MODIFIED 28-70 KIT LENS = GOD-TIER MACRO

I've had one of these laying around that I meant to fix for a while. The front half of the lens, the focusing part, had separated in a drop apparently and hearing that the MTF charts were only bested by the 28-70 f2.8L I figured I'd keep it and fix it up.

So it sat for a while, a LONG while, and tonight I pulled it out to dust it off and maybe order the part to fix it, when I mounted it on my camera to see if the aperture still worked and everything I discovered that the damn thing makes for an excellent macro close-up lens.

If memory serves me correct, people have been doing this with 35-80 kit lenses. But I never heard of it with a 28-70 kit from a 1988 EOS 650.

I will post some samples later when I get a little more light, but from what I've shot so far I am very impressed with the level of detail and the background blur. Stopping down adds a significant amount of DoF, especially f11 and above.

I am just like wow

I have this lens too!

Interesting. There are a few threads about people making a macro out of the 35-80mm kit lens, but this is the first I've heard of someone doing it with a 28-70mm.

Also, because of the design of the front element with the assembly removed you can still place the factory 52mm cap on it.

Tomorrow is going to be a hell of an interesting day

Quick sample. 58mm Nikon cap, lighting was a 540ez manual mode @ 1/8th power

28mm f22 according to exif.....could have sworn these were f9

wow that looks pretty damn sharp for the modded lens...how to do!?

Good find.
That's really a painful amount of CA though, I doubt it'd be useful for serious macro work - if you compare it to dedicated macro lenses.
The wide angle (if it's still a wide angle) is fun though!

Is it still possible to replace the front element of a 28-70? If so, fix it + sell it and buy a macro lens

these are right of the camera I'm sure a little tweaking in Lightroom and I could make a lens profile for it. I made one for my 20-35 f3.5-4.5