Extension Tubes

[H4X1MA]

Ok so it is my understand that an extension tube can pretty much turn a telephoto lens into a macro lens, or at least an extreme close up lens, and are also relatively cheap. Does anyone have a recommendation on a good set? I’m looking to get as close as possible. Right now I have some magnifiers for my 52mm lens but that just doesn’t do the trick, plus I like my telephoto a lot better... even though I did get jacked 700 bucks at a shop for it. Knowledge is money! >.<


Camera: Nikon D3100
Lens: AF-S Nikkor 55-300 1:4.5-5.6 G Ed

 

[480sparky42 41]

Budget, please!

 

[Overread18 6]

On longer focal length lenses extension tubes will mostly just get you into close focusing rather than proper macro - so flowers and other larger subjects rather than things like insects or waterdrops. If you want a good set of tubes Kenko extension tubes are about the best, make sure you get the Nikon versions with the metal contacts to retain lens control (aperture and AF).


However for a long telephoto lens if you want more magnification look for some multi-element high quality close up lens attachments; such as the Canon 500D or Raynox DCR 150 or DCR 250 - these are high-quality attachments that will give greater amounts of magnification when used on longer lenses as opposed to shorter focal lengths.

 

[H4X1MA]

Budget I always forget because I usually don't care as long as it's not outrageous. I mean if I would be able to just go buy a good macro lense for the price of a good set of tubes then i am obviously just going to go with the lens.

What I am looking for is something that might be able to take a full frame of maybe the face of a quarter. Maybe tubes wouldn't be the way to go? I do know that if I am standing over a flower that sometimes, with this lense, I will have to either stand on tip toes (I'm 6 foot, tall dark and handsome, like long walks on the beach, o wait... wrong website lol) or have to just hold the cam in the air and 'hope' shoot. So getting away from that would also be nice.

 

[H4X1MA]

Looking between the close up lens and the extension tubes I would think that the extensions would be money better spent. It looks like the Canon 500D is a specific mm attachment, not sure what the deal is with the Raynox, but that also looks limited by the MM of the lense in use. I am guessing that an extension tube could be used with any lens, due to the fact that they are attacked at the back and not the front, correct? Spending money for all of my lenses vs just one of them would always be the better idea I would think.

Kind of funny, when I looked up the kenko, and went to google images, the first page had a shot of a quarter of a quarter in full frame which is pretty much what I was just saying.

 

[Overread18 6]

The majority of photos you'll find commonly listed under extension tubes will be taken with 50mm lenses or thereabouts - with a 70-300mm you will be getting less magnification at the 70mm end than they will with a 50mm. So they might work better on your kit lens rather than on your 70-300mm for pure magnifiaction gain.

As for the close up lenses, they are limited to filter sizes, however steping rings can be bought of ebay for tiny amounts and provide a good way to increase or decrease the filter size of your lens, allowing you to attach bigger or smaller filters; for macro work filters can easily be smaller than the actual filter size without incurring problems (ie dark corners/vignetting) there is a limit, but in general the 70-300mm would be fine.

 

[H4X1MA]

Well here's another thing, I don't even know if this would come into play, but I did just buy the Sigma 8-16 which you cannot attach any adapters to. I'm not sure if I would need an extension tube on a wide angle, and I already know that the min distance is pretty small, 1 foot I think, so an extension tube would also work with that.

On the other hand, I probably should invest into some step up rings anyway. I ended up buying polarizors (sp?) for both my 52mm and the 58mm, the 58mm one costing around 80 bucks. If I had some step up's I could have just avoided that all together. I think I remember someone telling me to buy all of my filters as 77mm and just get steps ups anyway.

You wouldn't happen to have an example image for the Raynox DCR 250 would you? I can never trust what's advertised, it's way to easy to just fake a good pic using a completely different setup. The Raynox actually seems to be the cheapest solution, and by the looks of it I wouldn't need step up's, but it wouldn't work on the wide angle which I don't think would be practical anyway.

 

[Overread18 6]

I can confirm that the 8-16mm simply won't take extension tubes, even the shortest ones end up with the point of focus inside the lens itself so it will never ever focus with them attached (you just get varying degrees of blurr). The Raynox attachments also don't fit, though holding one in front you get extreme vignetting at the 8mm end (you can see most of the unmodified surroundings and the filter itself) whilst at the 16mm end you get a strong black vignett. Possible, but not without significant loss of frame coverage for minimal gain.


As for the DCR 250 they really are top quality optics, dispite being "filters" and also being somewhat inexpensive; an example from my own work, there is also a 100% crop you can look at which is linked in the photo description.
IMG_0203 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Most of the complaints about the Raynox series come from 2 sources:
1) General "macro filters are bad" tarring which is mostly the result of people using (or repeating the views of others) cheap macro filter sets (typically your cheap +1 +2 +3 type affairs) and getting very bad results as a result of the ultra cheap optics used in them

2) Inexperience at macro; macro is tricky and takes time and correct method to get good results; some people however blame the tools a little too quick sometimes.

 

[H4X1MA]

It says you did that with the DCR 250 on top of a Sigma 150mm macro lens, so isn't that going to be more magnification than I would end up getting with the 300mm with the DCR 250 on it? I'm not really sure how a telephoto differs from a macro, but from what I understand it just changes your minimum viewing distance. To get the same results that you have there wouldn't I need to use the DCR 250 AND an extension tube? or am I way off base here

 

[Overread18 6]

To get the same results you'd need to use the DCR 250 on a macro lens since the macro lens itself starts with a base (ie without any attachments) higher magnification than your 70-300mm lens. The shot is more just to show that the DCR250 can deliver a quality result rather than to give you an idea of the magnification you'd get out of it, plus also showing that if you later invest in a macro lens the DCR250 will retain its use for you in pushing for higher magnifications.

 

[H4X1MA]

Works for me. Ordered the DCR 250. Thanks!

 

[Overread18 6]

*moving to equipment subsection*

 

[ulrichsd]

I just received this extension tube set today and have been playing around with it. For $8, I figured it is something to play around with and if I get more into macro, I can upgrade to a macro lens like the Nikkor 105mm or Tamron 90mm.

The only catch with this is that you *must* to have a non-"G" lens so that you can manually change the aperture and you have to shoot in manual mode since the camera doesn't realize that there's a lens attached. The negative reviews for this item are a bit funny since most people don't seem to realize this or they can't get it off, I guess they didn't notice that there is a button on the side that you have to pull back detach it from the camera.

The only two lens I have that aren't gelded are a 50mm and 80-200. The 80-200 is way front weighted with the tubes, but just holding the lens seems sturdy enough.

For the extension tubes, if you want more magnification, increase the distance between camera and lens with the extension tubes. Changing the zoom on the 80-200mm doesn't really zoom, it just allows me to get further from the subject with the camera. 50mm abuot 6-8 inches, 80mm about a foot, 200mm about 2 feet.

Here's some samples, I still need to get used to the narrow depth of field and focusing:

 

[Engin]

Just bought the Viltrox DG-FU for my Fuji X-A1 and it is problematic. The contacts do not match up properly (my best guess) and the camera screen flashes on and off. It can be made to work, by putting pressure on the lens in one direction or another, but that is not satisfactory. This is the 10mm + 16mm set.