Make: Projects
DIY Macro Photography
Ever wanted to take pictures of teeny tiny things? Like the nose of Lincoln on the face side of a penny? What about ICs you've just dissolved with acid? With a clever setup and a of bit practice, anybody can snap breathtaking pictures.
I’ve always wanted to take pictures through a microscope so I can see what tiny screws and coins look like when magnified, but I don’t have the money to purchase that kind of equipment. DIY!
Searching on the Internet revealed I could get some really high magnification without any significant expense if I mounted an SLR prime lens backwards onto a telephoto lens. I had both the lenses, but they were for an older Canon film camera, and smaller in diameter than the lens on my Nikon D3100.
I quickly came to the conclusion of lining one up with my point-and-shoot and using the optical zoom as the telephoto component. The results were astounding!
Steps
Step #1:
Next
- Your first step is to arrange your camera and SLR lens to line up correctly so you can take pictures through the prime. The prime must be mounted backwards to magnify subjects.
Conclusion
If you want to see more pictures, I've posted some results online but I encourage you to try this yourself. Prime lenses can be found for as little as 30 or 40 dollars on sites like eBay, and the results are incredible for what you put into this project.
Related Projects
USB Webcam Microscope
By: mac cowell
2-Mile Camera Remote
By: Tom Rodgers
Camera Trap Kits
By: Eric Chu
iPhone Macro Lens
By: RichardV
Dummy Camera
By: Jonathan
Lensless Microscope
By: Tom Zimmerman
Simple Scanner Camera
By: Mike Golembewski
Deluxe Scanner Camera
By: Mike Golembewski
I’m glad it worked! Nice photos.