Canon Close-up Lense

[jbcm]

I am thinking of purchasing a Canon close-up Lens 250D (58mm). I would love to here from anyone who has used it or knows of someone who has. My question is how well dose it work and is it worth the money.

[Don Ellis]

I am thinking of purchasing a Canon close-up Lens 250D (58mm). I would love to here from anyone who has used it or knows of someone who has. My question is how well dose it work and is it worth the money.
I have not used this lens but every comment and review I've read has been positive, especially for quality.

The only drawback is that it is only +4 diopters and, personally, I would find that very limiting. Here are my comments taken from my "equipment" section on my website...

Original Set-Up

I originally bought the Hoya Macro Set consisting of three filters -- +1, +2, +4. Quite often I found myself using all three stacked on top of one another for a total of +7 diopters. They worked quite well and there was no vignetting (cutting off of corners) with the 49mm Lensmate adapters.

Later, looking for more magnification, I added a Hoya 2-element Macros Lens +10. This is a wonderful piece of glass that is front-threaded so that other macro filters can be screwed on the front. (Conventional wisdom holds that the strongest filter should be closest to the camera lens, therefore front threads allow adding more macro power.)

Replacement Set-Up

I replaced the Hoya 3-filter Macro Set with a single B+W +5 diopter filter (B+W is a brand name; it does not mean black-and-white here). I found that I was using all three of the filters in the 3-set at the same time, which multiplies the layers of glass through which light must travel, as well as creating vignetting when they were stacked on the thicker Hoya +10. Plus three filters are just fussy, especially when one is only a +1. Too many pieces, too many decisions in the field.

The new B+W +5 and the replacement Hoya Macro Lens +10 are a perfect combination, giving me +5 or +10 or (stacked) +15. There is plenty of difference in these steps and choosing the right filter is easy after a little experimenting -- an important consideration when you have to look at a bug and decide which filter(s) to use.

Addendum

Since that last paragraph, I have purchased another +10 and occasionally using it in combination with the others to create +20 or +25.

Cheers.

Don