INDEX

Macro photos taken with Canon 50mm f/2.5 compact macro lens

I bought a second hamd Canon 50mm f/2.5 macro lens via Dutch version of eBay and tried it out on the Canon EOS 40 camera. The lens shows high quality images and can magnify up till 1:2. This is one of the few affordable macro lenses which also work on a full frame body like the EOS-5. I tried another trick: reverse mounting of the lens on the camera. All you need is a filter stepper ring for a 52mm filter thread, an EF bayonet body cap and a very stong glue.

Make a hole of 40mm in the body cap, glue it on the stepper ring (the other side than the 52mm filter thread as this has to be attached to the lens). Follow the instructions of the glue carefully. Remember the position of the body cap marker and possibly mark it again as it might fall under the stepper ring. This is needed in order to know where to mount the ring on the camera. A weak glue might result that the lens falls off the camera body when reversely mounted! When the glue is completely set (imporant !!) you are ready. Some glues require a 12-24 hours setting time while others require a strong squeezing together as in my case.

How to mount the lens ? Set the camera to Av mode and select a preferably small aperture, e.g.f/11 or smaller. Keep the power of the camera on. Then hold with two fingers the Depth of Field button and the bayonet unlock button simultaneously and unmount the lens. Now the stopped down aperture is retained on the lens. Screw the ring-with-bodycap on the lens and mount it reversed on the body. Now you will see a very dark image. Even live view might give a dark image, so use enough light to see anything so you can focus by moving the camera back and forth slowly. When you are not using a flash, you should have enough light (i.e. direct sunlight or a bright lamp, check the white balance) and / or set to high ASA (1600). A ring flash is best, second best is a flash diffuser with white paper, even using the internal popup flash works fine.
Note: It is obvious that autofocus does not work and the aperture cannot be changed as long the lens is not mounted normally.

On the pictures below you see 2 pictues os a ruler scale, one shows 44mm (which is really 1:2 as the crop sensor is 22mm wide, and the other is 19mm which results in slightly larger than 1:1 (1:0.9 exactly). It does not make much difference when the lens is fully retracted or collapsed in reverse mode. When fully retracted, the popup flash of the EOS 40 can be used normally.

On the EOS 7 I can make videos as well as for example this one:

Most pictures are taken without reverse mount unless specified otherwise.

The last three photos are taken to show what is possible. In all cases a flash is used to provide enough light to get steady images. The 3:1 photo is taken with a Tamron 18-250 zoom lens held reversed towards the camera body. This results in an amazing 3.6:1 (width = 6mm and sensor width = 22mm) ratio !

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