Macro Questions... (Part 2)

[nureality]

Next, I tried adding the cheapo-junk tube stack to the mix and it increased magnification of the whole as well (the trick with these things is you have to release the lens mount and just turn the lens(es) a slight amount out of lock, counterclockwize). Whenever these tubes are in the setup, the camera can not communicate with the lens and change aperture. And if its mounted completely locked in place it will give you an Error00.
Knowing that stacking the Tubes can include 2 sets.

The questions I have for you all are:
a) Has anyone tried stacking 2 or 3 Kenko sets? (I'd like to know if anyone can confirm or deny that multiple Kenko's will work together, if they do I'll be getting another one.)
b) If you stack multiple "proper" tube sets like the Kenko's with complete communication with the lens/body, will that work? (Because with the case of the cheapo tubes, the camera doesn't know they are there) It would be nice to be able to control aperture.
c) Does stacking 2 or 3 Kenko sets causes some error message from the camera?

Next order of business for me will be to add some kind of Macro flash to my kit.

I'm currently torn between getting the MX-14EX now and upgrading to the MT-24EX later, or just getting the MT-24EX right off. Anyone out there care to share their experience with either model?
A big question I have about these flashes is how much of a difference they will be able to make not only with exposure/composition, but in reference to exposure length as well.

I noticed many of you guys with your rigs use standard speedlites with brackets and diffusers, is there advantages to Macro flashes or not?

-Alan

[LordV]

Not certain but suspect if you mount the cheapo tubes first you will not get an error 00. I think Kenko tubes cause the camera to expect a lens and if it's not there will generate the error. You can stack kenko tubes but you are likely to start running into errors caused by contact resistances etc resulting in some errors every now and then.
You can change the aperture on the lens when using non- communicating tubes by mounting the lens normally setting the aperture in AV mode and then depress the DOF preview button and remove the lens whilst keeping the button depressed. The lens will retain the set aperture until you next mount it normally on the camera.

A macro flash is not a necessity for macro you can use your existing flash on a sutable bracket with a diffuser. Would think you would be better off thinking about a macro lens- you can then use that with the tubes to go to 2:1 and reverse your 50mm lens on the front and go to 4:1. (assuming a 100mm macro lens).

brian V.

[Cactuspic]

I have stacked two sets of Kenco tubes many times and had not problem whatsoever. From my experience, you cannot mount a non-Eos compatible lens or tubes to the Kenco tubes because the camera expects something different. I could not attach my bellows unit to my tubes for that reason.

Irwin

[nureality]

Cactuspic:
What do you mean by "non-EOS compatible"? I have a bellows unit as well (but I shy away from using it in a multi-stack setup because I don't have enuff support faith in its construction, that said, it does not have electrical contacts and neither do the cheapo-tubes. The error you speak of is caused by the camera expecting a response back from the lens as its trying to set aperture... without the electrical contacts to pass aperture settings (and AF and AE settings) will return the error. There is a work-around the error.

The work-around involves using the DOF Preview button to lock in the aperture into the lens, then mounting all your toys into the rig. The only difference is that the last link in the rig (be it bellows or tubes) needs to be mounted to the body but you have to turn the unit a slight bit off of lock with the body... if its locked into the body, you will get the error (for me at least 50% of the time I'll get the error if its locked in).

-Alan