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I read that macro photographers stack an inverted wide angle lens over a telephoto to get 10:1 or greater magnification. I wonder if any of you have tried that ? I am curious as to how they choose the telephoto and wide angle lens ( on what basis ) and how do they calculate the working distance ? ( or is it just hit and trial ? ) is it advisable to do the above stacking as a cheap alternative ( like if one has both wide angle and telephoto lenses, but does not want to spend on the MPE65mm ? )
I know that this is a very old post, but I think it could have ananswer. I chose to use the only two lenses I own: 55-250mm as the prime lens and 18-55mm as the reversed lens. In order to calculate magnification when stacking, simply divide the primary lens by the reversed lens. In my case, I can get a 13.89:1. This is good enough to zoom in on a single number of a quarter's date without much extra around it. (my pic of the 8 on a 2008 quarter reduced in size but not cropped is below.)
When reversing a lens, either stacked or by itself, the working distance is roughly the same distance as the lens from the sensor when the lens is properly mounted.
Personally, I love this form of macro because of the incredible magnification factors. However, you risk getting dust in your lens whenever you reverse lenses. Additionally, apreture settings are a hassle to set when reversing and stacking, and auto focus will not work with so little light entering the lens