Macro...best options?

After taking a shot or two of a frosty leaf I realised that my Tamron 70-300 Macro option is a bit pants....so being the tight arsed non-pro that I am, I am looking at the cheapest option for Macro photos (without having to eat a tube of crisps!). Are Extension tubes any good? And where best to buy cheap ones in UK and which of my lenses (below) would suit ETubes??

This is as close as I got at 300mm with the macro focus option...don't get me wrong it is a handy option but far from perfect.

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Get one of the ~100mm macro lenses. Myself I have the EF 100mm f2.8 Macro USM. This will get you in to life size with no other equipment needed.

Also it is a very sharp and useful lens for more general use, so much so I did not bother with a tele zoom and instead filled the range out with a 200mm f2.8L; sharp and light.

A separate lens is out of budget, I don't do that much Macro so was looking for the cheapest option. Basically my 70-300 is on last legs and I will upgrade to 70-300 IS USM, but I will lose the macro feature and need an easy to carry something (I presume ext.rings) but am not sure how good an option it is in terms of quality and whether I should invest in good ones or cheap ones? The canon ones for example are ALOT more than the Kenko or Jessops complete sets?

Extension tubes give very good quality because they have no optics to degrade the image.However they are less usefull for longer focal lengths because longer lenses need much longer extensions to do the same magnification as shorter lenses
I don't know the numbers but i think an add on diopter may be the answer if you need working distance (working distance is the main reason to use a long macro lens)

If you can tollerate shorter working distances ,extension tubes on a shorter lens would be ideal

I was thinking of using my 50mm 1.8 as it is sooooo easy to carry around. Wasn't sure if you would degrade the picture by moving the lens away from the body, thus decreasing the resolution? You can tell I know what I am talking about right?

You can't go wrong with these Kenko Tubes. They will work great with either lens. I use my 50 or 70-200 all the time with some awsome results.

Can you use those Kenko tubes with the EF-S 17 - 85? Isn't it hard to use them to photograph bugs due to the short working distance? Do you have to manual focus the 50 1.8 with the tubes on? That would be okay for me, but my (15-year-old) daughter also uses my camera & likes everything automatic.

They are looking good to me, manual no probs but probably not EF-s compat...also no prob. Cheers for the info guys!

As Neil said, they don't work with EF-S. Auto focus does work but the depth of the focal length kinda negates that, I focus with the 50 by moving in or out and with the 70-200 usually by adjusting the focal length. The exposure works great using Av or Tv mode.

Here are a few pics I took using this method. The first ones with the 70-200, the last 2 with the 50.

You wont go far wrong with the canon ef100f2.8 macro its a superb lens.

canon 100mm macro.

the 70-200 can also get you by if your just walkin throught the park. As seen above. Not to mention your 70-300 ISNT A REAL MACRO LENS....

I know it's not but it has the extra focusing distance at 300mm that really helps when walking around without a bag full of kit! Thats what I am looking for really, not having to carry around extra lenses, although the rings will need to slot somewhere.....D'OH! I will try the rings as they seem to offer flexibility with different lenses.

How do I work out the focal distance without focusing? (presumably this works at higher F numbers?)

Nice pictures by the way, that first Spider looks MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The focus distance with the 50/1.8 will be very close.

You can try this out before buying them
Dismount the 50/1.8 lens and hold it by hand in front of the camera. The further you move it away,the closer the focus will be. (hint- keep the lens at a set distance and move the whole thing closer or further away to achieve focus,it's easier)
This way you can find out both how many tubes you want and how close you have to get.

If you decide you want the longer working distance of the 70-300 then seriously consider a close up diopter for the front of the tamron to get more enlargement.
You might want to try taking a few example shots in a shop with the diopter to see if they give good enough image quality whn used on the tamron

Will try that, very practical, thanks again!