Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro or Extention Tubes?

Shining

Shining

Shining

Associate
Joined
9 Nov 2003
Posts
434
Location
Perth, Western Australia
As per title,

I'm on the look for a macro lens, the Canon 100mm seems to be the best alround lens on the market.

I want to know what kind of results however I could achieve with the el cheapo extention tubes and the nifty-fifty?
 
I have a set of macro tubes, and got to play with a Canon 100mm macro this week. If I was seriously interested in macro work, it would be the dedicated lens any day of the week. As already stated, massively easier to use.
 
After chatting to rgtom yesterday I've deciding I'm going to order some Macro Extension tubes which fully support auto focus and similar, Lot cheaper than a decent macro lens !
 
Canon 100mm f2.8 is a brilliant lens - can also double up as a Portrait lens too - though you're likely to lose friends, its so sharp it shows up every pore :)
 
Another vote for both - i don't have the Canon (got the Sigma 150mm) but a friend does and it's silly sharp.

Also, as has already been said it doubles up as a pretty unforgiving portrait lens too! :)

gt
 
Is there any way of making a macro lens get even closer using theses tubes?

I have a Nikon 60mm macro and I'm a bit disappointed with how close it will get to what I'm trying to photograph.
 
Yep, it should get a lot closer - the only 'slight issues' are that you will have to get very, very close to the subject aaaand you generally lose the ability to focus to infinity with them fitted.

The infinity focus isn't much of an issue with macro work of course! :)

gt
 
Mark A said:
Is there any way of making a macro lens get even closer using theses tubes?

I have a Nikon 60mm macro and I'm a bit disappointed with how close it will get to what I'm trying to photograph.
Click to expand...

With the Kenko 68mm set of extension tubes you should be able to get just over 2:1 macro vs 1:1 without.
 
Is there a way to work out how close a lens will be able to focus with macro rings. I'm planning on getting an AF extension ring set from ebay with 13mm, 21mm and 31mm rings. How close could I expect my Sigma 70-200 focus with all of these on (for the sake of example - obviously not exactly the most compact macro setup :p)
It's minimum focus is about a metre....
 
I've had the canon 60mm macro for a few years and recently bought the sigma 150mm over the canon 100mm as reviews indicated its was a sharper lens and I must say I don't disagree!
 
PinkFloyd said:
Is there a way to work out how close a lens will be able to focus with macro rings. I'm planning on getting an AF extension ring set from ebay with 13mm, 21mm and 31mm rings. How close could I expect my Sigma 70-200 focus with all of these on (for the sake of example - obviously not exactly the most compact macro setup :p)
It's minimum focus is about a metre....
Click to expand...

The formula to work out MFD with extension tubes is quite complex, I found a calculator at http://home.comcast.net/~nikond70/Tools/Simple_Close-up_Calculator/Simple_Close-up_Calculator.htm this will give a rough estimate.

With the 65mm of extension tubes at 200mm the MFD will be around 720mm.

Is the extension tube set that you have bought listed AF confirm or full AF? If it is AF confirm you will not be able to change the aperture or be able to use AF, though it will light up the focus point to confirm focus.
 
It's a full AF set that I am after. I would have thought using 65mm of extension tubes would have made focus a lot closer than that :eek:

Having second thoughts now.
 
I got 814mm because of the 70-200s minimum focus distance of 180cm, giving around 1:2 magnification or half what you'll get from a real macro.

Perfectly fine for dragonflies, most flowers, butterflies etc. For smaller things just use them on your 18-55 as it has a much closer minimum focus.
 
Raikiri said:
I got 814mm because of the 70-200s minimum focus distance of 180cm
Click to expand...
My 70-200 is the macro variant and can focus at 100cm without extensions, I guess with the extensions it will be even closer than 814mm.

Good point about the 18-55 - also a lot more manageable due to the light weight and small size.

With that calculator I'm not sure what values I should be entering for Reproduction Ratio (I would have assumed this would be something that would change due to the extensions :confused:) and the power (D)
 
Ah, didn't realise it was the macro version. That comes out at 0.66:1 which is about the same as I got using my 50mm reversed (but you'll be able to focus much farther away). I posted the link to some pics taken @ 0.66x in my first post :)
 
Well I got my Extension Rings today. Amazed by how close I can get with the kit lens :D
With all three rings on I can focus at something about 2cm from the end of the lens!
Seems I can only use between about 35-55 and get a focus with all 3 rings though (not that I really need to change focal length at all)
I tried my 70-200 briefly and it focuses at just over a foot (at a guess) so should be handy for flies and other insects I can't get too close to. They feel pretty solid and take the weight of the lens fine, although I wouldn't wave it around whilst holding the camera :p

Hopefully will have a few shots tomorrow :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom