New Tutorial: Macro Extension Tubes & Close-up Lenses

[McQ]

Another tutorial has just been added on macro photography:

Macro Extension Tubes & Close-up Lenses

Most of the content compares and contrasts the two options for adding magnification. Several examples and calculators are provided. It's meant to complement the earlier tutorial on macro lenses, and is a lot shorter.

As usual, comments/typos/suggestions/etc are all welcome. I'm still in the process of editing it so there may be some minor changes/fixes over the next few days...

[carregwen]

Very good, Sean. Seems to cover everything in a clear and concise manner. There is a good selection of tutorials on here now.

[Donald]

Sean

I suppose a good test is whether it makes sense to someone who doesn't really know about the subject. And the answer, I can testify, is - YES!

Very clear. Best described as good, no-nonsense advice and guidance.

[Sahil]

The tutorial is great. I had so many questions regarding this in my mind which are now gone.

A different close-up lens is require for any lens

Well English is my second language, but I guess it should be requireD. Just a small typo.

[triggerhappy]

Kudos to McQ for the nice tutorial.

Got get more knowledge about photography.

Keep it coming.

Mark

[arith]

I didn't know anything about macro photography, but I did find one of the notes a little confusing about f-stop; I thought that diameter of a lens was (focal length)/(f-stop) so my 28mm f2.8 is 10mm wide or would be if it didn't have compound lenses or I might be completely wrong.

I found it to be a very entertaining and pleasant read even though I don't think I will ever get interested in macro photography, cheers.

[rick55]

Hi, Sean;

Another excellent tutorial. It has exactly the information someone wants when looking at macro, close-up lenses, and extension tubes.

I have a few trivial wording comments:

The first section jumps right into extension tubes. Perhaps a brief overview of extension tubes, close-up lenses, normal lenses, and macro lenses will help readers get their bearings.

The first sentence in extension tubes says, "A macro extension tube is a device that adds high magnification capabilities to virtually any normal camera lens." But it goes on to include the use of tubes on macro lenses.

The section, "Types of Extension Tubes." Are there really different types? It seems that this is more about extension tube specifications or features.

It might be nice if the sections in the two major areas (extension tubes and close-up lenses) were parallel: "description," "specifications," and "pros and cons." Not by those names of course. It makes it easy to see the similarities and differences.

Finally, is it intentional to have the Close-up Lenses designated as "alternative," as if they're somehow a second choice to extension tubes? If so, perhaps explain why that is. If not, I'd suggest taking the word "alternative" out of the section heading.

Cheers,
Rick

[McQ]

I have a few trivial wording comments . . .

All feedback has now been incorporated into the article, with the exception of the suggested intro/overview section (which will be added later). Thanks for all the suggestions!

[McQ]

Well English is my second language, but I guess it should be requireD. Just a small typo.

Yes, a "d" should have been added there. It's been fixed.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Sean,

I haven't done my usual in depth review tonight sorry; just have to make do with these odds and s~ds

Thanks for this, I learnt a few things, but also noticed the following didn't seem to have been mentioned;

Light loss with Extension tubes (due to oversized image circle)
Is there also loss with close up lenses? If not, isn't that an advantage.
Disadvantage of Extension tubes is risking dust getting on sensor when adding or removing tubes, not so with CU lenses.

Scope creep ....
Are bellows worth a mention? (as a zoomable tube?)
Are reversing rings going to be mentioned anywhere? (i.e. to mount one lens backwards on front of another)
Use of tubes and CU lenses together to getting enhanced magnification

Cheers,

[McQ]

Light loss with Extension tubes (due to oversized image circle)
Is there also loss with close up lenses? If not, isn't that an advantage.

I've added this one, but with a qualifier, since I think the importance of this difference is often overblown. While the effective aperture increases with extension tubes, the amount of light captured actually remains the same as with close-up lenses if the depth of field is the same (ie, if the f-stop with the close-up lens is set to the effective f-stop obtained with the extension tube). Most macro shots don't shoot at wide apertures anyways, and depth of field / diffraction is the primary concern. To me, the only real disadvantage of the higher effective f-stop with extension tubes is that the viewfinder will be darker. Not having to worry about an effective f-stop *does* simplify things, but it almost never requires longer exposure times (as is often implied).

Disadvantage of Extension tubes is risking dust getting on sensor when adding or removing tubes, not so with CU lenses.

Yes, it's now been added. I had this as an advantage of CU lenses, but didn't add the corresponding disadvantage to extension tubes.

Are bellows worth a mention? (as a zoomable tube?)
Are reversing rings going to be mentioned anywhere? (i.e. to mount one lens backwards on front of another)

I've added a brief concluding section that summarizes other options for increasing magnification: bellows, reversing rings and cropping.

Thanks again!