. Obviously not as practical or sharp as a real macro lens, but hey.

chylld83 · 10th April 2009, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plasmodic

One downside is I have no focus control at all, have to move the camera till I get it right.

ummm... that's how you use a normal macro lens anyway

(or at least that's how i use my 90mm)

very good shots of the coin. looks like a bit of CA there, but otherwise it's a very decent effort. now all you need is some duct tape to hold it in place while you go find some bugs!

PHAT_pudding · 11th April 2009, 5:08 PM

i used a 24-70 at 70 and a reversed 70-300 at 70 to get this

droplets of water on a goretex jacket.

might look at using heaps of extension tubes on my 24-70, except its a bit heavy and might break something.

sgtraven · 12th April 2009, 12:16 AM

70-200 + 50mm F1.4 + 3x extention tubes

just playin round.

2x flash's one with the Lumi Big Bounce on it another to the side with diffuser

1

2

3

6th March 2009, 12:05 PM	#1
phreeky82 Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Townsville Posts: 9,102	Ghetto macro I'd like to hear of other peoples ghetto macro setups and what sort of results they've achieved. It seems to be one of the most likely fields to involve dodgy solutions due to the various issues it presents. So I'll start with my latest ghetto rig I was playing around in the backyard the other day with a not-so-ghetto setup - a 20D with a 70-300 IS on about 65mm of cheap extension tubes (no elec contacts), stopped down to ~F/16 I believe, and a 420EX boosting the light. I found it quite good, with one massive exception - I couldn't see a damn thing through the viewfinder with the lens stopped down like that, so focusing was near impossible. A few photos I got anyway (a tad over-sharpened I think but you get the idea): http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/IMG_3992.JPG http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/IMG_4004.JPG http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/IMG_4012.JPG So I've rigged up a piece of aluminium that mounts to the tripod mount, and has a bright LED at the front. It's focused to light up the object when it's in focus at MFD on this setup, so determining whether something is in focus is not only easier due to the subject being brighter, but also ensuring it was actually lit up at all. I still use the 420EX to do the real work. So far I've only played with it inside, but the LED has itself proven bright enough to make focusing easy, yet dim enough to not actually show itself affecting exposure visibly when stopped down. Here are some shots of the setup: http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/P1020231.JPG http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/.misc/P1020232.JPG P.S. the LED is of the 30,000Cd variety, feeding it slightly lower than its listed Vmin __________________ Successful trades: eyusuf, andy8, stuartl, michaeliam, theDarkHorse, bob

6th March 2009, 12:55 PM	#4
chylld83 Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,969	nice... but i think my hand-sanded tupperware lid diffuser is at least as ghetto (granted you aren't using a proper macro lens, your shots are great considering that!) Click to view full size! Last edited by chylld83; 6th March 2009 at 1:12 PM.

6th March 2009, 1:09 PM	#6
chylld83 Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,969	well i don't use that setup anymore you might want to try these ideas (sorry to hijack your thread btw) : 1. translucent plastic duct-taped to the reversed hood: Click to view full size! 2. a4 paper sticky-taped to the top of the speedlight: Click to view full size! method 1 is handy because you can use the in-built flash, however all of my best macro shots were taken with method 2 Last edited by chylld83; 6th March 2009 at 1:13 PM.

6th March 2009, 1:20 PM	#7
phreeky82 Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Townsville Posts: 9,102	Cheers! Hijack? The thread was created to share ghetto macro setups! Method 2 looks like it could work alright. Unfortunately it's pouring down rain here at the moment (well it's actually going almost sideways ), so I can't try it right now. __________________ Successful trades: eyusuf, andy8, stuartl, michaeliam, theDarkHorse, bob

6th March 2009, 4:47 PM	#8
deadtiger2 Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Outer Melbourne Posts: 94	You got some pretty damn nice results from a 70-300! Whats the DoF like with 67mm of extension tubes? If its anything like my ghetto setup http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...65&postcount=4, then you'll get razor thin DoF. To be honest I'm quite surprised you need the LED to help you to focus and see the subject clearly (unless I haven't properly understood why you use it). On bright days you shouldn't have a problem focusing without the led Nice setups Chylld83. __________________ Q6600 // Asus P5k // Xpertvision 2900XT // 2GB OCZ & 2GB Corsair twin2x pc6400 // Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evo Black // Silverstone ST65ZF 650W // Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 VX Canon 7D \\ Canon 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM \\ Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM \\ Canon 70-200 F4L IS USM \\ Canon MP-E 65mm \\ Canon 430ex \\ Canon EOS 350D \\ BG-E3 \\ 8GB Sandisk Extreme III \\ 4GB Sandisk Extreme III *2

6th March 2009, 12:15 PM	#2
^catalyst Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: melbourne Posts: 10,059	Nice! Nikon used to do a range of 'Medical-Nikkor' Which had a ring-flash and focussing lamp built into the lens!! This looks like nice ghetto-ism of that. Curious though, how do you go with that big foam pad thing on the flash-head? Do you lose a lot of light through it?

6th March 2009, 5:18 PM	#9
phreeky82 Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Townsville Posts: 9,102	Oh yeah I wasn't always using it on a nice sunny day In fact I was using it when it was getting dark actually, so LED was badly needed. I stop the lens down quite a bit and it starts to look quite dark through the viewfinder, for example even indoors with lights on it's hard to see whether something is in focus properly or not at F/16, and the LED fixes that. __________________ Successful trades: eyusuf, andy8, stuartl, michaeliam, theDarkHorse, bob

7th March 2009, 3:52 PM	#10
jaghori Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 156	Hi, since everyone is showing off their master piece I though I do the same Here is my setup and works really well for objects that are covered by the shadow of the lens. The issue is with the bit on top of the lens which stops me from certain shot, I may get around this by making it a bit shorter though. Click to view full size! Here are the comparison shots. Click to view full size! Click to view full size!

10th April 2009, 11:01 PM	#11
Plasmodic Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Brisbane, 4112 Posts: 375	I know this is an old thread but I felt like digging it up. So I read that you can flip lenses to make a ghetto macro lens. Kind cool! =) So I tried it with my 50mm f/1.8. Just put it on the camera, stopped it down to f/8, took it off (while holding DoF preview button) then flipped it and just held it on the camera for some test shots. I'm amazed with the results! Total spending cost comes to $0. And here's a 100% crop: Sorry if this is beating a dead horse, but I didn't realise you could do this with such a common lens. One downside is I have no focus control at all, have to move the camera till I get it right. Obviously not as practical or sharp as a real macro lens, but hey. Last edited by Plasmodic; 11th April 2009 at 12:38 AM.

11th April 2009, 5:08 PM	#13
PHAT_pudding Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 295	i used a 24-70 at 70 and a reversed 70-300 at 70 to get this droplets of water on a goretex jacket. might look at using heaps of extension tubes on my 24-70, except its a bit heavy and might break something.

12th April 2009, 12:16 AM	#14
sgtraven Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Vic, Kew Posts: 2,762	70-200 + 50mm F1.4 + 3x extention tubes just playin round. 2x flash's one with the Lumi Big Bounce on it another to the side with diffuser 1 2 3 __________________ Beaver of the Aussie Pitmasters Forum