eframgoldberg Loc: South Florida

Was not getting good photographs in the field so I took this guy home with me. I will release him back where I found him tomorrow but I'm trying to get some good shots. I want one where he is threatening me and has his fangs out. Here is one of the better ones I got so far.
Taken with nikkor 28mm f2.8 ais reverse mount on canon 5d mkii, f/11. 1/200, iso 200 or 250., 430 exii flash with soft box diffusor on it.

Tightly cropped

Roger Sr. Loc: Central Coast of California

That's a GREAT shot! I really enjoy your photos there always so nicely done

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Very Nice.. I really like reverse lens, but you have to be really patient and steady in the field..

Went to your website, http://eframgoldberg.com , very nice... I have a homemade Wimberley that I made from components that I bought at Ram Mounts.. But it looks the same except for the mounting bracket.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Very cool! Well done!
Erv

eframgoldberg Loc: South Florida

Thanks for the comments. I recently started taking home the harder to shoot insects and shoot them on my white desk I like the clean portrait look it gives them. The wimberly bracket is awesome, when I go out in the field and need the flash off camera it lets me place it anywhere. What's nice also is it is strong enough to function as a handle also.

eframgoldberg Loc: South Florida

I took 50 shots so far I'm going to try again tonight, I can dangle a pen tip in front of the spider and it goes into attack mode, standing up and lifting its pedalps and showing its fangs. I'm releasing it back where I found it tomorrow so hopefully Ill get something good tonight.

Stevieboy Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

excellent work

Kimbee Loc: Dunedin, Florida, USA

Wow!

Turbo Loc: Raleigh, NC

Excellent work ! do you use the reverse lens uniquely for your macro work? or you use a macro lens, tubes ...etc as well ?

eframgoldberg Loc: South Florida

Long Answer. I used to use a reversed 50mm f1.8D nikkor lens on my d5100 for almost all of my macro work. If i needed higher magnification I would use the 28mm f2.8 ai-s reverse mount. Now I shoot with a canon 5d mkii and the canon 100mm macro when I'm in the field. If I need more magnification I use the 28mm reversed on the canon but I find myself doing this only in my house in a controlled environment.
My view on extension tubes:
I used the 50mm reversed on the pn-11 tube, I did not like the sacrifice I made in DOF for the framing or sharpness gained, its better to shoot without the tube and crop it. Also the flash is near high power which gives a longer recycle time- not good.
The 28mm on the tube gives a lot of magnification and I used it once in the field to shoot a dragonfly when it was Florida Winter and it was suspended/sleeping. The 28mm reversed on a tube also requires the flash to be off camera, I use a wimberly bracket for that and the shot came out good. All in all I found that if higher magnification is needed the 28mm reverse gives much better results then the 50mm reversed on the tube. That has been my experience. Also using a tube makes the shutter or mirror louder on my set up and that could be a problem depending on what you are shooting. It also depends what you are shooting, I chase wasps and bees around, so I am limited in set up and framing, but if you shoot still things your requirements might be different.
None of what I said is physics or law, that's just my experience with my particular equipment, it might be different for others.
I found an amazing photographer online, and he uses reversed lenses coupled to a teleconverter instead of an extension tube. I have not tried this but I want to.

here is a dragonfly shot with the 28mm lens reversed on an extension tube. Off the top of my head, and on my website, this is the only photograph shot with an extenstion tube.

Turbo Loc: Raleigh, NC

Thank you much for the explanation and the details.

your work is impressive !

dtcracer

Cool Spider! Love it!

eframgoldberg Loc: South Florida

Spider ID- Tan Phiddipus regius, Regal Jumping Spider

ianhargraves1066 Loc: NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida

Fabulous photograph. For the dim people (ME) when you reverse mount a lens for macro purposes, how do you stop down the lens as the connections are on the wrong end of the lens? I would love to know! Thanks, Ian

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Older, manual lenses are best for reverse-mounting. Some photographers focus with wide-open aperture, then close-down to photograph (turning aperture ring). Others close-down aperture first, and focus with a dark image. Obviously, strong lighting is an advantage.