The lenses are a Tamron 70-300mm and a Minolta 50mm. From what I've read you're not really going to gain a lot by using the best glass; and by using these cheap lenses you can afford a mishap or two. You don't need something as big as 300mm but it's what I had on hand. Trying to capture anything at full zoom with this setup is extremely difficult and time consuming so most of my attempts from here on out will be at 70mm. I also used a 62mm to 62mm reverse ring and a 49-62 step up adapter. Probably around 175 bucks in the whole setup. Not bad for a super duper wacky crazy macro lens.
[attachment 17166 whatyoullneed.jpg]
All I did was attach the reverse ring to the tamron, then the step up adapter, then the minolta lens. When everything is assembled it should look something like this:
[attachment 17167 together.jpg]
Now you'll need to rig up something to open the aperture of the smaller lens as you'll need all the light you can get. I just used a piece of folded cardboard and wedged it in.
[attachment 17170 cardboard.jpg]
Now just mount the larger lens to the camera and shoot away. You need lots of side light or tinker with shutter speeds as you're only an inch or two away from your target. A ball head and some rigging would be great as you really need to get the camera facing directly vertical for best results. In the 2 shots below the lens cap was a handheld shot at an angle, and the corner of the nickel was done with the coin balancing itself and the camera on a tripod. Notice the hugely shallow depth of field on the lens cap because it was at an angle and shot at f4.
[attachment 17168 tamron.jpg]
Now notice the nickel and how it shallows off at the right of the image. I thought I had it perfectly aligned with the lens but as you can see, even the most subtle angle will be picked up, even at f29. Just gotta keep trying when I can find the time.
[attachment 17169 liberty.jpg]
Hope this helped.
