Standard lens + magnifying glass = easy macro?

[jpatten]

I have a +10 screw on macro filter. I did a lot of my macro type pictures with it. If you do it right they have pretty decent quality I think. They are a bit soft on the focus.

[sleeping]

What NBD said…. Except I haven’t gotten them for my 70-300 yet, but have used them alot on my 55-200. I like them as far as general purpose, but they have been gathering dust as of late since I’ve been using the bigger glass and extension tubes.

That’s the part I can’t figure out. Why would you ever use one of these when a set of extension tubes:
a) costs about the same (non OEM)
b) doesn’t introduce any new glass and therefore doesn’t affect image quality
c) gives you more flexibility (different combinations)
and
d) will work with any lens you own?

I find that both have their uses. Extension tubes can have some significant disadvantages too.

– Close up lenses don’t usually interfere with a camera’s automation, extension tubes can.
– For a long telephoto, close up lenses can give more magnification than tubes (conversely extension tubes have a stronger effect on shorter focal lengths).
-If you’re looking to get just a little bit closer with a wide angle, extension tubes also may not work because you can’t get one that’s small enough.
– Close up lenses will work on fixed lens cameras
– It’s not actually true that extension tubes don’t affect image quality. Especially for lenses which aren’t well corrected for close up work you can get increased field curvature, etc.
– Extension tubes can increase mechanical instability especially with a heavy camera body or lens.
– Close up lenses don’t decrease your effective aperture.

[lokisbong]

So the Extension tube would be the way to go for my 18 -55mm kit lens? I can deal with focusing manually.

[jpatten]

I use the filter mostly on my 18-55…

[Zumaki]

I still haven’t tried that throw-tography thing. Maybe I’ll resurrect my old point and shoot this summer for that purpose (because I’m sure as hell not trying it with my real camera!)

It can be really fun if you can be imaginative. One of my better ones that I can’t find right now involved a 10 second shutter time, 4 of which were spent with the camera sitting on a brick wall capturing a ferris wheel spinning at night, then i threw it up in the air and it added all sorts of light streaks. Looked amazing. People walking by thought I was totally crazy throwing my camera 10-15 feet in the air though.

[Author]

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