Macro photography – do it yourself!

01-20-2008 

I took this bee photograph with a Do It Yourself macro lens. I bought an old used wide angle lens at a camera store’s junk bin. The lens looks like it was originally made for an older Minolta 35mm camera. The filter size on this lens is 55mm, so I also bought a used filter step-up ring from the same junk bin. The filter ring fits on the front of the lens and has a flat area for a larger round filter. I then took a plastic body cap that fits my Canon 30D camera. I cut out the center part of the body cap and used some JBWeld to glue the body cap to the step up ring. This makes a “reversing ring adapter”.

This adapter lets me mount the wide angle lens backwards to the front of my 30D, thus making a very powerful macro lens. I also bought a used 50mm lens with the same size filter mount; this lens is a little less powerful, but still very useful for close-up photography. 

Total investment: $22 for two lenses and one adapter.

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