300f4 + Extension tubes (macro)

[woollyback]

Folks,

I have a 300 f4 IS lens coming and want to have a go at semi macro.

Does anyone shoot with the 300 plus extension tubes?, that can offer me a bit of advice.

I am looking mainly at butterflies and plants - would this combination be much good to try macro without a dedicated macro lens

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.

Best regards

Rob

[LordV]

A set of extension tubes will get you a bit closer with a 300mm lens but I suspect you may be better off getting a canon 500D add on dioptre filter with a lens that length.
Brian V.

[woollyback]

Brian,

Many thanks for the reply - I will lookinto your suggestion.

Best regards

Rob

[khukri]

Hullo Rob!

I am an amaeteur. I mostly shoot in the upper Himalayas between 12000 and 22000 ft. Tripods are a no-no for me as I shoot mostly frisky butterflies and wild flowers on streep awkward slopes. I use the 300/f4 IS for, as you say, 'semi macro'. I can send you some pictures if you send me your email. (I really am not too clued up on how to upload pictures here.)

I use a 12mm extention tube. It gets me close as 1 to 1.2m; with a 300mm that is good enough magnification to shoot a butterfly'sized object (2.5" wing span) to include some immediate environment. I shoot hand held with IS on and I find the results are acceptable in terms of image quality and sharpness 60% of the time. 40% I attribute to human error (camera shake) as I am now growing old. I sometimes feel a 20mm tube will also be useful to get closer, although I do not have one.

Another option I am considering is a 70-200/f4 IS with a 20mm extention tube. It is lighter and hence less tiring to lug around. Magnification and IQ should be similar. Plus with its zoom, it will prove easier to compose without moving too much.

A dedicated macro 100mm will ofcourse get you closer and give you quality results but most of the time (if you wish to equate the magnification of the 300mm) you will have to come in so close to the butterfly that it may take off. A 150/180mm sans IS and tripod is a no-no. (I wonder when Canon/Sigma willl wake up and give us a 150mm IS macro lens!!)

A supplementary lens (dioptre) brings you closer, blurs background better; but it gets you too close for live subjects, I feel.... One risks spooking them with a 77mm dia white blunderbuss! For static subjects or basking 'tortoises' it is OK!

Hope this helps. The very best!

[woollyback]

khukri,

Thanks for the reply.

Great to see you have used it for what I would want to do (not the 22000ft part though).

Best regards

Rob

[racketman]

old thread but this test might be of interest.
300mm f4L on 7D alone, then with 12mm extension tube and last with 12 tube plus x1.4TC
shooting distance about 41", plastic grasshopper is 8cm long, an Emperor Dragonfly would be about 6cm long.

http://www.pbase.com/image/121343274/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/121343273/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/121343272/original.jpg

f7.1, 1/8, ISO200, tripod, cable release, mirror lock up. No post processing other than resized.

[Meanderthal]

Very interesting thread, thank you all. As newbie, a 20mm tube on a 300mm lens increases the reach to 320mm, rather insignificant. Or am I missing something? On the other hand, I too have been toying with the idea of getting a 1.4TC for my 70-200 IS. The latter should get me closer to the butterflies, which are quite spooky in my area.

[themadman]

Extension tubes bring the minimum focus distance down, does not change focal length.

[Meanderthal]

Thank you, themadman, I'll do a bit of reading on the subject, then.

[themadman]

No problem, it pretty much means you can move your lens closer to the subject and retain focus. Keep in mind when a lens has a extension tube, it can no longer focus to infinity.

[Lester Wareham]

Folks,

I have a 300 f4 IS lens coming and want to have a go at semi macro.

Does anyone shoot with the 300 plus extension tubes?, that can offer me a bit of advice.

I am looking mainly at butterflies and plants - would this combination be much good to try macro without a dedicated macro lens

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.

Best regards

Rob

I have used this lens with tubes extensively for butterflies and dragonflies, I generaly used it with either a 25mm tube or a 25+12mm tube. It works very well and I often usedit in preference to one of my macro lenses.

It also works well with plants normally onits own where it gives a great tight perspective.

clearly you are not going to get much beyond 1/3 to 1/2 life size, but that is often plenty for these sorts of subjects.

[khukri]

Dear Lester,

What kind of depth of field and image quality do you get with a 300mm+25mm+12mm ext tubes!? Does AF work well with a 37mm ext?

Do you shoot with tripod or hand held? What about sharpness if hand held?

Can you upload here or send me some pictures, please? May email is khukri@hotmail.com

Anyone here used the new 100mm IS macro? Does it work with a 2x TC? If yes, how does image quality compare with a 200mm or a 300mm IS lens with ext tubes?

Thank you all.

[Lester Wareham]

Dear Lester,

What kind of depth of field and image quality do you get with a 300mm+25mm+12mm ext tubes!? Does AF work well with a 37mm ext?

Do you shoot with tripod or hand held? What about sharpness if hand held?

Can you upload here or send me some pictures, please? May email is khukri@hotmail.com

Anyone here used the new 100mm IS macro? Does it work with a 2x TC? If yes, how does image quality compare with a 200mm or a 300mm IS lens with ext tubes?

Thank you all.

The dof will be the same as for any other lens at the same magnification although the difference between set and effective fstop varies depending on the lens design.

Yes the Af works fine although as per normal with closeup methods MF is used most, see LordV's intro to macro work linked below.

What you did need to watch with tubes on was a slight tendency to overneter by about a 1/3 of a stop.

I tend to work handheld with bugs and with a tripod with plants and other things that are not mobile.

The 300mm tends to be used where I can not aproach the subject due to environmental conditions or I want a very tight perspective.

I found the normally 2 stop IS on this lens gives about 1 stop for closeup work.

Apart from tubes for closeup I have used it a few times with a 1.4 or 2X, a 2x gets you to 1/2 life size with some loss of quality.

There are plenty of shots from this lens in my web page, there should probably be some 100% crops in a little gallery under the lens test section.

I can't say much about the new 100L other than it is not compatible with canon Tcs and requires an adaptor to use the Canon macro flashes.

[Rio Sundoro]

I just took this today actually, 300mm f/4 IS + 1.4x extender...

http://i46.tinypic.com/1z32exg.jpg

[racketman]

the bulk of this guy's larger insects are taken with the 300mm f4L - if this doesn't sell the lens for macro I don't know what would!

http://www.pbase.com/dgc_arts/dragons_and_damsels

check this photo for example -note the use of a 20D body:

http://www.pbase.com/dgc_arts/image/93885007

[Lester Wareham]

The majority of my dragons are also indeed with the 300/4 and a tube or two. I mostly use the reach because the critters are in fragile peat bog and so often difficult to reach, my local patch is Thursley NNR.

A down side of this setup is if you want to get in very close for detail on an eye or something you will run out of magnification. I use the 180mm macro in that situation, of course you can get up on them with the 100mm or MP-E in the right situation, but not generally at Thursley unless you want to be knee deep in boggy water and in trouble for causing damage that will take a 100 years to recover.

Now I am on a PC rather than the iPhone I can post some links.

This is a fairly typical shot at f5.6 probably with a tube or two
http://www.ware.myzen.co.uk/GalleryPics/Photos/Arthropods/Dragonflies/Insects%20Dragonfly%20N%20009%20050807.jpg


This one is with the 2X and prints nicely at A3 and was honored by getting in the first POTN book (the 600mm focal length was because they could not be easily approached)
http://www.ware.myzen.co.uk/GalleryPics/Photos/Arthropods/Dragonflies/Insects%20Dragonfly%20109.jpg

This is a 100% crop of this image with minimal capture sharpening only (image on a 20D)
http://www.zen20934.zen.co.uk/photography/Crops/Insects%20Dragonfly%20109.jpg

The 300 f4 is probably the most versatile lens I have, good for moderate close-up, almost to macro with tubes, handy for wildlife and plants, add a 1.4X and it makes a reasonable birding lens (OK you never have enough reach for birds).