Macrolomography?

Imagine if you had a toy camera with a plastic lens that you could focus closely. Really closely. And that it was a fixed focus lens. And that this camera was fully manual; no autoexposure, no autofocus, nothing. The only thing you had control over was...the shutter speed. And when you took photos with it, you weren’t quite sure how they were going to turn out.

I did. So, I built such a camera. Using a 52mm reverse lens mount, I fitted my Lensbaby with the plastic optic, f/4 aperture disk, and 52mm step-up/lens shade, and mounted it to my D90 backwards. There was only one focus setting, so all I could do is compose and shoot. Only one aperture setting, so I simply adjusted the shutter speed for a nicely balanced histogram, and snapped away without giving it too much thought. These are some of the results:

The glowing halo/soft focus effect is variable depending on the aperture size. To change the aperture, you have to unscrew the lens from the reverse mount, and insert a different aperture disk. So, it’s all very deliberate. It’s like selecting a camera with the type of image you have in mind, and then just having fun shooting without getting caught up in all the technical details. Kind of like lomography.

Here’s what the setup looks like:

Reversed Lensbaby Composer with Plastic Optic

Left to Right: Fotodiox 52mm Reverse Lens Mount Adapter,
Lensbaby 52mm Step-Up/Shade, Lensbaby Composer,
Nikon BR-6 Auto Diaphram Ring, Hoya UV Filter

But this ethereal, soft-focus look is not for everyone. So now that I have all the equipment I need to convert a 67mm or 52mm filter lens to a manual macro, I decided to try the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2:

Reversed Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL II with Janco Flash Diffuser

And, some of the results:

Being fast and reasonably short, it makes a nice, compact macro. The working distance is quite shallow, so working with natural light is a challenge. So, I decided to try the on-camera flash diffuser I recently raved about. As it turns out, it collects the light from the flash, and directs it downward at a steep angle toward the subject. In this case, I controlled the exposure by setting the flash intensity manually, between 1/8 and 1/4 power depending on the subject.

If I move the diffuser to its highest position, it will even work with the Nikkor 16-85mm setup, as long as I don’t shorten the working distance too much by zooming toward the 16mm end. Anything from about 35mm to 85mm works fine.