Macro Photography

Ath$rton

Ath$rton

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Matthew
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Pls help me

What is the best way to start macro photography on a low budget

Im reasonably novice so pls be kinf :p

Matt
 
A cheap set of extension tubes is the easiest way into it, I paid £7 for mine :thumbs:

You do, however, lose aperture control and autofocus. Using an ef lens, you have to set the aperture, remove it and attach it to the extension tubes. This darkens the viewfinder and makes it very difficult to frame a shot.

I shoot with a manual lens and change the aperture after I've framed the shot.
 
Or get a slightly more expensive set of extension tubes and keep AF & aperture control... the Polaroid ones are readily available (keep your eye open on Amazon - they regularly have "refurbished" ones for a substantial discount).
 
you can also use really cheap lens attachments off amazon, that are lens that screw into the filter, you get sets of three , but they are rubbish for larger diameter lens. 52mm works okay, 63mm on tamron is useless.

This was taken using ( i think) my 55-200 with a x10 adaptor

64413_439723284271_598959271_5289537_7977008_n.jpg


The camera was hand held but i was leaning against the side of the shed.
Once i got the basic position right, I then used manual focus on the lens to adjust the fine positioning, which is why the focus is off, if i'd use the tripod it would have been much easier.
 
Ath$rton said:
But how does tht allow u to focus very close to the subject ?
Click to expand...

It's a 'supplementary close-up lens' sometimes known as a dioptre or as a close-up filter (technically incorrect, as they don't filter anything). They work in the same way as reading glasses.

They come in various strengths allowing you to focus anywhere from a bit closer (say +1 or +2 dioptres) to very close indeed (+6 to +10). Raynox DCR-250 is +8, or the less powerful DCR-150 is better for flowers etc as opposed to bugs.

Raynox is a triplet construction, meaning it's better quality than cheaper versions. It's not macro lens quality, but you may be surprised how good it actually is for the money - see Flickr link.
 
I have a question in this area: I have a Canon 100mm macro lens and have recently bought a Raynox 250 to use with it. It has decent magnification, but I am now wondering if I would get more magnification and possibly eek out a little better quality by putting on a full set of macro tubes instead of the Raynox. I am assuming that using the Raynox 250 will degrade sharpness a little.

If anyone has done/can do a magnification comparison (100mm macro with Raynox versus 100mm macro with full set of tubes) any pictures would really be appreciated.

Cheers
 
billybob99 said:
I don't think it allows closer focusing but magnifies the subject, maybe wrong though
Click to expand...

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding this, but I use the Raynox on my 70-300, which usually focuses on subjects less that 1.5m away. With the Raynox attached it focuses on subjects just a couple of inches away. http://500px.com/photo/5576063

It doesn't autofocus well at all, but I'm not sure many people use manual focus for macro anyway. I certainly never do.
 
Diamonddec said:
I have a question in this area: I have a Canon 100mm macro lens and have recently bought a Raynox 250 to use with it. It has decent magnification, but I am now wondering if I would get more magnification and possibly eek out a little better quality by putting on a full set of macro tubes instead of the Raynox. I am assuming that using the Raynox 250 will degrade sharpness a little.

If anyone has done/can do a magnification comparison (100mm macro with Raynox versus 100mm macro with full set of tubes) any pictures would really be appreciated.

Cheers
Click to expand...

If you're after doing mega-macro beyond the 1:1 maximum of your 100mm lens, then you really need to think about the Canon MPE-65 super-macro lens. Raynox is not ideal for that sort of thing and you'd need a lot of tubes. No easy solutions.
 
Ath$rton said:
Is it worth investing in a good lens or just extension tubes ?
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Depends how serious you are really.

In terms of image quality, the running order is usually close-up lenses, tubes, then a pukka macro. A macro lens will be sharper, especially at lower f/numbers, at the edges, and will have a flat field and very low distortion.

Most of those qualities often go unnoticed with general 3D subjects at higher f/numbers (to get a bit more depth of field) which is why the Raynox scores so well at 40 quid, but if you try to photograph stamps or coins you'll notice it immediately.
 
HoppyUK said:
If you're after doing mega-macro beyond the 1:1 maximum of your 100mm lens, then you really need to think about the Canon MPE-65 super-macro lens. Raynox is not ideal for that sort of thing and you'd need a lot of tubes. No easy solutions.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I see pictures of giant spiders with big eyes and lots of detail and I'd like to take shots like that. I took a spider pic the other week with my 100mm macro and raynox attached and it's still nowhere near as big! :shake:
 
Diamonddec said:
Thanks. I see pictures of giant spiders with big eyes and lots of detail and I'd like to take shots like that. I took a spider pic the other week with my 100mm macro and raynox attached and it's still nowhere near as big! :shake:
Click to expand...

but i cropped the original 12Mb from the D5000, it did seem smaller in the full picture :D, and that's not a fly it eating, it's a small cat:naughty:
 
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Hi George, heres's a 100% crop of a pic i took last week. Unfortunately focus is only on one eye, but you can see a lot of detail there. Taken with a 105mm sigma 2.8.

Lightroom%203%20Catalog-2-3.lrcat%20-%20Adobe%20Photoshop%20Lightroom%20-%20Library.jpg
 
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Ath$rton said:
But extension tubes still wont focus close

How does it effect the normal lens to allow focusing at a close
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It doesn't affect the lens at all - but what it does do is sacrifice inifinity focus of the complete assembly to allow you to focus closer.
 
Rapscallion said:
Hi George, heres's a 100% crop of a pic i took last week. Unfortunately focus is only on one eye, but you can see a lot of detail there. Taken with a 105mm sigma 2.8.
Click to expand...

What ratio is the lens on this ?
 
Rapscallion said:
Hi George, heres's a 100% crop of a pic i took last week. Unfortunately focus is only on one eye, but you can see a lot of detail there. Taken with a 105mm sigma 2.8.
Click to expand...

Cheers. That's not too shabby for such a big crop. Nice one. Maybe I don't need to overload the 100mm with both the Raynox and extension tubes.

Thanks a lot. ;)
 
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