What to do with a poor lens? Updated with results

Peeej

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Well being the kind of guy I am I got a little drunk and started bidding on things on Ebay and mistakenly bought a Canon Ultrasonic III 28-80 lens while thinking I was bidding on a 24-105 (yes I know booze + ebay = disaster!) reading the reviews it is a very poor lens but hopefully in good condition and I already have lenses which cover this focal range, so any suggestions what I can do with it?

It only cost a few quid so I am happy to do something fairly destructive with it so long as I can make some use of it, preferably in a creative way and no I don't want to make a cup :)

Any ideas?
 
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that's what I figured, better to do something fun with it rather than just stick it in a cupboard and forget about it.

I'll have a go as soon as it arrives and post up some images.
 
Why not just put it back on eBay and try and get your money back that way ?

Cheers,

John
 
I was the only one who bid on it, so I doubt that I would get my money back, maybe some of it but not all so I figured I'd try and make the best of it by doing something with it.

If no one had had any suggestions then that's prolly what I would have done but for the sake of £20 I think I'll give macro a go. Sounds like fun and a new challenge.
 
Well it arrived and took about 10mins to get the front element off. this is my first attempt at Macro and the lighting wasn't easy but here are the initial results. A daffodil stamen.


Daffs from hacked canon lens
by peeej_peeej, on Flickr


Daffs from hacked canon lens 2
by peeej_peeej, on Flickr


Daffs from hacked canon lens 5
by peeej_peeej, on Flickr

The DOF was razor sharp but I can still open the aperture which gave me a reasonable depth.
Pros: very cheap Macro lens
Cons: No auto focus, I have to move the camera to focus

All in all I am happy with the results for £20.
 
I wouldnt be to concerned about the loss of AF, most macro lenses are better MF.
 
Yeah the problem is more that there is no focus at all, the only way is to move the camera closer or further away from the object but I can live with that. Not sure about how I could capture bugs etc as I have to get pretty close to get focus but as I said for £20 I am really pleased with it.

I was also surprised by the DOF I could actually achieve I wasn't expecting it to be so deep.
 
Reverse macro also has close working distance, but it is possible to get great bug shots.
 
Nice one. I quite enjoy roaming about the house taking macro shots of random objects with my reverse mounted nifty fifty.
 

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