Purple Drosera

Exif / Equipment

Nikon D800 & Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro + reversed Nikon El-Nikkor 50 mm f/2.8N

Vivitar Zoom Thyristor 3500 flash with diffuser
ISO 100, 1/160 sec @ 105 mm, ƒ/2.8 (El-Nikkor @ ƒ/5.6)

Sundews are growing again and it’s nice to photograph them after a long winter.

I recently acquired Nikon El-Nikkor 50 mm f/2.8N which I’ll be using as a reversed lens to take higher than 1:1 magnification macro photos. This is an enlarger lens used in film processing but can be used also for macro photography. I usually use it reverse attached to a set of extension tubes or a normal macro lens.
This lens has always been highly regarded as it produces excellent results with great sharpness and contrast.
I also have the older version of the El-Nikkor 50mm but this one seems to perform better.

So if you are interested in macro photography this is an affordable way to try it when you attach the lens on a set of extension tubes. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be an enlarger lens. Other prime lenses with normal focal length (35mm to 50mm) do also work just fine.

Remember that the longer the distance between the camera sensor and the reversed lens is the higher magnification you get. At certain point flash light is also needed for getting a proper exposure. I’ll write about my flash setup in the near future.