Macro and wide angle Len's filters

[monkeytennis]

Hi all,got a d1300 with its kit 18-55 lens.I'm thinking of getting the above filters to try a few things out before I get more Len's,what's your views.on using a macro/wide angle Lens filters?assuming that they ain't as good as true macro or wide angle lens but good to start with? (Can get both for £19)cheers.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

 

[Overread]

Eh at both for £19 they'll work but they'll do so very very poorly. You'll get the wide angle and macro effects but the quality of the result will be greatly lacking and chances are they are aimed at fixed lens cameras not a DSLR type setup you have.


Honestly 18mm is already fairly wide even on crop sensor; if you want to/feel the need to push wider on a landscape type shot then you can stitch two or three shots together to get the wider angle aspect view if you need to (and to get a bit of a feel for such wide photography).
On the macro front I'd suggest 2 things:
1) Extension tubes; good quality ones such as those made by Kenko would be my choice, these have metal contacts in them which retains communication between lens and camera body; allowing you to retain aperture control of the lens. There are ultra cheap tubes on the market (£5) which lack these contacts and as such you can't change the aperture as you shoot (making things very difficult indeed).

2) A good quality macro filter/close up lens attachment/diopter - Raynox makes a series and their DCR 150 and DCR250 are not too expensive, but are very high quality optics used. The DCR250 would be my recommendation as a choice from their range.


The bonus to buying good quality now isn't just a better picture but also the fact that you can still use the attachments later if you do get a dedicated macro lens. Cheap quality will work; but you'll dis-guard it fast as it will degrade performance and might make getting good shots very hard to impossible.