macro equipement help.

[dak1b]

wud these tubes do the job? will they fit my macro lens?

3 Ring Macro Extension Tube for CANON EOS 1000D 450D - eBay (item 260535646784 end time Jan-16-10 22:33:22 PST)

 

[dak1b]

What I said above is assuming that you're shooting non-living things... A bug isn't going to sit still long enough for you to use a desk lamp for a light.

Half my shooting will contain living creatures. I'm guessing I'll have to invest in a external flash? recommendations?

 

[Josh66]

wud these tubes do the job? will they fit my macro lens?

3 Ring Macro Extension Tube for CANON EOS 1000D 450D - eBay (item 260535646784 end time Jan-16-10 22:33:22 PST)

That looks like a kit with 3 different sizes (which can be stacked).

Short answer is, yes - they will work.

Long answer - you will lose all electronic communication between the lens & body at that price.

This just means that you will have to use manual mode, and that you will not be able to change the aperture of the lens. It will always be wide open. You will also not be able to use autofocus (which probably wouldn't help much anyway at those levels of magnification).

 

[dak1b]

wat am I looking for when I purchase a external flash?

 

[Josh66]

Well, I'm not really the guy to ask when it comes to flash...
I know a little, but not enough to be making recommendations.

You would probably have better luck starting a new thread specifically about the flash.
Or wait for someone else to join in on this thread...

(And I'm sure that if you run a search, there will be a lot of hits.)

 

[dak1b]

Well, I'm not really the guy to ask when it comes to flash...
I know a little, but not enough to be making recommendations.

You would probably have better luck starting a new thread specifically about the flash.
Or wait for someone else to join in on this thread...

(And I'm sure that if you run a search, there will be a lot of hits.)

right on:thumbup:

good chatting with you!

good advice +1

 

[chip]

if you do a lot of macro photography, a macro ring flash may be a good investment.

 

[dak1b]

if you do a lot of macro photography, a macro ring flash may be a good investment.

i'm thinkin of either a macro ring flash or a external flash. one or the other...this is prob what I wud get if I was leaning towards macro ring flash: Macro Ring Flash LED Light Canon/Sony/Nikon/SIGMA LENS - eBay (item 190365169593 end time Jan-17-10 13:46:04 PST)

 

[Overread]

On the subject of getting more out of your macro lens I would (personally) say no to extension tubes for a 100mm macro lens. They will give you some boost to magnifcation but not a whole lot.
If you were to go for tubes get the Kenko AF tubes, which do come with the electrical contacts which let you control the aperture blades - otherwise you are stuck shooting wide open and that means a razor thin depth of field to work with. You can trick the blades to be shut all the time, but that will mean focusing with very little light which is just as hard to work with. So stump up the extra cash for the kenko tubes if you go that rout.

Personally I would say go for something like a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter (I belive this is compatable with the 100mm macro lens from canon); I use a 1.4 teleconverter all the time with my macro lenses and I find it gives a nice magnification boost; whilst hardly degrading image quality and letting one keep infinty focus.
You can also try out the Raynox series of macro lens diopters - the DCR250 is an affordable and highquality macro diopter (sometimes misslabled a filter) and combined with a 1.4TC (or used alone) gives you again more magnification.


On the subject of focusing rails, you do need these if you are going to shoot from a tripod. Personal experience has also taught me that the ebay macro focusing rails are one of the better designs (better than the manfrotto!) and are an affordable option (the other is novoflex which is very expensive).

Onto lighting - personally I would say avoid a ringflash as your first flash and instead aim for a proper speedlite flash. A 430EX2 or some sunpak options (there are numerous 3rdparty cheaper options but I honestly don't know them well enough to advise which to go for) would give you a flash with far more versatility than just macro and portrait work (which ringflashes are pretty much limited to). A flashgun combined with a softbox (I used a lumiquest softbox myself) and an offcamera flash cord (or offcamera radio remote) will give you a versatile and good lighting source.

However for lighting advice I honestly would open a new thread for that since there are many options that I simply don't know enough about to comment on

 

[mahum]

would the kenko extension tube set help me get closer with my tamron 90mm macro? the guy at adorama tolld me they wouldn't help/ Also I was interested in the canon 500D close up lens, anyone have one of those.??? thanks also, I Do have a 1.4 canon teleconverter. I did not know i could use that on my macro. I was using it on my 70-200 for more lenght.

 

[Overread]

The basic rule is that the longer the focal length of the lens the more tube length you would need to get an increase in magnification. Once you start leaving 50mm range lenses the effectivness of tubes reduces a lot. Some use them on 200mm - 400mm lenes to get shots of butterflies and dragonflies but for macro work on a 90mm I would agree that tubes would not be the ideal solution.

For a decent boost to magnification with minimal image quality loss a 1.4teleconverter is an idea addon - as I said above it gives you a boost to magnification whilst not stripping the setup of infinity focus. The canon 500D (from what I have heard) is a good bit of glass and is a diopter much like the Raynox range - and thus you do lose infinity focus when using it. I also forget its rating (power) level. When I want more than my 1.4 can give me I personally use a Raynox DCR250 in addition to the 1.4TC though results are far softer and the depth of field is very tiny at such magnifications

 

[eccs19]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that sometimes with autofocus lenses, then have a hard time focusing on objects when doing macro work. You may need / want to switch to manual focusing. May give you better control, especially if your using focusing rails. They will be used to fine tune your focus.

 

[mahum]

The basic rule is that the longer the focal length of the lens the more tube length you would need to get an increase in magnification. Once you start leaving 50mm range lenses the effectivness of tubes reduces a lot. Some use them on 200mm - 400mm lenes to get shots of butterflies and dragonflies but for macro work on a 90mm I would agree that tubes would not be the ideal solution.

For a decent boost to magnification with minimal image quality loss a 1.4teleconverter is an idea addon - as I said above it gives you a boost to magnification whilst not stripping the setup of infinity focus. The canon 500D (from what I have heard) is a good bit of glass and is a diopter much like the Raynox range - and thus you do lose infinity focus when using it. I also forget its rating (power) level. When I want more than my 1.4 can give me I personally use a Raynox DCR250 in addition to the 1.4TC though results are far softer and the depth of field is very tiny at such magnifications

thank you for giving me another use for my 1.4 converter. I will be anxious to try it out on my 90mm/ And I always use manual focus, but get lotss of blurry ones, as I haven't gotten a tripod yet, I know this isn't the right forum section, but any thoughts on a reasonable but good setup for legs anf ballhead ? thank you. One more thing, as I am new, is there something I can click on that will notify me by eamil when I get a reply?

 

[Josh66]

One more thing, as I am new, is there something I can click on that will notify me by eamil when I get a reply?

That is an option that can be turned on or off in the User CP.

 

[mahum]

One more thing, as I am new, is there something I can click on that will notify me by eamil when I get a reply?

That is an option that can be turned on or off in the User CP.

thank you, guess i did not see it