Extension tube set advise please

hoftwi

hoftwi

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Getting into Macro and have found a lot of fun from it!!!I am planning to buy the extension tube set and I find one on the bay which is the Meike metal auto focus. Is it good enough to buy or I should get the kenko set? As I am still learning, don't want to spend too much on it,yet!

Any suggestions or advises will be greatly appreciated, thanks.
 
i couldn't get along with tubes so go cheap you might have the same issues.
at the end of the day theyre just hollow tubes
 
Gr8Shot said:
i couldn't get along with tubes so go cheap you might have the same issues.
at the end of the day theyre just hollow tubes
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Couldn't be any worse advice. Im not saying not buy cheap but be careful as some of them are terrible and may ruin the camera mount and lens.

As a rule of thumb I recommend a set of tubes that weigh around 250g as I had a cheap set that looked like my expensive ones but they were worlds apart. See >>>>>here.

I lost my faith in cheap so bought a kenko set to go with my SRB set.
 
I have the same set and have had no issues with them but I remember seeing a thread a week or so ago saying they didn't work on certain camera models
 
For some reason the Meike tubes don't work on Nikon D3x00 and D5x00 cameras. Having owned a set of Kenko and currently owing a single Meike, I think the Kenko are worth the extra. My Meike tube is very tight on the lens side. I think it's easing a little with use but it's still quite an effort to attach the lens.
 
Wow...thanks all for the advises and spcially Bryn gave me to link to read more comments. Sounds like Kenko is the choice, at least I don't have to worry about the quality etc.

The cheaper ones seem to work on certain cameras and lenses, hmmm.......i will think about it
 
I have a set of polaroid extension tubes, set me back £50 or £60. They work fine and do everything a more expensive set would.
 
What body do you have?
 
Oh, I bought a set of the meike auto tubes from here a few weeks ago, and as someone said they dont auto anything on d3xx or d5xx but they seems fine quality wise and should work on yours
 
My first set was a cheapo set for £8.99 (similar to these ones I suppose). They were great for starting in macro, metal construction although they didn't have any electric contact points so I had to set the aperture before mounting the lens and stick to it.

Recently I bought this set. Used on their own I haven't had any problems, and it's great to get that extra functionality of aperture control (and I can even use auto-focus when mounted on one of my zoom lenses). I did hit the issues Bryn talks about and frequently get "error connecting to lens" messages when I hit the trigger when I am using the full stack along with my MP-E (a very heavy lens). As a result i am now looking to upgrade and most probably go for the kenko ones.

As with everything, I suppose it depends on your budget, but to get started I would personally go for the cheaper option. If you like them and know you use them a lot, then it's worth investing a bit more (and you can probably still sell the cheap ones for not much loss, although that's still true of the more expensive ones if you don't get on with them).
 
Now I am tempted with the cheaper ones after reading all feedbacks from you all...........

Kenko one is the ideal one but a bit pricey for me.

What an additive hobby :D
 
I would sell my set of meike if your interested I could start a sell thread?
 
Watching this thread with interest too as it saves me asking the same thing :D
 
hoftwi said:
that's good which means more people will get to know more about the differences of the tubes.....

by the way, thanks for the like of my thread.
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Anytime, those photos are lovely, you're right too, there are so many different options to go for and obviously budget and such like too, it's good to have a helpful bunch of munchkins to offer advice:D
 
I would recommend getting a set with electronic AF as they make things much easier and faster to shoot. I usually shoot macro between f11 and f16 so having to take everything off to reset the aperture would be a PITA for me. I got a set of Kenko tubes a while back and they really are excellent but I've used a Polaroid set and a Meike set on Canon mount and both have been great too.
 
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