Extension tube test

Kind of a dreary day out there, so I decided to do a little test. This was mainly for my own knowledge, but figured I would post the results on here for anyone who is interested! Not too long ago I got a set of Vivitar extension tubes, and wanted to figure out what kind of results I could get with my different lenses.

I tried out my 50 1.8, 85 1.8, and Sigma 70-300 3.5-5.6. All photos were shot at f8.0, 1/160, and ISO 800. Using the extension tubes changes the exposure, so I tried to make them about equal in exposure in LR5. I was surprised that there seemed to only be about 1-1.5 stops of light lost when using the full set (65mm) of extension tubes.

Here was my set-up, just a penny sitting on my subwoofer! All shots were handheld, just because my distance varied to much from shot to shot, it would have taken more time than I wanted too!

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Now here's the from my Sigma 70-300 APO Macro ("macro" in the 200-300 range) Here it is @200mm with no tubes. MFD according to the distance scale on the lens is .95 meters.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/davidmtml/98023​95846/

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nice test, I feel that the 50mm with 1-2 tubes works the best

alquimista wrote in post #16307025
nice test, I feel that the 50mm with 1-2 tubes works the best

I think I agree, the 50 w/ 30-40mm worth of tubes, or the 85 with all tubes gives a pretty good image.

In these tests, the 50 or 85 with tubes definitely gives a better looking image than the 70-300, but I haven't practiced a lot with the tubes. In real life examples so far...I've had better luck with the 70-300. Just need lots more practice.