extension tube advice?

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Fishboffin

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Hi,
I hope nobody minds me posting a question straight away but I was hoping to get a bit of advice on lenses.

I have a canon eos 7d mark ii, I originally bought the canon 18-55mm mark iii lens but I've just purchased a canon 100-400mm lens, it's great and everything I expected but I am really interested in aquarium fish (it being my other hobby). I have several tanks and would love to spend the winter taking pictures of them.

As I'm sure most of you will understand; I don't really want to start shelling out more money on lenses after just spending so much on the 100-400. After looking around I have been contemplating buying a set of extension tubes which will allow me to use the 18-55mm lens as a sort-of macro lens.

I have saw that jessops do a set (13mm- 21mm-31mm) that looks decent and is a eos fit. If anyone could give me some advice as to weather this is a good plan, I'd greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance!!

Cheers

Alex
 
You might find that you'll need to learn about adding lighting, extension tubes on a std zoom won't give the 'fastest' lens.
 
Fishboffin said:
Hi,
I hope nobody minds me posting a question straight away but I was hoping to get a bit of advice on lenses.

I have a canon eos 7d mark ii, I originally bought the canon 18-55mm mark iii lens but I've just purchased a canon 100-400mm lens, it's great and everything I expected but I am really interested in aquarium fish (it being my other hobby). I have several tanks and would love to spend the winter taking pictures of them.

As I'm sure most of you will understand; I don't really want to start shelling out more money on lenses after just spending so much on the 100-400. After looking around I have been contemplating buying a set of extension tubes which will allow me to use the 18-55mm lens as a sort-of macro lens.

I have saw that jessops do a set (13mm- 21mm-31mm) that looks decent and is a eos fit. If anyone could give me some advice as to weather this is a good plan, I'd greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance!!

Cheers

Alex
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Whilst extension tubes will cost you a bit of light they are very handy for reducing the minimum focus distance of your lenses - I always have a set in my bag. They are so cheap that I have a couple of sets so that I don't have to remember to pack them! Make certain that you get a set that is compatible with both EF and EFS mounts and allows Auto Focus. This means that (within certain limitations) you can use any EF or EFS lens on any Canon EF or EFS camera.

I mainly use my extension tubes to reduce the 6 meter minimum focus distance on my long lens as I like small birds to be BIG in the frame!

There is no point in spending silly money on them - they are just extensions after all. One of my sets appears to be identical to these which are widely available from a number of sources:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TTL-Auto...735262&hash=item489629ef0e:g:TDwAAOSw-jFZ6J9C

Before anybody chirps in with the "low quality/fragility" arguments I am using them with a Canon 1DX and Canon 800mm F5.6 L IS - they are up to the job!

In the long run you may want to get a proper Macro lens, but these tubes are cheap way to find out if that is the way you want to go. If you do, eventually, get a Macro lens then these tubes will allow you to get up really close! Remember your lighting though - more important the closer you get......................
 
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A set of extension tubes are a useful accessory for reducing your minimum focus distance with little or no loss in IQ...

johnf3f said:
Make certain that you get a set that is compatible with both EF and EFS mounts and allows Auto Focus. This means that (within certain limitations) you can use any EF or EFS lens on any Canon EF or EFS camera.
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Doesn't make any difference, there is no such thing as an EFS extension tube they are all EF. What is important is for them to have an electronic through pass not so much for Auto Focus, you will be MF most of the time, but for aperture control (A bit different obviously if using them to reduce the min focus distance of a long lens).

Where you will find the greatest difficulty is your light, the more extension you place between your lens and sensor the more the light reaching the sensor will fall off which will mean wide apertures/high ISO unless you can get extra light in there, which in an aquarium is not an easy thing and as has been stated will need a bit of study...
 
Do you really need extension tubes? I have a similar kit lens to you (although mine is the stm version) and the minimum focus distance is really quite short for a standard lens.
I bought some tubes (viltrox) from eBay or Amazon (can't remember which off of the top of my head), they were about £20, they have the electrical connections and work very well.
 
Thanks for all the replies, I've found them all really helpful!! The macro lens that Alfbranch suggested looks very tempting but I'll give the extension tubes a go first, I've just ordered the ones that John suggested, so fingers crossed but if I start doing regular macro I think I'll probably order a dedicated one, like above.

In regards to light I am a bit uneasy, I've read that you should use a rubber lens hood pressed against the glass to minimise any reflections but I think that will probably rule out being able to use any led ring attachments, flash is generally a no-go as I don't want to damage the fishes irises, hopefully just adding copious amounts of over tank lighting might do the trick. I think it might just take a lot of experimenting.... Thanks again for all everyone's help!!

Cheers
Alex
 
PhilH04 said:
A set of extension tubes are a useful accessory for reducing your minimum focus distance with little or no loss in IQ...


Doesn't make any difference, there is no such thing as an EFS extension tube they are all EF. What is important is for them to have an electronic through pass not so much for Auto Focus, you will be MF most of the time, but for aperture control (A bit different obviously if using them to reduce the min focus distance of a long lens).

Where you will find the greatest difficulty is your light, the more extension you place between your lens and sensor the more the light reaching the sensor will fall off which will mean wide apertures/high ISO unless you can get extra light in there, which in an aquarium is not an easy thing and as has been stated will need a bit of study...
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Yes it does. If the extension tubes are EF mount only then the OP's 18-55 will not fit - the EF and EFS mounts are different - try putting an EFS lens on an EF mount camera! The EFS cameras will happily mount EF and EFS lenses (note the difference in the alignment indicator marks) EF mount cameras will not accept EFS lenses.
 
johnf3f said:
Yes it does. If the extension tubes are EF mount only then the OP's 18-55 will not fit - the EF and EFS mounts are different - try putting an EFS lens on an EF mount camera! The EFS cameras will happily mount EF and EFS lenses (note the difference in the alignment indicator marks) EF mount cameras will not accept EFS lenses.
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That's because the mirror in a FF camera would hit the rear element in an ef-s lens. You could probably mount an ef-s lens on an extension tube and mount it on a FF body, although I wouldn't try it.
 
Canon's original EF extension tubes can't be used with EF-S lenses....there's a baffle in the tube that fouls the rear of the lens. The MkII tubes were released to overcome this restriction.

Bob
 
johnf3f said:
Yes it does. If the extension tubes are EF mount only then the OP's 18-55 will not fit - the EF and EFS mounts are different - try putting an EFS lens on an EF mount camera! The EFS cameras will happily mount EF and EFS lenses (note the difference in the alignment indicator marks) EF mount cameras will not accept EFS lenses.
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Of course it will fit, there is no physical difference between EF and EFS, all EFS means is that the lens protrudes more into the mirror box... an extension tube is an empty tube so an EFS lens will fit.... the S (popular belief) stands for Short back focus.

I repeat there is no such thing as an EFS extension tube, they are all EF... In fact one trick in order to use the EFS 60mm macro on a FF body is to mount it with a 12mm extension tube.
 
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PhilH04 said:
......

I repeat there is no such thing as an EFS extension tube, they are all EF... In fact one trick in order to use the EFS 60mm macro on a FF body is to mount it with a 12mm extension tube.
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You're wrong, Phil.....as I stated in the post above yours, the original Canon extension tubes will not accept an EF-S lens.
Read it here http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/lenses/extension_tubes.do

"This featured a new EF lens mount. In addition to accepting all the past and current EF lenses, it also takes the EF-S lenses. These lenses do not fit the original EF extension tubes."

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
You're wrong, Phil.....as I stated in the post above yours, the original Canon extension tubes will not accept an EF-S lens.
Read it here http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/lenses/extension_tubes.do

"This featured a new EF lens mount. In addition to accepting all the past and current EF lenses, it also takes the EF-S lenses. These lenses do not fit the original EF extension tubes."

Bob
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The Original Canon tubes, yes you are correct, an EFS lens will not fit unless modified... What I am saying is that EFS extension tubes do not exist they are all EF...
 
PhilH04 said:
The Original Canon tubes, yes you are correct, an EFS lens will not fit unless modified... What I am saying is that EFS extension tubes do not exist they are all EF...
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I understood your statement; "an extension tube is an empty tube so an EFS lens will fit" to mean that you could fit an EF-S lens to any EF extension tube.
 
Canon Bob said:
I understood your statement; "an extension tube is an empty tube so an EFS lens will fit" to mean that you could fit an EF-S lens to any EF extension tube.
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No problem... yes agreed a bit ambiguous and one tends to forget the earlier tubes, the EF II tubes were introduced in 2003 so been around for a while now ;-)
 
To quote WEX "This updated version II is now also fully compatible with Canon Digital EF-S mount, as well as standard photo EF and TS-E fittings" - there bare a lot of older tubes out there that won't!

I agree that all Canon and Canon compatible extension tubes are EF but not all are EFS as well. Given that the OP has EFS glass then your point could well mislead them.

To the OP just get the ones that I suggested - they work great!
 
johnf3f said:
To quote WEX "This updated version II is now also fully compatible with Canon Digital EF-S mount, as well as standard photo EF and TS-E fittings" - there bare a lot of older tubes out there that won't!

I agree that all Canon and Canon compatible extension tubes are EF but not all are EFS as well. Given that the OP has EFS glass then your point could well mislead them.

To the OP just get the ones that I suggested - they work great!
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Ok, I own up to forgetting about the original Canon tubes as mentioned in the post above... mind I don't use Canon tubes as IMO they are way overpriced and have stuck with Kenko, you are right you do not have to spend a lot for tubes, as long as they have the electrical pass through.

I think the OP's biggest problem will be lighting
 
PhilH04 said:
Ok, I own up to forgetting about the original Canon tubes as mentioned in the post above... mind I don't use Canon tubes as IMO they are way overpriced and have stuck with Kenko, you are right you do not have to spend a lot for tubes, as long as they have the electrical pass through.

I think the OP's biggest problem will be lighting
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I agree that Canon Tubes are pricey - hence the ones that I suggested, cheap cheerful and do the job.

Lighting depends very much on your/my/the OP's uses. I mainly use extension tubes to reduce the minimum focus distance of my 300 and 800 mm lenses and when using just a 13 mm or 21 mm tube it costs little light effectively. However when playing with them on my Macro lens it is a different ball game - lighting becomes much more important!
 
johnf3f said:
I agree that Canon Tubes are pricey - hence the ones that I suggested, cheap cheerful and do the job.

Lighting depends very much on your/my/the OP's uses. I mainly use extension tubes to reduce the minimum focus distance of my 300 and 800 mm lenses and when using just a 13 mm or 21 mm tube it costs little light effectively. However when playing with them on my Macro lens it is a different ball game - lighting becomes much more important!
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Indeed, I don't often have to reduce the min focus distance of my 500/4 but on the odd occasion do the same as you.

Lighting for the OP is possibly going to be difficult, as I understand things they are going to be shooting into an aquarium, so a bit of research will probably be needed...

Best wishes.
 
PhilH04 said:
Indeed, I don't often have to reduce the min focus distance of my 500/4 but on the odd occasion do the same as you.

Lighting for the OP is possibly going to be difficult, as I understand things they are going to be shooting into an aquarium, so a bit of research will probably be needed...

Best wishes.
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Yes for the OP's uses light will be more critical. Unfortunately I don't have much experience here so I wouldn't advise.
 
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