Macro add on question

[DannyLewis]

I purchased these add on's for macro photography. They should get 1x 2x 4x and 10x closer to the subject. I can not get my len's to focus with these on them. The len's View attachment 25229are the 18-55mm kit len's and the 55-250 macro 75-300mm telephoto. The book states that it should work with these len's. Has any one tried these before? If so why am I having such a problem with focus? I can not focus in either auto or manual focus

 

[480sparky]

They are not 1x, 2x, 4x and 10x. They are +1, +2, +4 and +10 diopters. Diopters are not magnification numbers. If they were, 1x would be flat glass.

You may not be foscusing because the focus point is closer than you're used to.

 

[DannyLewis]

If not for magnifacation what is their purpose? THank you Sparky for the information....Sorry but I am not getting the whole meaning for these now.

 

[DannyLewis]

these picture are what led me to believe they were for magnifacation
View attachment 25233View attachment 25234View attachment 25235View attachment 25236

 

[Overread]

Turn the AF off and focus manually. Put one of the attachments onto a lens (I would suggest the longer focal length ones) and set the focus manually to the closest point possible on the focus wheel. Then move your camera and lens closer and closer to a well lit subject, at some point you will find the image will move into focus, chances are it will be a very thin line of focus so you'll have to watch carefully.


They are for boosting magnification, the diopter number of each lens tells you by what factor it increases by. The actual increase is not defined only by the diopter power, but also by the focal length of the lens itself (the longer teh focal length the greater the increase in magnification).

 

[DannyLewis]

Thank you also Overread I will take it to the lake later and play around with it.

 

[480sparky]

these picture are what led me to believe they were for magnifacation
View attachment 25233View attachment 25234View attachment 25235View attachment 25236

They allow you to focus closer than you normally can.

The actual magnification you get depends on the lens you put it on. So the manufacturer can't say 2x, 4x, 10x magnification.

Again, 1x would have no effect on focus at all.

 

[DannyLewis]

You are right on Overread, to get a clear picture at 300mm I had to be so close to the subject it defeat's what my intended uses were. And only the center of the frame was focused the rest was Bokeh. Another item to let grow old in my safe.

 

[DannyLewis]

it was +1 instead of 1x my bad

 

[Overread]

You are right on Overread, to get a clear picture at 300mm I had to be so close to the subject it defeat's what my intended uses were. And only the center of the frame was focused the rest was Bokeh. Another item to let grow old in my safe.

I think you mean blur - I'll save you now before the bokeh police get here, but bokeh itself only refers to the quality of out of focus areas, where as blur refers to the actual nature of them being, well, blurry,

I'm not familiar with this brand of macro attachments, however a great many of the cheaper kit kinds tend to be weak single element optics, they work but do so poorly. There are quality attachments (Canon make a 250D and 500D - Raynox makes a small army including the DCR 250 and DCR 150) on the market which do perform to a very high standard and are worth while considering.

Also with your test did you focus on a flat plane of a subject or something more pointed? I ask because it might be that if you chose something such as a pencil head to focus on the surroundings would indeed be blurred - where as if it was something like a sheet of paper proper optics should still retain a good degree of image quality on the whole plane of focus edge to edge.

 

[DannyLewis]

It was a coffee can, I will spend some time with it later. thanks for the Bokeh heads up. I assumed a blur was a blur.