My Wife + Kit Lens + Wide Adapter & Macro Ring
Image by visodd
www.VisualOddity.com
So recently, after some trades and whatnot, I found myself with just 2 lenses. One was a killer all manual Pentax Super Takumar 50/1.4 , which I love. The other was the Canon 85/1.8, which by all respects should have a red ring and be labeled as an “L”. It is easily my favorite lens… ever.
Since I use a ‘crop’ body (1.6 sensor), the 50mm shoots at about 80mm, and the 85mm shoots at about 136mm. This is WAY too long for a lot of what I like to shoot, so I needed to go wider. My options were a cheap wide angle, or trade the 85/1.8 for something like a Tamron 17-50/2.8. I was very close to the latter, but I just love the 85 too much to let her go, so Monday I picked up and 18-55 Kit Lens. This lens is thought by many to be sub-par, but after have 6-7 of them in the past, I know from experience that they are very underrated. They are very sharp when used properly, and you can get some GREAT images with them.
When I bought it (SUPER cheap, thank you Sarah-the-Seller), I also got a wide angle converter that attaches to the end of the lens to stretch the 18mm out a bit. Between the converter and the lens is a ring that steps up/down in size, and is usually JUST a metal ring. When I took this one off after I got home Monday, I realized that this ring has glass in the middle, and says “macro”. Too my surprise, it actually does make a solid attempt at macro’s.
Let me be very clear in saying, Macro’s are NOT my thing. I think they are fun to play with, and can have great effects, but it isn’t something I will use very often at all…
With the macro ring on the lens, there is absolutely NO focus, auto or otherwise, further than about 6-7 inches from the focus point, and the DOF is EXTREMELY narrow. This makes it VERY hard to use, and if I even sway a 1/2 inch, the focus is lost. However, I really like the effect I get with this, and the result is more than worth the trouble (in my opinion).
I thought I would share a few pics I took last night. I think it’s obvious which ones are with the wide adapter and which are with the macro ring. These were just playing around, and not really prepared at all. I just threw a hot-light on the stand, asked my amazing wife to stand still, and did my thing.
Canon 40D (gripped) – 18-55/non-IS Kit Lens – One Hot-Light set up high and model-left…
