During Day 1 of freelensing I wasn’t able to achieve focus in the middle of the frame. After spending hours googling and reading, I came to the conclusion that the rear element of the lens simply wasn’t able to get close enough to the camera sensor in order to create focus in the middle of my images. A YouTube tutorial (in particular, this one), a few blog articles (here and here) later, plus a few hours of psyching myself up, and I pillaged the garage to find the right screwdrivers to dismantle a lens. The lens I hacked, a Nikkor 50 1.8, was the first prime lens I ever bought. I haven’t used it in years, but I certainly never imagined that I’d unscrew the back cover and clip the electrical connection that allowed for autofocus! After the adjustment, though, the back element of the lens is much closer to the camera sensor and the combination works flawlessly for freelensing. The movements necessary to shift focus are tiny, so I’m still working on training muscle memory, but the blur and mood that freelensing can create has quickly become addicting.
See day 1, here!
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