Question on Macro with kit lens 35-55mm, bluring when zooming in too far?

[topcat07]

Hello All,

Hope you all are having a good Christmas

When i zoom in at 55mm and get very close to the watch face it all blurs and wont automatically focus.

So i decided to put it on manual focus and try to do it that way but it still wont focus and blurs is this because i can not take macro with a kit lens?

Thank you for any help

 

[lightshipman]

You might be too close, and unless the lens is a macro lens you can only focus as close as the lens will let you. To get macro images you will need a macro filter on your kit lens or an extension tube. I have quite good success with a screw on macro filter, it is the cheapest option. Just setting your camera to auto macro will not let you take macro images unless you actualy have a macro lens. What camera it?

 

[woof woof]

When i zoom in at 55mm and get very close to the watch face it all blurs and wont automatically focus.

So i decided to put it on manual focus and try to do it that way but it still wont focus and blurs is this because i can not take macro with a kit lens?

If you can find the spec of your lens (try Googling) you should be able to find its minimum focus distance. Lenses will not focus closer than their min distance.

For example the Conon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 has a minimum focus distance of 0.25m.

To get around this you could...
-buy a macro lens (expensive,)
-buy a close focus filter to screw on te front of your lens (can be cheap or expensive,)
-buy extention tubes (quite cheap,)
or...
-crop the image to give the framing you want (this option is FREE!)

 

[Tringa]

I agree with Andrew, It looks like you are getting closer than the lens can focus. I have just tried with my kit lens set at 55mm and the closest it will focus is about 10 inches or so. Another cheap way of getting decent magnification (in certain situations) is, if your camera has interchangeable lenses, by using a reversing ring - they cost around about £10.

The attached photo is part of a 50 pence coin taken with my kit lens at 18mm mounted via a reversing ring. The out of focus regions at the top and bottom are caused by the angle at which the shot was taken and the depth of field was not large enough to get of all of it in focus.

There are drawbacks of using a reversing ring.

These are -

all auto functions of the lens/camera are lost so you need quite a lot of trying out different exposures to get a decent photo,

the camera to subject distance with a wide angle lens is tiny, just a few millimetres, (longer focal length lenses give a bigger working distance but the magnification is lower),

the depth of field is very, very shallow, and

not really suitable for moving subjects.



Dave

 

[Wozzaaah]

Minimum focusing distance (MFD ) on that lens appears to be 28cm or 0.9 feet (measured from the focal plane) so I'm guessing the same as has already been said, you're trying to work too close.
True macro or life sized is 1:1, you can't get that with a kit lens unless you fit an adapter on the front, use extension tubes or a reverse-mounted lens, out of the box that lens gives you 1:3.2 so about 1/3 life size.

 

[andyred]

As has been said, it sounds like it's down to the minimum focusing distance and you're too near to the object - I presume, if you pull back a little, the lens starts to focus then ...

It sounds like you might need to invest in a true Macro lens if you are wanting to take very close up shots - the Sigma 50mm Macro is a good lens to start off with, not too bad a price and opens up a new world of photography. But, if you are wanting to shoot life (insects etc), you'll probably be better off with at least a 100mm lens...

 

[fenguso]

Might be worth getting a raynox m250 they cost about £40 quid on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NIKON-D70...ography_Conversion_Lenses&hash=item3a856b43a8

50mm without

50mm with raynox

cheap way to do macro if your a cheapskate like me

 

[AESamuel]

Reversing rings are great, I won't bother posting an example as Tringa already has but I can vouch for their effectiveness. Yes, you can lose aperture control (depends on lens) but its dirt cheap and very effective.