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GX8 & reverted canon lens (for extreme macro)

As we all know, Ricoh cameras are great in macro. But it can even be improved by mounting reversed lens in front of camera lens ;) Here is what I did with my GX8.

Used parts:
Soligor Adapter Tube --> 52mm for Ricoh Caplio GX (original HA1 tube has only 37mm)
I bought this 52mm Soligor instead of HA1, because I thought it would possibly minimize the lens vignetting and feels more sturdy (it's bigger and made from metal).

CANON FD 50mm F1.8 - $10.49
Lens was modified to leave the aperture wide open. By default, the aperture closes if the lens is not attached on the Canon mount. As I did not expect to use it on Canon SLR anymore, I asked a lens repairer to modify it for me. Lens modification cost me about 6USD.

Macro Reverse Ring 52mm-52mm from FOTODIOX $6.95 USD
This is required for mounting the reverted canon lens on GX extension tube. In case you using original HA1 tube, you will need also a 37->52 step up ring.

After mounting all pieces together, you have to fully zoom the camera lens to minimize the lens vignetting and to get the maximum magnification. However, there will still be visible black corners. Simply, the GX8 tele is not long enough. 4x or 5x zoom would definitely improve that and even increase the reversed lens magnification. But as we want to use it for macro, the black corners are not a problem as we need only the central part of the image. So the black corners can easily be cut off.

Here are come samples:
default GX8 macro (cropped and resized to 50%):

GX8 full tele + reverted canon lens (cropped and resized to 50%):


default GX8 macro (cropped and resized to 50%):

GX8 full tele + reverted canon lens (cropped and resized to 50%):


Just for fun, here is how the "beast" looks with tube, lens hood and external flash (without canon lens)
 

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It's hard to say. I never measured it properly, but I would say 2:1 in comparison with 1cm GX8 macro. 50mm lens + only 3x optical zoom is probably not the best configuration to play with macro. I believe that let's say reversed 100mm would produce much higher magnification. But what is good on that setup is that you don't need to be 1cm from the subject, which is not always possible or welcome.

When I will have GX100 I will surely test it again. I now have a very nice 135/2.8 lens to play with, but it would be really extreme configuration. The lens weight alone would be higher than the camera weight :D
 
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