This was a trick without a macro lens.

Now, you can hold a medium length lens backwards to get some macro-focusing abilities. But it doesn’t stay there without some sort of adapter ring, which I don’t own. So I hand-held this at 1/6th of a second, which was actually pretty impressive by itself.

Problem is, the depth of field when wide open is about 1/20th of the length of the ladybug, and since the lens isn’t connected to the camera, you can’t exactly stop down. Unless you stop down with the lens on right, then disconnect the lens while holding down the depth-of-field button. Then you get the set aperture, but an impossibly dim viewfinder.

Still doable.

ISO 3200, 1/6. Reverse-mounted 50mm lens, set to f/9 (?)