100mm macro. Do I need all the extra equiptment?

If an electronic chain store hadn't offered interest free 18 months I'd still be dreaming about a 100mm macro.
Do I really need slide rail & flash ring? I take outdoor photos butterflies in sun & plant life sun & shade.

If you're shooting butterflies and other bugs etc, a tripod will be more of a hinderance than a help. You need to be mobile to keep up with them.

If you already have a flash, I reckon you can get by keeping it on camera and getting a cheap diffuser like the Lumiquest Softbox. Should give nice soft light right in front of your lens.

Agree for moving subjects a tripod wouldn't the greatest thing.
Finally got a Hoya 58mm UV protective filter for it.
Was busy the last few years.

Wow.. Y'all woke up your own 11 year old zombie.

Purchased a new lens collar type B ( B )
My $58.00 best offer accepted.
Seller listed it for $75.00 buy it now.
I later odered the adapter ring / reducer $30.00 Total $88.00

The list of possible extra gear is almost limitless, you could consider:
macro extension tubes
https://www.digitalpho​tomentor.com …se-macro-extension-tubes/

an extra macro magnifier lens that you clip onto or screw onto your existing macro lens such as a Raynox.
http://www.raynox.co.j​p …/digital/d_slr/​index.html

additional flash capability such as a macro twin light setup
https://www.canon.co.u​k …/macro_twin_lit​e_mt-24ex/
fortunately they do come cheaper than this!

I use a macro rail
https://www.novoflex.d​e …macro/focusing-racks.html
just an example but the engineering quality is superb. I use a Novoflex rack for absolutely precise focussing outdoors and for the occasional outdoor focus stacking exercise.
For indoor stacking I use
https://www.wemacro.co​m/
which is automated.

Of course you can get perfectly acceptable macro images with just the body and lens and none of the above but as a bare minimum I would suggest a flashgun mounted on the camera with a diffuser
https://lumiquest.com/ as an example but some people like to make their own out of pringle tubes or other weird but highly adaptable bit's of rubbish

vision35 wrote in post #7195550
If an electronic chain store hadn't offered interest free 18 months I'd still be dreaming about a 100mm macro.
Do I really need slide rail & flash ring? I take outdoor photos butterflies in sun & plant life sun & shade.

That depends ENTIRELY on what you plan to use it for.

Rails are primarily for stationary subjects at levels of magnification that great depth of field issues, and the manual ones that allow any sort of repeatability, approach the price of the affordable automated rails like the Wemacro. I tried image stacking with an inexpensive manual rail and found it highly frustrating. As soon as I had the money, I punted and bought a Wemacro. Given your stated choice of subject, I put a rail, especially a cheap on at the bottom of my wish list.

A lot of people don't like the look of ring flashes, at least for non-technical photography. A better solution is often an off camera flash on an articulated arm or other extension, properly diffused. This can be used to fill in shadows, or enhance/obfuscate backgrounds.