Extension

[ghgooner]

Apologies if this is under the wrong heading but i couldn't think of where else to put it and i suppose it does involve Lens's of a sort I.E. Macro's.

Anyway before i ramble on a quick Intro - Joined Today - Name Grant - Age 45 - Camera EOS 300D - Photographing things for about 6 years.

Ok so you can see from the Camera listed above i'm on a rather tight budget. I keep reading magazines and they say don't scrimp on Tripods/Lens/Bags etc etc etc Then they show a "Budget" Tripod for £120!!!!!! I'm sorry but that's not budget in my household. So my complete camera setup is made up of odds and ends on Ebay. I have the normal 18-55mm and a 70-100 ( i think ) But what most impressed me was the tiny little disk shaped lens no more than 10mm in thickness that called itself a macro lens! Add it to my 18-55mm and Voila! Instant close ups! How impressed was i when i zoomed in on my first Fly! You could see all the hairs etc! marvelous! Or so i thought!

Next thing i open a magazine and suddenly i see close ups that were incredible! So i instantly set out to buy a dedicated Macro Lens only to find yet again that the price range is £160-£200 ( even 2nd hand on ebay )

I read an article in the magazine that mentioned "Extension Tubes"!! Mystified i looked into it and they look amazing. Manual ones for around £5!! I've always been told "If it looks too could to be true .....it usually is".

So.......Will these extension tubes make a world of difference to somebody as hard up as me? I'll add a photo of a dragon fly or 2 which i captured a few days ago using my ancient camera on my £19.99 Tripod /sigh. Please let me know if my £5 investment is a waste or if i should splash out on the automatic version at a super cheap £50 ish.

Thanks for any advice until i win the lottery

Grant

Edit - Oh dear - no picture Seems i have a lot to learn still - Will add it when i find out how





Wow it worked!!

[jet_kit]

Hi Grant,
Extension tubes are useful bits of kit in the macro world. But, (and there's always a but) you need to have a clear understanding of what they are and what you can expect.
Principally, when you focus your lens to it's minimum focus point you will have screwed it out so the lens assembly is furthest from the sensor plane. An extension tube is just an empty tube that fits between the lens and the camera body enabling you to focus on something even closer than before. Extension rings normally come in sets of 3 in the ratio of 1:2:3; Ring 1 is the narrowest. Ring 2 is twice the width and Ring 3 3 times the width of N0.1. So you would use them singly, or in combinations of 1; 2; 3; 3+1; 3+2 & 3+2+1
This is where the price difference comes in. The £5 set you're looking at are purely manual, there will be no electronic connection between the lens and the camera. This means that everything will have to be done manually; Lens focus & Aperture setting. Your lens may not allow you to do this (check before you do anything else). The other hiccup is that when you've stopped down to the required aperture it will get a bit dark in the viewfinder and you may not be able to see what's going on.
The more expensive ring sets have the required connections and your lenses will function as they do normally, except you'll be focusing a lot closer. It may sound like a huge leap in expenditure, but depending on your lens capability it may be your only choice - it will certainly be your better choice.
There's a lot been said about the 'quality' of the cheaper brands. But to be honest there's no optics involved and the only tasks they have to perform is: 1. Securely fix to lens and body. You don't want your lens to fall off. 2. Adequately extend the electrical connections. 3. Don't let any stray light in. If they can meet those criteria they'll be no better and no worse than the branded Canon tubes.

[hssutton]

during a bit of a clear-out at home my extention tubes disappeared, so I had to buy new ones, as I only use them ocassionally I didn't want to pay a great deal, so I went to Linkdelight. This is a Chinese company http://www.linkdelight.com/L9B-AF-Ma...OS-Camera.html delivery takes about a week. Very good quality at a very reasonble price of £38-61, not sure how well they will work with your zoom lenses (I use mine with my 100mm macro lens.

As an alternative have a look at the Ranox. It gets excellent reviews, samples here http://www.cameratips.com/recommenda...raynox-dcr-250 cost approx £42.

Harry

[ghgooner]

Thank you both Excellent comments which i shall deffinately follow up.

With reference to the "Purely Manual" thing - I have enormous trouble using Autofocus when i'm doing macro work so i guess that'll be no hardship as i will probably be doing everything manually? I may try to get hold of the tubes that come in 3 steps then add one at a time and see what sort of quality i get or if it even works.

Having looked at those reviews i may have to look into that Raynox kit - looks rather good at a fraction of the price.

If all else fails i'll just have to sweet talk the other half for 4 more months until christmas.

Thank you guys!

Grant

[hssutton]

Originally Posted by ghgooner

Thank you both Excellent comments which i shall deffinately follow up.

With reference to the "Purely Manual" thing - I have enormous trouble using Autofocus when i'm doing macro work so i guess that'll be no hardship as i will probably be doing everything manually? I may try to get hold of the tubes that come in 3 steps then add one at a time and see what sort of quality i get or if it even works.

Having looked at those reviews i may have to look into that Raynox kit - looks rather good at a fraction of the price.

If all else fails i'll just have to sweet talk the other half for 4 more months until christmas.

Thank you guys!

Grant

You may have missunderstood Jet Kit, when he said "Purely Manual" that is exactly what he meant.
Apart from manual focus you will also have no control over the aperture, this will always be at the widest setting when using the kit lens with the cheap extension tubes (or for that matter any non-manual lens) Making them effectively useless for you. Hence the reason I linked to the tubes at Linkdelight.

Harry

[ghgooner]

oh you're right i have misunderstood that and it changes a lot.

Thank you for clearing that up - i shall continue my research And probably continue to beg the mrs for a decent All singing, all dancing, Macro lens!