Tried out a reversing ring with my 18-55 tonight. I found it way harder to use than the 100 macro, which I am far from mastering as it is. Because the working distance was so small, I handheld only. I also found that it was difficult to focus with the very dark viewfinder (I wasn't shooting in great light). For some reason, my liveview would not work either. My flash was also harder to get right, I think because ETTL data wasn't being transmitted properly. I finally just set it to manual and -1.5 exposure compensation. As you can see below, DOF is crazy thin. Still, this promises to be lots of fun even if it's more work than macro shooting with a dedicated lens. I will definitely keep the reversing ring in my bag for when i want a quick and light macro.
Anyway, here's an idea (no bugs handy) of how it performed. All shots from 18-40mm:
Thanks. It was fun trying to figure out how this performed - the shots show some pretty obvious technical problems. I'd like to try stopping it down and detaching from the camera with the DOF preview depressed, but I haven't found anything making clear whether this will work with an EFS mount (it reportedly does with EF lenses).
Does the IS on the 18-55 help at all or is it better to turn it off? I haven't bothered to use EF or EF-S lenses because pressing the DOF and then trying to release and detach the lens is a bit of a hassle. But if IS is viable and given the 18mm focal length I may have to try it in lieu of using the reverse mount Canon FD 28mm lens.
ersatz wrote:
Does the IS on the 18-55 help at all or is it better to turn it off? I haven't bothered to use EF or EF-S lenses because pressing the DOF and then trying to release and detach the lens is a bit of a hassle. But if IS is viable and given the 18mm focal length I may have to try it in lieu of using the reverse mount Canon FD 28mm lens.
Your IS will not work in this application. It requires the electronic contacts and full focus ability.
