Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Macro lens attachment procedure.


Lack of funds and half a brain forced me to make my own macro attachment instead of buying one.
Here's what you need:

1. Magnifying lenses : 2. nos. 50mm dia and 1 no. 60mm dia. (preferably with metallic rims)
2. Electrical/cloth tape. I uses cloth tape
3. A UV filter (according to your lens dia)
3. A cutter
4. Some thermocol pieces
5. Feviquick or some permanent adhesive.
6. Music (very crucial), Snacks (equally important), and some patience.

Procedure:

I bought the concerned magnifying glasses, took of their plastic holds, and taped the smaller ones together to form a cylinder
Then, put it on the large lens, and packed the gap with thermocol.make sure no dust goes in-between the lenses.
pack off the entire thing with tape. Sealed!

turn the lens the other way, and the part where u see the thermocol, you can cover that part with black paper. The reason follows later.
I cut a black paper ring of that diameter and pasted it to the white part of the lens seen.

The next thing is to tape up the entire contraption on the exposed rim of the bigger lens. This is so that the whole thing can snugly fit the filter. it should look neat!
Once that is done, try just fixing this to the filter plainly.



Imp note: I used a 60mm lens, due to the fact that my 18-55 is 58mm dia. Hence... u need to choose a different lens according to your camera lens dia.





So, Once it fits perfectly, just glue and tape that to the filter permanently and make it homogeneous. Viola! u have a macro attachment!














Some results:
If u don't zoom in completely:

You will see the vignetting.
Hence the black paper... not that it might matter much.












Zoomed in completely:









I used this combination of lenses after a lot of trial and error, and found this to be the best. I can go very close to the object and still focus. The DoF is awesome and shallow! And it cost me about Rs. 500 (including food, transport etc)

If any suggestions or improvements, please feel free to contact me at:
Draconianrain@gmail.com

And after all these efforts, I got to know that the Macro kit is dirt cheap... just a little more than what it cost me to make this...
This is bulky and ugly... so don't use this... get your own Macro kits, everyone!

6 comments:

Yash said...

wow! that is soo cool! but ur costs which include transportation and food don't really give the correct price of the 'lens'

Meghana said...

Hey Yash. Here's the detailed price:

2 nos 50 dia lenses: Rs. 50 each
1 60 dia lens Rs. 70
1 roll of cloth tape (u need very little of that) Rs. 60
a tiny tube of Fevi-quick: Rs. 6 (again, u need just a bit.)
bits an pieces of thermocol. They are always lying about at home. If not, try getting some packing thermocol for free. don't spend on that.
Black paper. don't buy it. if u don't have it, ask me. I have lots of black paper.

1.Lens filter Rs. 60. Go to the shop and ask specifically for the cheapest one. They invariably show you the most expensive one first.
(unless u have the money to buy an expensive one.)

So thats about all the equipment u require. add it up and the total that comes up is: Rs. 296 wonley!!
I bought my equipment from Venus on FC road, and stopped on the way at Subway to catch a sub... Lens making is a tough job. One feels hungry all the time.

SO the lens cost Rs. 296/-

The labour: Priceless!

amish_shah said...

lens filter for rs 60??
from where??
i m from mumbai..
and also , what will be the effective power of the lens??in diopters??
and will this setup give the magnification equivalent to +8D or anywhere near it??

Meghana said...

Hey Amish! Thanks for visiting. I don't know anything about the power of this one...
And we get cheap filters for 60 bucks in Pune...

Savangadi (सवंगडी) said...

Gr8 work...
Start selling this product.
As agreed before, I'm ready for the marketing job ; lets discuss about my share. :-p
~ Maziya Mana

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