How 'sharp' is this photo?

[480sparky40 39]

Not only did I cheese out and buy an MB-D11 knock-off grip, I also ordered a set of extension tubes at the same time. So this morning I got up and decided to try them out...... maxed out all the way.

I set up the camera on a tripod and installed all three tubes on my 18-105 @ 105mm. I used an SB-600 and shot a 20-spot straight on. Aperture was dialed down t to f/32 since the OCF was inches away.

The full size (and unedited!) image is here.

I'm not interested in comments about composition, just your thoughts on the image quality itself. I know it's not going to match a real macro, but I don't do enough close-up shooting to justify dropping the change for a real macro lens.

Was this set of macro tubes (fully auto, BTW), worth the $60 I spent?

 

[bazooka]

The center looks pretty sharp, but you got some nasty CA on the outsides, most noticeable for me at middle bottom and middle top. The edges are also very soft... could have been partially caused by not being perfectly perpendicular. Also, f/32 isn't helping with the softness. It's underexposed a bit so you could have gone higher or just move the light back?

 

[Trever1t]

I'd say it was easily worth the $60, I mean, you got a usable product with fair results. If I was going to be seriously shooting a bit of macro I'd opt for a fine piece of glass

 

[mjbine]

It is worth $60!

 

[bazooka]

Agreed, it's not the tubes that are causing the sharpness issues, it's the lens. Put those on a sharp prime and it'll be excellent.

 

[mjhoward]

"How 'sharp' is this photo?"

72

 

[Drake]

I wouldn't use such a small aperture on a crop camera, it actually makes your photos less sharp. f11-13 seems to be the optimum, with the extension tubes it could be even f8. And like bazooka said, the CA is pretty serious, why not try shooting in RAW and correct it with LR, the default lens profiles deal with it pretty well.

 

[bazooka]

I wouldn't use such a small aperture on a crop camera, it actually makes your photos less sharp. f11-13 seems to be the optimum, with the extension tubes it could be even f8. And like bazooka said, the CA is pretty serious, why not try shooting in RAW and correct it with LR, the default lens profiles deal with it pretty well.

Good point. CA is easy to deal with in Camera RAW.

 

[480sparky40 39]

This was just a quick test. Ive got other irons in the fire right now. Maybe later this week I can set it up again and take a range of images at different settings and see which is the 'sharpest', and what presets to use in post.

I figured sixty clams for a set of auto tubes can't be all that bad.

 

[Markw]

I think anything over F/16 on a crop camera will start going downhill fast. Some say F/22 is the highest, but I believe that to be for full-frame cameras and that you'll get diffraction on a crop body. I wouldn't go over F/16 next time..

Mark