EL-Cheapo Macro

[Headcase650]

With all this Macro talk I thought Id show you all what I found today. My girlfriends granfather died a few years ago and left her all his old manual Minolta equipment, body, 50mm 1.7, 90-230 4.5, macro bellows, a flash and a box full of junk. Well going through the box today I found a set of Camron 52mm close up filters. A +1, +2 and a +3. I thought hey they will fit my 50 1.8 so I did some playing around. This is just a quick test at ISO 200 color is off but I havent touched the files except to resize them. I shot from a downward angle on a trypod so the depth of field is paper thin. Adding each new filter and scooting the camera up until it wouldnt auto focus then pulling it back just slightly.

I uploaded the pics to another message board, hears the link

http://groups.msn.com/TheCanonDigitalRebelPartisansGroup/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message =6354

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[FlyingPete]

Got a set of these I have had for a number of years, they seem to do the trick.

As I have never used a real macro lens, what are the advantages over a good lens with the close up 'filters'? (I'm guessing clarity for starters)

Reverse mounting a lens is another goodie at a cheap solution, if you can find a way of mounting it, had my 28-105 reverse mounted on my G3 until I discovered the secret of super macro :wink:

[FlyingPete]

There are also those Macro extension rings as well, I believe the issue there is you lose so many stops per extension length. Had a bellows on my OM1, so close it was almost unusable!

[DocFrankenstein]

Yeah... those are fun to play with.

I've got some set of dusty close up filters with my 50mm prime also. Today I got an extension cable for the flash, do I'll soon be able to get a bug and blast it with my vivitar close up at F/22

I expect the bug to last 2-3 flashes till it goes crusty :lol: :lol:

[wolf]

Yes, extension tubes are fun. Put them on a long zoom and you can really have fun.

[rkoshy]

Yes, extension tubes are fun. Put them on a long zoom and you can really have fun.

Ok... just ordered the 25mm extension tube... What can it really do with a 70-200 zoom?

1. Is there some way to calculate my minimum distance for the focus to work?
2. I read another thread that leads me to believe it will magnify the image about 27% or so... is that true?

[wolf]

[quote=wolf]Yes, extension tubes are fun. Put them on a long zoom and you can really have fun.

Ok... just ordered the 25mm extension tube... What can it really do with a 70-200 zoom?

1. Is there some way to calculate my minimum distance for the focus to work?
2. I read another thread that leads me to believe it will magnify the image about 27% or so... is that true?


The rough calculation for percentage of magnification is: Divide the focal length (mm) of the lens by the length of the extention tube (mm) for an approximate percentage.

There is a formula for an exact % which is not much different in percentage than the rough % calculation.

I have not found a chart or calculation for minimum focus distances for a lens longer than 50mm yet. If someone knows of one on the net I would be glad to get the link.

I just shot this tonight as an example of distance in another forum.
Shot at 3 feet from subject with 68mm of extension at a focal length of 200mm.

Full frame -resized
http://wolverineenterprises.com/istock/penny_resize.jpg

100% crop of the above
http://wolverineenterprises.com/istock/penny_100crop.jpg

[Jesper]

Here is a good macro tutorial (http://www.photo.net/learn/macro/), which explains the different options you have when you want to do macro photography - macro lenses, extension tubes, close-up lenses etc.

[Scottes]

2. I read another thread that leads me to believe it will magnify the image about 27% or so... is that true?

This *completely* depends on the extension tube length as compared to the lens length. Putting a 25mm tube on a 50mm lens will result in a huge difference. Put that same tube on a 500mm lens and it will make a slight difference.