Reverse Lens Macro Photography
- The Magazine For Photographers
- Sep 23
- 2 min read
What Is Reverse Lens Macro Photography?
Normally, your lens is built to focus on subjects a few meters away and beyond. But if you flip that lens around (literally mount it backwards) it works in reverse and suddenly lets you focus on things just a few centimetres from your camera.
It is an old trick that photographers have been using for decades, and it is still one of the cheapest ways to try out macro without fancy/expensive gear.
How to Do It
Use a Reversing Ring (or DIY It).A reversing ring is an adapter (around $10–$20) that screws into the filter thread of your lens and attaches to the camera mount. That way, you can mount your lens backwards safely. Without one, you technically can just hold the lens backwards in front of your camera, but it is a little awkward and you risk dropping/damaging/smudging it.
Pick the Right Lens.Wide-angle primes (like 24mm or 28mm) are great for this. The wider the lens, the higher the magnification when reversed. A 50mm works too, but the magnification isn not as extreme.
Get Close, Really Close.With a reversed lens, the focus distance is tiny, sometimes just a few centimetres. You will have to bring your subject almost right up to the lens to get it sharp.
Manual Everything.Autofocus won’t work with this technique. You will need to move the camera itself back and forth until the subject looks sharp. Same goes for aperture —> if your lens doesn’t have an aperture ring, you might be stuck shooting wide open unless you use tricks to lock the aperture in place.
Camera Settings
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