Camera Labs

Hello everyone,

I'm researching some new gear to buy for Christmas for myself, and being a poor student, I don't really have all that much money to throw around.

I was originally going to purchase the Sigma 50 f/2.8 macro lens, along with the Nikkor 55-200 VR lens.

Then I came across teleconverters and macro filters. What are the benefits and cons of both? I was going to use the TC on the 55-200 to get a 110-400mm Zoom range, and the macro filters on my 50 f/1.8.

Thoughts?


Eric D.

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Eric D.
Nikon D90 | 18-200 VR
"Less is the new Black"---Chase Jarvis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25947744@N03/

I've seen some cheap macro filters, and they could really get up close. But the IQ went way down, when you used the more powerfull ones.

I've never used one or wanted a TC.
But it will be usefull cus you can double (or 1.4x) your focal lengths (and apertures), and you can take them off again and put them on another lens. So you would get double focal length and aperture on all your lenses of the same brand. At least how i understood it
I've also seen that the 2x does draw down IQ more than the 1.4x.
0eyvind

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

Close up lenses do what they say. They give a small magnification by themselves, but also allow you to move closer thus making objects bigger. For more on them see my other notes in this thread. They can be found very cheap, but those are made of low quality glass which leads to increased CA and unwanted reflections. There are more expensive higher quality ones, but of course they're more expensive. To keep at the same quality as the lens is normally while getting bigger images, also consider extension tubes.

Haven't used a TC myself, but do try to find a review for the intended lens+TC combination you're looking at. Many times I've seen it said that the quality might not be much better than you would get from doing a digital zoom in software with the lens normally.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Ok, I'll think I'll skip the Teleconverter then...

How about extension tubes for macro photography? I've heard that they require a little bit of work to get good results with.

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Eric D.
Nikon D90 | 18-200 VR
"Less is the new Black"---Chase Jarvis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25947744@N03/

I was at a friend of my parents studio one day, and he used them to do some poduct shooting. And it didn't seem very much different.
i think it's only manual focus though, but on a tripod it can't be too much of a porblem.
Problem is that you can't focus more than 1 meter away or something.

0eyvind

_________________
Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

Extension tubes advantage is they don't have any glass in them, so you don't get a further degradation in image. However it still does cause some light loss.

As for focus, generally macro has a shallow DoF so manual focus will let you put that exactly where you want it. However, some tubes do have the electrical contacts present to pass the lens data through, so autofocus will works if you want it.

Due to the physics involved, the tubes basically shift the minimum AND maximum focus distances closer to the camera. The longer the extension, the closer they get. So don't expect to leave them on generally.

With the above considered, I don't think they'll be any more difficult to use than an actual macro lens.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Alright, I'll look into extension tubes then.

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Eric D.
Nikon D90 | 18-200 VR
"Less is the new Black"---Chase Jarvis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25947744@N03/

I had similar dilemma a few months ago and found that extension tubes are not actually that cheap. I ended up buying a real macro lens.

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Sony A200
Sony A700
Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II
Minolta AF 50 F1.7
Minolta AF 50 F2.8
FLICKR

They aren't bad, $170 I believe for the kenko set of 3.

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Eric D.
Nikon D90 | 18-200 VR
"Less is the new Black"---Chase Jarvis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25947744@N03/