Canon 55mm Close Up Lens 500D

[italianfemmy]

Hi. I read a book written by a pro who claims that you can get the canon 55mm close up lens 500D and it acts as a Macro. He says that it allows you to turn your telephoto zoom lens into a macro for 1/4 the price. Basically, it looks like a thick filter and you can find them online. My question is this: Has anyone used one and if so, can you attest that it is like using an expensive macro lens? If so, I would rather go this route.. less weight.. less space in camera bag and less cost, still manufctured by canon. Thanks in advance!

Alicia

[LordV]

Hi Alicia,
AFAIK the 500D is about the best add on close up lens you can get and is capable of giving good results, but it is not that cheap and I think gives you near 1:1 with a 400mm lens and about 0.5:1 with a 200mm lens.
Depending on what other lenses you have , a cheaper and better option might be a set of kenko extension tubes used with a lens in the 50mm to 70mm range (but not EF-S lens). That will give you about 1:1 magnification and better IQ.
Brian V.

[chemicalbro]

i can attest it's nothing like using "an expensive macro lens"........
think about it this way if you took a magnifying glass and put it in front of one of your lenses it wouldn't work like a macro lens
because basically thats all these closeup filters are (magnifying glass)...
it will only be as good as the lens you attach it to (slightly worse actually because you are putting another piece of glass in front which will degrade image quality)
don't get me wrong you will be able to get closer and achieve more magnification with a closeup filter and get some half decent results but the quality will be nowhere near as good as if you used a dedicated macro lens or extensions.

Brian I agree that the canon 500D filter maybe one of the best out there but as you know it won't even come close to the quality from a dedicated macro lens, or as you say a 50mm lens with extension tubes (i think thats what alicia wanted to know).it's like everything else in life... there's no free lunches

[kallousa]

Hello Everybody

I am not using a dSLR so I never tried a dedicated macro lens and/or extension tubes, but I tried a lot of filter/reversed lenses to get the best magnification with best image quality.

Comparing the 500D or the 250D to the other filters ( I have Hoya Closeups ) is out of the question. Nothing compares to the 500D and 250D which gives you double the magnification with half the working distance (35 to 50 cm for the 500D VS 16 to 24 cm for the 250D). Needless to say that the letter "D" refers to double glass elements in the filter, which enhances the quality over the other types. The DoF is good as well, ca't tell how thick but it's ok even at max zoom (200 mm in my camera).

The reversed lens technique gives excellent quality but the working distance and field of view are very small , and the DoF is somewhere around 1 or 2 mm .

Alan, if it's a non-dslr, you have to add the glass in front of the lens and live with it.

Alicia, if you are using a non-dslr , go directly to it.

Regards

[italianfemmy]

Thanks for the quick replies and the input. I actually do have a Digital SLR and am trying to break into the world of pro photography.

There is no way I can afford an actual macro right now. I work part time and saved enough that this past week I bought the Canon Rebel xti, a 75-300 mm lens, not the IS one though :-(, one 4 gb card, 2- 2gb cards, a nice camera bag, a bogen manfrotto ball head tripod, an extra battery, a memory card holder, a usb memory card reader, 2 UV filters(to protect my lenses), a 430 EX flash, some books on digital photography. Needless to say, for working part time and hardly having any money, I need something for now to get in real tight.

lol. Hopefully, I can get a coupld jobs to pay off everything I just bought some time in the near future and then I can afford IS lenses and L series lenses and a nice polarizer lens and a great wide lens and a great macro lens. lol.

Is there a lens out there that covers all the bases of everything I just said I wanted other than polarizer? If so.. lemme know.. :-)

Thanks so much everyone!

[racketman]

Actually the Nikon 3T & 4T (52mm thread) are excellent too. I bought them because they fit my G6's adaptor. As Kallouse says these two element filters are way better than Hoya etc

[dpastern]

Alicia - for starters, the 500D is a very good option. As Alan (Chemicalbro) correctly said, it will degrade the IQ (Image Quality). As Brian (LordV) said, 50mm/tubes are a cheap and effective way with high IQ to get into macro photography. The drawback is the working distance is small, around 5cm or so, which can and does scare a lot of potential insects off. A dedicated macro lense is the way to go imho, but if funds are tight, I'd recommend snagging a 50mm off EBay and a set of Kenko tubes.

Dave

[italianfemmy]

I found a 500D close up canon lens on ebay for 68 bucks. I think I should buy it at that price. What do you think? By the way it is brand new from a company with over 150,000 feedback, 99.8 positive and they are an authorized canon reseller. :-)

[dpastern]

I found a 500D close up canon lens on ebay for 68 bucks. I think I should buy it at that price. What do you think? By the way it is brand new from a company with over 150,000 feedback, 99.8 positive and they are an authorized canon reseller. :-)

What's the sellers name?

Dave

[italianfemmy]

Hmm. It's not there anymore. They must have sold it. There is another one for 68 plus 18 s&h but it comes from hong kong, has 98.9 pos. feedback and 2,243 feedbacks. Sellers name is giftsix.

There is another one for 95.14 plus 10.73 s&h, 22,660 feedbacks, 99.4 pos. Sellers name is costupdate.

Dangit.. the one I wanted is now gone. I should have bid on it!!!

*pouts*

By the way, there are for the 58mm

[italianfemmy]

I just realized that the 550D is a close up for 58mm and 77 mm. I have the 18-55 mm kit lens and a canon 75-300 mm lens. Will either of these close up lenses work with my gear?

[dpastern]

Alicia:

http://www.canon.com.au/products/visual/cameras_lenses_accessories/standard_zoom_lenses/efs18-55mmusmii_specs.html

filter for the 18-55 as per the above page is 58mm. The 75-300 lense is NOT listed on the Canon Australia website, so not sure about it.

Dave

[italianfemmy]

Hey, thanks a lot. Appreciate the help :-)

[WMS]

I happen to own one of the Canon 500D close up lens, and to give you an idea of what it can do I am embedding this photo http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o165/wmschenk/IMG_0259_web_copy.jpg
This was taken with a 70 to 300 mm lens at 185mm and 1/125 sec with an F5.6 aperture. I hope this helps. As with all close up/ macro photography the depth of field always seems to be too shallow.

Wayne