DIY Close up Camera shots with your simple digital camera and a Loupe

cannafan;1910521 said:

Hello friends!

If any of you are like me, you have marveled at the beautiful close up photographs taken by growers all over the community.
You can take these close up pictures too, with the simplest of equipment. All you need is a point and shoot digital camera, or a cell phone with a camera feature, a jewelers loupe and a rubber band. A steady hand is always nice too.
Here's what I did:
I have a simple Fujifilm small digital camera with an optical zoom and a 40x jewelers loupe ( my loupe has a light on it too, not absolutely necessary though). I turned the camera on and zoomed it all the way out then placed the loupe on top of the lens. I found a roll of electrical tape, you can use anything that fits the area, and placed it between the back of the loupe and the camera and held it in place with a rubber band. The loupe fit the lens area perfectly.
This is my set up:

You can do the same with your camera phone by rubber banding the loupe over the camera lens then using the zoom feature on your camera/phone.
I have obtained some extreme close ups with this method, as long as you keep your hands as still as possible and turn off any fans on the plants for a short time while you are photographing so the subject isn't moving. I have even rigged up a monopod to hold my camera on, for even less camera shake.
With the image stabilizing features most digi-cameras have these days it is even easier to take good photographs up close and personal!
Here's a couple examples:

I'm not saying these are awesome pictures by any means, but I could never have come close to getting trichomes visible this close without the set up. Expensive cameras and lenses are just not in my budget.
Comments welcome as well as your own simple set ups to help us all take close up photographs!

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