Powershot A610 [super macro mod w/ SLR lens]

[nathaniel]

This is what you can do with a powershot a610 with a reverse mounted 50mm slr lens.
for this pic i was hadn holding the cam, which was a nightmare. even on a somewhat fast shutter the hand shake was just too much to get good shots. this one shot is just about the only that turned out in focus otu of 40 or so shots.

http://creativedraft.com/canon/fly3small.jpg

I am in the process of writing a more in depth procedure on parts and pictures of what is needed and best settings for insect shooting etc... and that will eventually be posted over on creativedraft.com

i will briefly describe what has been done.

This is a modifcation to attach a reversed 50mm SLR lens to the front of a Canon Powershot A610 to turn it into a supermacro.

I do not have a photo of the final cam with the lens on so I will show one that is similar on a previous model powershot.

this is similar to what the parts will look like.
http://upload4.postimage.org/364709/A95_52_rev_Minolta50_s.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/364709/photo_hosting.html)

This is the hardware mounted on a a95.
http://upload4.postimage.org/364714/A95_Minolta50_s.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/364714/photo_hosting.html)

the above two shots are not mine.
i purchased a canon FD 50mm F2.8 slr lens
http://creativedraft.com/canon/a610/supermacro/canonfd501.jpg
http://creativedraft.com/canon/a610/supermacro/canonfd502.jpg
I had to take it apart, 1 to clean it, 2 to lock the aperture wide open to avoid vignetting issues.

then i purchased the tube adapter for the canon a610 that is meant to hold the little add on lens or filters.

then i purchased a 52-52 male to male filter adapter.

that adapter is what will let you reversely mount the slr lens on to the front of the camera.

that basically it.

questions comments welcome of course.

[nathaniel]

27 views....


anyone have comments/crits?

[jliechty]

Great technique... I used to do that when I had a digital point & shoot. Even now with a digital SLR I'll sometimes use a reversed lens to get ultra-close photos. That doesn't happen much, because as you've seen, camera support is very important (and very difficult / inconvenient unless you have a focusing stage) at high magnification.

[David C]

I would be interested in trying a reverse lens (I have so many lenses sitting around from my film SLR days after all) - but I cannot find any shops here that sell male to male thread adapters.

I suppose I should give ebay a go...

[nathaniel]

i used ebay. the rings were anywhere from 5-10 bucks. took about 3 weeks to get it in the mail.

if u can find a 52-52 u can as a last resort use a 52-49 step down ring then a 49-49 male male then a 49 52 step up ring.

that is what i was going to do until i FINALLY found a place with a 52 52 male male.

its more expensive but it would work.