What are your thoughts on Reversing Rings for macro?

I have a nikon reversing ring and have never done anything with it. Yesterday I was experimenting and discovered that you can get much more magnification than the 1:1 macro lens even if used with just a 50mm standard lens. It looks wild mounting a lense backwards on the camera. Do you know if there is some kind of bayonet mount shade to attach on the back end of the lens ( which is facing forward when using reversing ring).

68degrees said:

Do you know if there is some kind of bayonet mount shade to attach on the back end of the lens...

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The Nikon BR-2 lens reversal ring fits between the lens and the camera body. It allows the lens to be used in a backwards or reversed position. I use it to reverse a 28mm lens so I can taking photos with a reproduction ratio up to 8:1 compared to a reproduction ratio of 1:12 when used in its normal position.

Nikon BR-3 Ring can be used on the reversed lens to allow filters or lens hood to attached to the back end of the lens.

Nikon Macro Set Up by Narsuitus, on Flickr

They're useful, and can give good results depending on which lens you use. I use the 55/3.5 Micro Nikkor with extension tubes, so I can't say which Nikkors (or any lens with 52mm threads) work best.

In addition to the suggestions above, Nikon's BR-4 ring will, when used with a double cable release, stop the lens down to the selected aperture when the exposure is taken.

Always been intrigued with concept, but I have used macrolenses or extension tubes instead.

I think it's backwards

Whatever works.

narsuitus said:

The Nikon BR-2 lens reversal ring fits between the lens and the camera body. It allows the lens to be used in a backwards or reversed position. I use it to reverse a 28mm lens so I can taking photos with a reproduction ratio up to 8:1 compared to a reproduction ratio of 1:12 when used in its normal position.

Nikon BR-3 Ring can be used on the reversed lens to allow filters or lens hood to attached to the back end of the lens.

Nikon Macro Set Up by Narsuitus, on Flickr

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Ok, I was hoping for something like that. Do you know what the Minolta equivalent of the BR-3 is? Thanks.

Prime lenses are usually optimised by design in order to be as sharp as possible in "average" working conditions, that is when the subject is far from the front lens and the film is close to the rear lens. (As a side note, this is why enlarger lenses, which are optimised for nearly equal paper-to-lens and film-to-lens distances, are so good when used as macro lenses). When the reproduction ratio is such that the subject-to lens and film-to-lens distances are comparable or inverted, inverting the lens as well might be favourable.

However, as you already noted, there are not many accessories that can be mounted on an inverted lens. Actually I don't remember any brand that used to make any.

Sirius Glass said:

Always been intrigued with concept, but I have used macrolenses or extension tubes instead.

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The issue is that lenses are designed for a certain imaging scale.
Enlarging the extension beyond what the helicoid of standard lenses yields, will degrade image quality. Reversing the lens in cases of extreme extention will at least bring back the smaller<>larger relation of object- vs. film-distance when this relation actually got reversed.