do things such as this ebay link to an example
which is not a real lens but screws onto the front of your exsisting lens actually work, does anyone have experience of them?

Ohhh. I fancy one of those!

Hmmmm,

they do work – but image quality is compromised to at least some degree (sharpness, distortion, colour abberations. you'll also loose a couple of stops of light so tougher to hand hold the camera.

However for £30, less thatn a tenth of the price of a real wide angle lens they are a bargain.

Mind you if i add up the cost of all my £30 photo gadgets i've probably spent as much as a great lens anyway.

Dont have any examples online myself, but if you search for wideangle attachment on flickr there's some really nice shots – cos it's not the camera it's the photographer – right?

In a similar vein, do those macro reverse mount attachments work?

They allow you to attach a 50mm lens on backwards and somehow, through the magic of optics, this gives you a macro lens.

They allow you to attach a 50mm lens on backwards and somehow, through the magic of optics, this gives you a macro lens.

They do work and the quality can be pretty good. More difficult to use than a proper macro lens though.

I find the DOF with the macro tubes is about as wide as a gnats todger. I've not tried with a proper macro lens and I've not put my head to the task of determining if the DOF could actually be any better with a different lens.

Link

Was done using one of those reverse mounts for a 50mm lens. Worth the £2 or so I paid for it!

rOcKeTdOg – we used to stock something similar years back when I was in the trade, quality will be poor, but for a cheap fish eye effect, its only money.

GrahamS – Member

In a similar vein, do those macro reverse mount attachments work?

They allow you to attach a 50mm lens on backwards and somehow, through the magic of optics, this gives you a macro lens.

I have never managed to get good results with reversing ring, well anything near what my old Tamron 90mm SP used to give me anyway.

How much are early Tamron 90mm sp's going for now on ebay?

I find the DOF with the macro tubes is about as wide as a gnats todger. I've not tried with a proper macro lens and I've not put my head to the task of determining if the DOF could actually be any better with a different lens.

Very narrow DOF is part and parcel of macro photography, even using a proper macro lens. Some macro lenses have very small apertures available however that can also cause other problems.

I have a couple of cheap 2nd hand macro lenses. One is a manual focus Vivitar 55mm F2.8 which goes to 1:1 without extensions and is pretty sharp:

The other is an AF Cosina 100mm F3.5. It's not quite as sharp (but still quite decent) and only goes to 1:2 without the optical apaptor but does have the benefit of AF, even if it's slow and noisy.

How much are early Tamron 90mm sp's going for now on ebay?

I've never spotted a good cheap macro lens of eBay – possibly due to not know what to look for.

But those reversing rings can be had for a fiver.

Are macro tube extensions better than reversing rings then?

I've done extension tubes and they do work, but can be very fiddly focussing – you need a damned good tripod. I want a proper lens though.

I've never spotted a good cheap macro lens of eBay – possibly due to not know what to look for.

But those reversing rings can be had for a fiver.

Are macro tube extensions better than reversing rings then?

Not much of a fan of extension tubes either, for the same reasons as CF stated, but probably easier to use. you need to have ttl metering on your camera, otherwise you will still have to manually compensate the exposure when using all 3 tubes.

BTW if anyone has a Olympus OM series, this is a bit of a bargain, a vivitar Series 1 90mm f2.5

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Vivitar-Series-1-90mm-F2.5-Macro-Lens-Owners-Manual_W0QQitemZ190292126267QQcmdZViewItem

(auction nothing to do with me btw)

through the magic of optics, this gives you a macro lens

non macro camera lenses are focus asymmetical, as usually the subject is much further from the lens than the film/sensor. If you're going really macro the subject is closer than the sensor, so it makes sense to turn it round

I've not put my head to the task of determining if the DOF could actually be any better with a different lens.

DOF depends on (a) distance to subject (b) aperture
imagine a cone of light from a point on the image expanding to fill the aperture hole in the lens. When the subject is far away the cone is narrow and moving back or forth only changes the size of the section through the cone slightly (ie the size of the blob recorded by the camera), if the subject is close the cone is blunt and even a small movement makes the blob much bigger. Bear in mind, although small apertures give greater DOF, there is a limit caused by diffraction, and with DX sensors this is about f/20, so there's no increased sharpness beyond that

Like I said, magic. 😉

The wide-angle attachments do work, some are better than others though. I've got a Digital King one (not had much chance to use it, but some examples) – works fine, not much distortion but a little softness and CA. Retails for something like £100 here but can be had for £30 from Hong Kong eBayers.