DIY SuperMacro lens for under $10

FreezerBoy · Jun 7, 2008

Very Cool. How do you determine the length of tubing?

LiLWaynE · Jun 7, 2008

i wish i could see a picture of you taking a picture with this method... looks legit!

im all about saving $$$

clowntown · Jun 7, 2008

The length of the tubing allows you to have a little bit of control on the magnification and focus, depending on the type of camera you have.

Mine is just long enough to securely hold onto the camera's telescoping lens, and hold the loupe's lens in its entirety + about a 1/2" of room to move the lens back and forth, if necessary. There's a notch in the middle of the coupling that prevents the lens from sliding back any further than that point.

This is my Canon SD750:

Can you see where it fits onto? :chin:

Hawk · Jun 7, 2008

Nice!

For comparison, what kind of macro shots can you get without the DIY lens?

messn'n'gommin' · Jun 7, 2008

Well done sir! I have an el cheapo pos camera that JUST gets by and this will def be a project in my future! Thanks!

Namaste, mess

BesideHimself · Jun 7, 2008

Oooh.

Oooh.

I'm going to be trying this out tomorrow - I also have the SD750.

Your initial pictures came out much better than I had anticipated upon reading, and with a tripod I would expect the clarity to be even better.

Thanks for the tip!

clowntown · Jun 8, 2008

Abusive OG Kush macros @ 69 days

Abusive OG Kush macros @ 69 days

Macros of Abusive OG Kush, freshly chopped @ 69 days:

The trichomes will become much more densely packed when the buds dry and shrink a bit...

Oh, still no tripod!! :nono:

blynx · Jun 8, 2008

Very cool idea clowntown!

If you spend a bit more on a triplet (3 lenses) jeweler's loupe, your pictures will look sharp edge to edge, like this

Instead of this

You will see aplanatic aberrations like this with cheap jeweler's loupes. This distortion is corrected (along with color distortion) by using more than one lense.

devilgoob · Jun 8, 2008

Very nice! Screw buying a real macro lens.

Been wanting to macro on the cheap

Powershot rules. I take pictures of fans and it gets all the blades with no blur....as if the fan stood still for the shot. :rasta:

chiliwalt · Jun 8, 2008

Yes, Yes, Yes

chiliwalt · Jun 8, 2008

blynx said:
Very cool idea clowntown!

If you spend a bit more on a triplet (3 lenses) jeweler's loupe, your pictures will look sharp edge to edge, like this

Instead of this

You will see aplanatic aberrations like this with cheap jeweler's loupes. This distortion is corrected (along with color distortion) by using more than one lense.

Very nice addendum to clowntown's post blynx... Very nice.

clowntown · Jun 8, 2008

Canon PowerShot

Canon PowerShot

Thanks for that info, blynx! :yes:

devilgoob said:
Powershot rules. I take pictures of fans and it gets all the blades with no blur....as if the fan stood still for the shot.

High ISO speed is good. :yes:

Pretty decent auto-ISO detection.

But I really like the PowerShot's compared to a couple of other digital cameras I've had in the past, including recent Sony CyberShot's (no custom white balance!) and Nikon Coolpix P&S cameras.

Great macros with magnifying lens. Gotta check out the "Digital Macro" feature soon... :joint:

Murphy · Jun 8, 2008

Where's Pontiac? This one should hit that list he keep for everyone.
Thanks for the post Clowntown!!

Guest · Jun 10, 2008

A great idea, thanks Clowntown :wave:

clowntown · Jun 10, 2008

Loupes - singlet, triplet, and fakes

Loupes - singlet, triplet, and fakes

Thanks all for the support. :yes:

So I did a little looking around for "triplet" loupes, and it turns out that there are two types:

True triple-lens
Fake triplets, using a single lens -- but can produce better results than regular single lens

I have the fake triplet, consisting of a single lens as you see below.

http://www.njminerals.org/loupes.html

http://www.njminerals.org/loupes.html said:
Not all so-called "triplet" loupes are true 3-lens magnifiers. The type at right is often advertised as a "triplet", yet disassembly reveals it to have only one, simple lens. The price is often the clue- this one was in the $3 to $5 range.
Some single-lens "fake triplets" actually give very good image quality, but this appears to be luck. The quality is unpredictable but usually not that great. I keep these around for field-collecting, unless the image quality is really bad.

Pfft, whatever. Looks good 'nuf to me:

Oh yeah...

Don Cotyle · Jun 19, 2008

clowntown your getting props and rep!!! Excellent idea, I know what I'll be doing this weekend!!!

Danger Mouse · Jun 19, 2008

Excellent idea/execution Clowntown. I regularly follow your threads.

Best,
DM

pontiac · Jun 22, 2008

sorry i didn't see this earlier clown.

it's in the brand new photography/microscopy section btw.

Murphy · Jun 22, 2008

and there you go! Great post Clowntown

maybe I'm just easily impressed or something but I think this thread sould be getting more attention, it's a great cheap way for everyone to get macros......and I was looking into buying a new camera when I found this thread

DIY SuperMacro lens for under $10

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