Reply To: Macro Lens

[stupido]

I will reiterate the macro/close-up lens adapters. I usually keep a set with me. I have gotten very good results with them. I do have lenses with macro, extension rings and bellows, but the adapters are the way to start out.

Basically they are magnifying glasses. The +1, +2, and +4 is their power in diopters. You can stack them to get higher power. IE a +2 and +4 together is the equivalent of a +6. You have more surfaces so there is more chance for reflections. They differ from your drug store magnifying glass in that the back glass surface is concave instead of concave. That is they are shaped more like reading glasses than a hand held magnifier.

Extension tubes and bellows fit between the lens and the camera and move the back focus of the attached lens. Basically you can focus closer to the subject and hence get greater magnification.

My HP912 digital camera works with them best with it set to macro mode. My K1000 of course has no setting. I have not tried my new *istDS with the close-up adaptors. I used a focal length doubler which had a macro feature (adjustable extension tube) on my light bulb pics.

Ditto on moving the camera instead of focusing the lens. There are really nice focusing jigs sold by Edmund Scientific which seem like they would fit the bill. Basically shifts the camera via a thumb wheel. I have been meaning to buy one.

Remember lots of experimentation and lots of bad shots but its fun.