LENSBONG vs Sony 90mm Macro Comparison

I'm in a bit of shock honestly after having done some preliminary and not very scientific comparisons. I noticed the relative quality of the work that @trisnawati was able to achieve with a lensbong setup. This appears to be very popular in Asia and Indo/Phi... likely elsewhere.

What is a lensbong?

It's still a bit of a slang term, but basically, it's a clipon macro attachment for your mobile phone.

Where to find these cameras?

You could be them quite inexpensively via Ebay and a few via Amazon, but I decided to go the DIY route since that is how this trend was originally started. There is an endless supply of old film cameras with quality glass in them from the 80's and 90's. Or if you're like me and don't mind showing your face in the local thrift store, you can pluck one of these for less than the price of a beer. I paid $6.24 this morning (8/20/2016) for this little Canon Sprint... it said, 'macro' and that's all I needed to see.

(castaway like yesterday's meatloaf - these cameras are under $10 and are not locked up in most thirft stores)

After a quick bite to eat, I got into it... it's helpful to have a set of micro screw drivers. After about 6 or so screws, you can begin to pry the back from the front... find a few more screws, then work on removing the front. After a bit of breakage, and more prying out pops the prize. Canon GLASS 35mm f3.5! After that, I started looking online and saw someone trying to sell this camera on Etsy for $75... and Ebay for $45... that is sign of good glass inside or something special rare about this model??? It had a roll of exposed film which I will get developed if this post pans out well... nothing like a mystery roll of ISO 200 Kodak!

Mortified

Initial handheld testing the Sony A7r with the Sony FE 90mm 2.8 Macro G OSS (are they proud or what?) vs. the Canon Sprint 35mm point and shoot taped onto my Motorola Moto G Android device. The Sony lens is $1100. I paid $5.99 plus tax for this Canon point and shoot. So, I think it would've been more fair to shoot both at f3.5. The Sony was at 2.8 and I had the ISO up around 2000 or so - focus was slightly off as it was handheld (heavy setup).

So, these results are unsettling to someone like myself as the top image is by far superior at this resolution. Certainly I could have set up the Sony gear on a tripod and done a longer exposure to get everything sharp, but that was not what this test was about.

What does this tell us?

The days of high resale value for your expensive glass are truly numbered. Those getting into photography now are going to go for the lighter and less expensive gear especially if it performs this well. There is also the Light camera due out in January that uses something like 16 lens and some algos to pump out whatever image you desire - macro, wide or telephone all with a single exposure. Check it: http://www.light.co/camera

Results speak for themselves

Full sun, some wind this afternoon (no tripod used) - no cropping

Sony A7r with the Sony 90mm f2.8 Macro G OSS

Moto G plus Canon 35mm f3.5 lens out of Canon Sprint

(bokeh isn't as nice as the Sony 90mm)

(getting more depth of field with f3.5 plus whatever the Moto G is)

So, these 840px images are really small on my screen - let me know if the quality is okay or not as my screen resolution is 3840x2160px. Also from what I understand, there are high quality plastic lenses being developed with will further reduce cost and labor in producing less expensive lenses in the future. The current method of glass grinding and polishing is quite slow and expensive.

Let me know if you are inspired to try this out and post a pic if you do!

be well, Conrad ( @timelapse )

(verification link on my site: http://conradolivier.com)

#photography #macro #insects #lensbong