I just started playing with high magnification, and came up using the s-mount lenses, the small lenses of CCTV cameras with M12 thread.
Did somebody else already tried this setup? The images are coming out decent, but I have no idea of what I'm missing with "real" micro lenses.
Do some M12 lenses work better than others?
The setup is as photo below:
A DSLR camera, Canon 600D here;
Some tube ring adapters and an helical focuser; total length 160mm;
The M12 lens is mounted inverted, at the end of the stack.
I tried different lenses, with focal length from 4 to 16 mm, apertures f/2.5-f/4. All work decently,
with working distance of some mm, and magnifications 1:40 to 1:10.
Resolution is around 3 microns for all lenses.
Another lens is the one ripped away from a phone (LG G4), about 4mm FL, also mounted inverted.
The resolution here is better, but working distance is <<1mm, so it is hard to use.
I tried to stack the lenses over a 70-300 zoom, but no noticeable improvement, and focusing gets more difficult.
If somebody knows of similar setups let me know! Or feel free to say that this system is horrible!
![Image](%5Bimg%5Dhttp%3A//www.photomacrography.net/forum/userpix/7717_M12_setup_1.jpg)
Here one of the best results, blood cells. The out-of-focus is due to curved glass. Photo from 8mm M12 lens and the LG G4 lens, minimal editing; on the right the center crops.
![Image](http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/userpix/7717_Blood_composition_export_1.jpg)