One annoying feature of the Fuji is its inability to focus on objects closer than 20cm.

Leica have come up with a macro adaptor for their version of this camera but dealers seem reluctant to stock so I have not been able to see for myself whether it is worth its high price.

In the meantime I have made my own closeup adaptor using scrap materials.

The main structure of the unit is made from a right-angle section of aluminium (4mm thick) and is attached to the camera by the tripod mount. A threaded hole has been drilled in the base (in front of the camera) so that the arrangement can be mounted on a tripod. A rubber sheet glued to the base protects the camera.

Any filters have to be mounted so that they do not obstruct the lens extension when the camera is switched on. I found a piece of tubing that had a large enough diameter to fit around the lens. This is mounted so that it extends back towards the camera and to the front of the lens to act as a light baffle even when the lens retracts as you zoom it.

At the front of this tube I attached a 37mm filter (with the original glass removed) using epoxy adhesive. This give me the ability to attach a variety of 37mm filters. I have also bought a x2 video adaptor from Jessops to give me a modest telephoto capability. Jessops also sell a macro adaptor with 37mm thread which could be used, although I have not invested in that.

I also have a number of 40.5 filters so I have made up a 37 to 40.5mm step-up ring by sanding down and then epoxy bonding two old filter mounts together.

For 'very' close-up work I use Rodenstock Rodagon enlarger lenses mounted in reverse on the front of this adaptor. I have three focal lengths - 50mm, 80mm and 105mm which gives me some flexiblility in choosing object/lens distance.

I also use a Rodenstock Ysaron 25mm lens for more extreme close-ups ( again, mounted in reverse).

If I wish to get into awkward spots I sometimes use this microscope lens (a 36mm Projection lens).

A major problem I face when using all these lenses is that the aperture cannot be set manually so that most pictures are taken at an aperture of f/2.8, which is definitely at the wrong end of the scale for macrophotography.

Just occasionally I want to squeeze as much into the view as I can. For this I use a carboot special - a Marexar Macrowider! This monster seems to work well, giving me a very wide field of view while at the same time allowing very close focusing.

The engineering of the adaptor is far from perfect but it does the job. However, I need to make an improved version of the adaptor. One of the main problems that it has is that when the camera batteries need replacing you have to remove the adaptor.