For Canon shooters, I’ve previously compared the Canon and Kenko extension tubes. Third-party extension active tubes, like the excellent Vello ones, are well-priced anyway. Personally I think that manual extension tubes are a waste of time because adjusting your aperture is a huge pain in the ass. Active extension tubes allow you to use your lens in the way that you would normally, but the autofocus will perform a bit more slowly. These passive tubes are, however, much cheaper. This means that autofocus is not possible, and the camera cannot control the aperture of the lens. Passive tubes have no electronic contacts to pass information through from the lens to the camera, and vice versa. Having said that, the same thing also happens with dedicated macro lenses when focused at their MFD.Įxtension tubes can either be active or passive. There’s also loss of light as the extension tube increases the effective f-stop of the lens. Since lenses are at their best in the centre, this generally isn’t too much of an issue, but you will be focusing the lens closer than it was designed to be. Whilst an extension tube does not contain any optics, it can very slightly degrade image quality because the centre of the image is being magnified, and thus any optical faults also get magnified. I’ve also written a huge guide to extension tubes: The Ultimate Guide To Extension Tubes.If you are nerdy like me, and want to see some of the math behind the change in MFD, I’ve previously written a tutorial about calculating the new MFD with extension tubes. Extension tubes come in different thicknesses to create a variety of altered MFDs for your lens. This, of course, also makes them handy if you can’t afford a dedicated macro lens in the first place.Īn extension tube is simply a spacer that goes between the camera and the lens and changes the Minimum Focus Distance (MFD), allowing you to get closer to your subject. Similar to reversing rings, extension tubes are a cheap and lightweight solution that allow you to get macro images using a regular lens. Left to right: Cheap, fully manual tubes, 3rd-party Kenko active tubes, Canon active tubes.Įven with a dedicated macro lens in your kit, it’s not always practical to carry all your lenses wherever you go. Honorary mention due to its incredibly short MFD –> Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS II 1. For more information, and my reflections on each item, please scroll down and keep reading. Quick Reference Listįor those who like things short and sweet, I’ll kick things off with a simplified version of the list. I’ve put together a list of macro photography gear tips for you to consider. Surprisingly, a dedicated macro lens is NOT on this essential macro photography gear list: There are several ways to shoot macro photos without needing to spend a ton of money on a new lens. It’s a fascinating perspective, but it’s a challenging form of photography to perfect. Invariably, all their shots for the rest of the day are explorations of the tiny world around us. When I teach my photography workshops, it’s always fun to see a student’s face when they try out a macro lens for the first time.
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