Questions about lens stacking + micro photography

[BBoi]

Before I buy additional lenses, I just want to run these by you to get your thoughts on it.

1. My Canon A640 has a 4x optical zoom, I want to get as close as 16x but without using the built in digital zoom facility. I plan to do this by stacking 2 3x telephoto lenses (58mm) on top of each other. see fig 1

fig 1
http://i18.tinypic.com/2dalm52.gifhttp://i18.tinypic.com/350a2qw.gifhttp://i1.tinypic.com/2jafa4j.gifhttp://i1.tinypic.com/2jafa4j.gif

Has anyone tried this ? does it work ? and would I be right in saying that 4x then 3x =(12x) x3 again gives me 36x telephoto ? ... double the reach of the puny 16x digital, and at a good quality because it's optical as opposed to digital ?

[BBoi]

2. My Canon A640 has, as you know, an incredible macro mode; I have gotten *VERY* into this... I plan to stack, 3 or even 4 10+ macro lenses (58mm) on top of each other to get EVEN CLOSER. see fig 2

fig 2
http://i18.tinypic.com/2dalm52.gifhttp://i18.tinypic.com/350a2qw.gifhttp://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gifhttp://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gifhttp://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gif

Again, has anyone tried this ? does it work ? - does it degrade the result image due to light passing through so much glass ? are there pros and cons to this approach ? Will I be right in saying this will give me 30+ magnification for SUPERTINY details, or.. am I barking up the wrong tree because i'll be left with such a small focal length I wont be able to focus ?

Lastly, does anyone know of:

A) a 58mm male to male thread adapter ring with no lens in it ?
B) a 58mm female to female thread adapter ring with no lens in it ?
C) a mod that allows me to attach, and focus down a home microscope ? is this even possible ?

Why male to male you ask.
>> I bought a .45 wide angle lens. It comes in 2 parts, a 10+macro, and the wide. The macro lens has male threads at both sides, the wide lens has only a female thread, so it currently HAS to screw onto the macro lens. However, I have found it produces a very nice fisheye effect without the macro lens when held in place manually - what i'd like to do, is use them independantly of each other.

Hell of a post eh.. i'm hoping for some inciteful replies.

Thanks all.

[BBoi]

By the way, the images above are indevidual icons I made, so you can interchange them as you see fit, feel free :)

Here I used camera / adapter tube / telephoto / lens icons, if you want the tripod one as well, it's listed below with the others.

adapter tube : http://i18.tinypic.com/350a2qw.gif
camera : http://i18.tinypic.com/2dalm52.gif
lens : http://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gif
telephoto : http://i1.tinypic.com/2jafa4j.gif
tripod : http://i18.tinypic.com/401rntg.gif

[BBoi]

5 days, nothing... invisible mode ?

[20droger]

Before I buy additional lenses, I just want to run these by you to get your thoughts on it.

1. My Canon A640 has a 4x optical zoom, I want to get as close as 16x but without using the built in digital zoom facility. I plan to do this by stacking 2 3x telephoto lenses (58mm) on top of each other. see fig 1

fig 1
http://i18.tinypic.com/2dalm52.gifhttp://i18.tinypic.com/350a2qw.gifhttp://i1.tinypic.com/2jafa4j.gifhttp://i1.tinypic.com/2jafa4j.gif

Has anyone tried this ? does it work ? and would I be right in saying that 4x then 3x =(12x) x3 again gives me 36x telephoto ? ... double the reach of the puny 16x digital, and at a good quality because it's optical as opposed to digital ?
I really doubt it would work unless you find some way to collimate the lenses. I tried a similar thing once with a 2× on top of a 1.5×--nothing but blur and lots of pretty color fringing.

[20droger]

2. My Canon A640 has, as you know, an incredible macro mode; I have gotten *VERY* into this... I plan to stack, 3 or even 4 10+ macro lenses (58mm) on top of each other to get EVEN CLOSER. see fig 2

fig 2
http://i18.tinypic.com/2dalm52.gifhttp://i18.tinypic.com/350a2qw.gifhttp://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gifhttp://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gifhttp://i13.tinypic.com/485q6b5.gif

Again, has anyone tried this ? does it work ? - does it degrade the result image due to light passing through so much glass ? are there pros and cons to this approach ? Will I be right in saying this will give me 30+ magnification for SUPERTINY details, or.. am I barking up the wrong tree because i'll be left with such a small focal length I wont be able to focus ?

Lastly, does anyone know of:

A) a 58mm male to male thread adapter ring with no lens in it ?
B) a 58mm female to female thread adapter ring with no lens in it ?
C) a mod that allows me to attach, and focus down a home microscope ? is this even possible ?

Why male to male you ask.
>> I bought a .45 wide angle lens. It comes in 2 parts, a 10+macro, and the wide. The macro lens has male threads at both sides, the wide lens has only a female thread, so it currently HAS to screw onto the macro lens. However, I have found it produces a very nice fisheye effect without the macro lens when held in place manually - what i'd like to do, is use them independantly of each other.

Hell of a post eh.. i'm hoping for some inciteful replies.

Thanks all.
Male-to-male adapters are not uncommon. Try googling for "lens adapters male-to-male."

I've never seen female-to-female adapters.

For your microscope, try investigating T-mounts and eyepiece adapters for you specific microscope.

[BBoi]

Thanks :D