This was new to me so I thought I would share. So this afternoon I was researching a little for a macro lens for my Canon XTi DSLR camera and I ran across this technique for obtaining some pretty good zoom levels from the standard kit lens that came with the camera (18 - 55 mm zoom). All you do is detach the lens from the body and flip it around. You'll want your lens at the widest angle zoom because when you flip it around it will reverse the zoom magnification. Without a reverse lens mounting adapter you'll have to hold the lens to the camera body with one hand while you take the picture with the other. It might be worth the small price for the adapter (~$5 on ebay). With the lens detached from the camera body and reversed you won't be able to rely on the autofocus. The manual focus ring will not work in the position either so the only way you can focus is to physically move the camera closer or further away from the subject. It's much easier to set a timer so you have 10 seconds or so to get your focus right. Anyway, if you don't have a macro lens and you're interested in this approach there are tons of videos on YouTube on how to do it, just look up "reverse lens". Here are a couple of test shots I took. I still need to work on my lighting but you get the idea Test subject was a 1943-D Mercury Dime MS66FB slabbed from PCGS. Photo at maximum zoom with the lens mounted in the standard position (55mm zoom). Photo at maximum zoom with the lens mounted in the reverse position.
