Over the weekend, I visited the California Academy of Sciences with my family, and while in the aquarium area, I noticed a cool camera contraption. Jen Kennedy, who teaches photography at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, California, was shooting her DSLR through what looked like a Pringles can into a an older camera body. Turns out, she was using the macro-like functionality of the tube to look through the viewfinder on the older camera. When doing this, you get all of the nuances of the older camera’s lens, captured with your digital camera.

Duplicating this project wouldn’t be too difficult, and something that would be a great project for amateur photographers. Simply start with a macro lens (or I would assume that a long zoom lens would work too), a cardboard tube like a Pringles can, and an older camera. A camera that has a top down viewfinder, like on many medium format cameras, would make the process much easier.

Jen sent me two photos from the California Academy of Sciences, and the third is from the Japanese Tea Gardens. I want to see more!

For more macro photography, check out this video from MAKE Volume 06

And here’s the article from the magazine: Macro Photography on a Budget