Can reverse-mounting a lens on its filter thread damage it, and how heavy a lens is safe?
Asked 6/19/2017
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2 answers
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Macro photographers sometimes reverse-mount a lens by attaching a reversing ring to the lens’s front filter thread. I’m concerned that the filter-thread end and focusing assembly may be mechanically weaker than the camera-mount side, since the front is mainly designed to hold a light filter.
How much weight can the filter-thread side safely support when a lens is mounted in reverse? Is there a practical limit to lens size or type? Also, can reverse-mounting stress or damage the focusing mechanism?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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Lens weight when reverse mounting is rarely an issue.
- The technique gives the best result with normal or slightly wide angle prime lens. These are not heavy. Mounting a telephoto lens in fact gives you an inferior result (low magnification). Mounting a zoom in reverse is bad optics.
- You can not control the aperture from camera; it is therefore easier to use an old manual lens (where the aperture is set manually). These are light, abundant and cheap.
- You do not use the focusing mechanism in the lens; you focus by moving your camera forward / backward (a sturdy tripod and a focusing rail are not essential, but help greatly). In fact some of the best results can be had using reverse mounted enlarger lens, which have no focusing at all.
So my recommendation if you want to start with reverse mounting is not to start with your main lens, but get an old manual Tessar type lens. They can be had very cheaply on the well known auction site.
A side note: lens coatings are optimized for light coming from the front, which is the wrong way around when reverse mounting. You really do want a hood. You can improvise one by putting an extension ring on the "camera" side of the reverse mounted lens.
Originally by user62463. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user62463
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
In practice, reverse mounting is usually done with small, light lenses—typically normal or slightly wide prime lenses—and with those, weight is rarely a major issue. It’s generally not the preferred approach for heavy lenses, zooms, or telephotos: zooms are a poor optical choice reversed, and telephotos give relatively low magnification.
You normally don’t focus with the lens when it’s reverse-mounted; focus is done by moving the camera/lens closer or farther from the subject. So the focusing mechanism is not typically being worked during use. Older manual lenses are often preferred because aperture control is easier.
That said, some photographers still avoid reverse mounts because they don’t fully trust the filter-thread connection, especially with larger lenses or step-up/down adapter stacks.
Practical takeaway: reverse-mount only light prime lenses, avoid heavy zooms and telephotos, and support the setup carefully. If you want a safer, more flexible macro option while keeping lens electronics and aperture control, extension tubes are often the better choice.
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