[Don Hoey]

Had a rummage in the old kit bag today in search of the answer to how close can you get.

I found a reversing ring that I used to carry all the time for those ' close up ' oportunities before I got a true macro lens.

So I gave it ago using the bellows and tubes as in post #12. Picture attatched.

Three snags. 1) Depth of field almost non existant. I later tried the tip of a ballpen and that just did not work. So DOF probably 0.5mm. 2) After focusing you have to remember to manually stop the lens down. 3) Lighting becomes a problem due to lens to subject distance being limited.

After all my playing around today I would have to say that the greater working distance of a 100mm lens gives huge advantages over using a 50mm with tubes or bellows.

I even tried reversing a 28mm but the lens to subject was a few thicknesses of paper.

The 50mm I used was a f1.4 and anyone giving this a go would find an f1.8 or f2 a better proposition.

I used the same one penny piece as in post#12 so a comparison could be made.

The coin and ruler images are full frame.

Don

PS Just looked at this and maybe I should explain the markings on the ruler. Full markings are 1mm and smaller are 1/2mm. The coin was replaced by the ruler for the shot so is an accurate reflection of the coin size.