After taking the picture of “The Almond Tree” with my Sony W300 I decided I wanted to invest in a macro lens for my Nikon D70 and D90. A macro lens would allow me to shoot subjects from extremely close distances. I started looking for a cheap macro lens because it isn’t something I do a lot of (macro photography) so I didn’t want to spend too much money on it. After a bit of research I found the Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens. At $255 it wasn’t very cheap but got great reviews and the lens was very sharp.
But as I said, $255 wasn’t cheap and on eBay used ones were still around $150, cheaper but I still wasn’t convinced. Then I found out about “reversing adapter rings” (pictured above). Turns out there is a ring which you fasten to the front of your lens, and that ring allows you to connect the lens to your camera in reverse. When you connect your lens in reverse to your camera you get to shoot in macro. Sounds strange I know, and connecting your lens to your camera the wrong way round is sure to raise some eyebrows but I bought the ring and it works!
Below in the first shot you can see the bushes outside my office building. I took that picture with my 50mm lens at the closest distance I could get before the lens stopped focusing.
In the second picture I shot using the same lens just mounted in reverse using the adapter ring. It’s much more closer and it’s still using the same lens!
I don’t know whats the Canon version of this ring but the Nikon one is called BR-2A. I got mine from Amazon.co.uk for KD10. There is a ring on Amazon.com but it doesn’t mention if its the BR-2A although it looks like it and its selling for KD5.
So if you are looking for an affordable way to get into macro photography this is the way to go. The adapter rings works on both my 28mm and 50mm prime lenses.
Update: Another advantage of this ring is you don’t need to carry another heavy macro lens with you, you just carry this ring.
13 replies on “Going Macro… For Cheap”
cool, thanks for writing about it. i’m going to pick one up for my 50mm.
thanks for the review
it helped a lot:D
My Sony W300 is so unbelievably depressing. It has so many issues with focus, it keeps switching itself from preview to shooting mode by itself, and its lens shutter thingi keeps getting stuck… I’m taking it in to get looked at -_-
Yeah a reversing ring is a quick way to get closer to the subject. There are tutorials on making extension tubes that gives you incredibly close macros. Some of them look sloppy but gets the job done.
With a reverse ring you risk getting the inner lens dirty, or worse.. scratched, and it is much harder to clean than the outer lens which you should be protecting with a filter anyway.
Another very cheap, and safer, method for taking macro shots with a non macro lens is to use ‘extension tubes’:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extension_tube
Of course neither reversing rings nor cheap extension tubes gives you the control or quality of a dedicated macro lens since with the cheaper options you lose any electrical connections between the camera and the lens. So you get no focus or aperture control over the lens.
teagirl: yeah something must be wrong with your camera. I have mine on auto (macro+normal option) and I never had any kind of issues with the focus.
moayad: I don’t protect any of my lenses with any filters. With prime lenses there isn’t that much glass exposed and the lens isn’t flat it sinks in around 3cm deep so its already well protected. For people who want to protect the inner lens they can get the BR-3 adapter ring but thats like keeping the plastic bag over your tv remote control.
The problem with extension rings is
a) expensive
b) not portable
c) no practical
The adapter ring costs a fraction of the price, its very portable since u can keep it screwed into the lens and its also practical because when u want to u use it u just flip the lens.
Hi,
I got these MACRO Filters, they work OK too. Only problem is some focusing with 10X
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Concepts-Close-Up-Specific-Specified/dp/B001C1GJ8I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1236260643&sr=1-1
nice review
does any one know the canon version of the ring????
https://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Mount-Adapter-Canon-Rebel/dp/B001G4NBTG
and
https://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Mount-Adapter-Canon-Rebel/dp/B001G4PA36/
Thanx 😉
I just bought a Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro in the Nikon mounts and have been looking around to see what other photographers are doing with it. So far I’m very impressed. I’m going to try your idea as well as it weighs quite a bit less. Could be useful at times.
I’ve put some of my images on my site at Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro.