macro: different lens setups available

really confused did I get these right? I assume 1 prob best quality and ease of use. between 2 n 3, how do they compare iq and ease of use wise. Looking for recommendations, Thanks!

I own: REBEL XS /w kit: 18-55mm ef-s f/4-5.6 and on budget,. I take shots of my food while cooking + finished product. the finished product is most important, but would like hte flexibility to quickly zoom out a bit to take shots of prep work. here is an example of my cooking picasa

thinking 1. 50mm f2.5 macro, vs 3. kenko set + 50mm f1.8, cost about the same
3. would cost the least, but gives me 100mm, but loses af.

1. ef-s mount macro
+ af, modern iq, double duty, full focus range
- big cost

2. adpater + any used old macro on ebay
+ semi-double duty, full focus range
-mf, mf less use-able for other shooting, limited to lens with aperture ring.

3. extension tube + kit 18-55, or 50 f1.8 prime r
+af with good tubes, great lens doubles up
- requires clunky tube switching to change reach working focusing rang

good vs cheap extension tubes
good tubes allow aperture control + af (although af not useful in macro range neway).

well there are the tubes that have the autofocus ability retained with them and personally I would say that's the only way to go if you don't want to buy a dedicated macro lens.

I have tried the zeikos tubes and they work pretty damn good:
Zeikos ZE-CVAFC Auto Focus Macro Extension Tubes for Canon
My neighbor has them and I had seen him screwing around with them all the time so I asked if I could try them out and sure enough, they work pretty damn good. I even put the smallest one on the macro and damn...... talk about getting really friken close up on something. lol. My macro is a 100 2.8 and yeah it was kind of crazy with the tube on there.

The other option is the opteka brand which is pretty popular, opteka stuff is popular in general and of decent build quality.
Opteka Auto Focus DG Macro Extension Tube Set for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras

These 2 units are priced around 80 bucks and will let you experiment with macro without driving you nuts like building a reverse lens setup or even manual extension tubes. If you try manual tubes you will more than likely just give up on the whole idea and say the hell with it. I still have a set of tubes sitting on my desk that I bought over a year ago that only got used a couple times because it was just too damn frustrating in general to use them.

Your best bet is to go with one of the above auto-focus sets of tubes as they will get you to be able to play without the insanity.... lol.

I got lucky about 6 months ago and found a killer deal on the now mine 100mm f/2.8 macro and that is just a blast of a lens, but I paid about 400 for the lens.... so yeah, a bit of a jump for the lens there but it's proven to be worth it. The macro lens has also worked for normal photography as well though. I will have to say that. It's not a completely one purpose lens, I can use it for other areas of my photography.

Cheapest option with highest quality would probably be a nifty 50mm with a set of extension tubes. However that would effectively stop you zooming out quickly as you would probably have to remove the ext tubes.
The canon 50mm macro lens only goes to 1:2 magnification - not sure if you would need higher magnification but could be worth considering the sigma 50mm macro lens which does do 1:1 magnification.
Brian v.

thank you! Didn't know I had significantly cheaper options for ET with AF.

Also didn't consider canon 50mm macro only did 1:2

Yeah, the auto focus tubes are really the best cheap option IMO. It'll get you the ability to play around and not drive you mad... I know I've said that already but that's really how mad I was going with the manual tubes.

I've been considering ordering a set for myself but my neighbor is wicked cool about letting me borrow his at times when I want to mess with putting them on my 70-300, that gets nuts....

And buying an older FD lens and adapting it will end up running you about the same as just these tubes or close enough that it's really not worth the FD lens method.

worth looking out for a second hand 60mm ef-s, $325 for ease of use.

looking at used for ebay sigma 50mm 2.8 $200-250, Leaning towards it for first purchase.. 1:1 probably enough, plus I don't need to remove tubes while cooking (not doing bugs). I'll look around for used 60mm too.