Camera Labs

I've recently upgraded to DSLR from P & S. I own D80 with a kit lens 18-135. I've got following questions

Close up Filters.
How they work?

Is it worth to give a try, since its dirt cheap.

nmp

You screw them on the lens like you would an UV filter. They allow you to get closer to the subject than your lens would allow... You can stack more of them together to get even closer... The price you generally pay is significant Chromatic Aberrations... Canon makes 2 better closeup lenses - the 250 D and the 500D - which have 2 lens elements for reduced CA. Those are the only closeup filters I would recommend. The beauty of DSLRs is that you can buy macro lenses for your camera... they are more expensive though...

Darrin

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Nikon D40 | Nikkor 18-55 VR | Nikkor 55-200 VR | Voigtländer Ultron 40mm SL-II | Nikon Speedlight SB-400

Thanks Darrin,

But can 250D/500D be mounted on D80?

Thanks in advance.
nmp

As I said, you don't mount them directly on the D80, but on the lens you have mounted on the D80. You choose between the 250D and 500D based on the focal lenght range of the lens (the 250D is for lenses with a focal length in the range from 30 to 135mm, and the 500D is for lenses in the range from 70 to 300mm). Then you choose based on the size of the threads on the front of the lens, like you would chose an UV filter. For example, the 55-200 VR Nikkor has 52mm threads, so you can choose a 52mm 500D (link to it at B&H), and so on...

Darrin

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Nikon D40 | Nikkor 18-55 VR | Nikkor 55-200 VR | Voigtländer Ultron 40mm SL-II | Nikon Speedlight SB-400

Darrin has explained it accurately.
I'd also recommend going for the Canon close-up lenses (not "filters"). They're the best. If you just want to play around, cheaper close-up lenses will do. For your 18-135mm I'd go for the 250D. That's easy to carry around and screw on if necessary...
If you're seriously into macro-photography, there is now way to get around a dedicated macro-lens though...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thanks Darrin for the explanation. One more confusion, the UV filter which I'm currently using, mentions the thread as 67mm. Now what is that.

Thanks tombomba2,
Macro is a total unknown field for me so I tought let let me try with some cheap solution first and then switch on to Macro lens.

nmp

Yeah, that' as good start with a close-up lens.
Although I'm afraid the Canons don't have 67mm threads. So you have to look for other makes.
Anybody here can recommend 67mm close-up lenses?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thomas / Darrin

Just a couple of question for now...

A Macro is better or ultimate lens for close and personal.
A close-up lens is better than close-up filters .

So closeup are like decrease in length and increase in focal ?

And if you use a closeup filter (X2) on a wide-angle, effectively it changes say from 18-55 to 36-110 ? or is it the reverse ?




DavidL

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Nikon D7000 and a bunch of Nikkors

Well, DavidL: "close-up" and "close-up" can mean different things.

If you shoot from a distance (say 10m) and you want the subject at this distance "closer" to you, you need a longer focal length than your current lens. For this purpose, you can buy
(a) a camera-lens with longer focal length (tele-lens=best solution)
(b) Teleconcerter to put between your body and the existing camera-lens (teleconverters range from 1.4x to 2.0x magnification)
(c) There are also "teleconverter" that can be screwed onto your camera-lens, esp. for cameras, where you cannot change the lens. They also provide something like 1.7x magnification.
With all these solutions above you still can focus from infinity to the closest distance of the camera-lens.

If you're working really "close-up", that means at a distance from your sugject of less than 1m, you are normally limited by the shortest focus distance of your lens. In this case you take a close-up lens ("lens" in this case just being a single glass) that can be mounted in front of your camera-lens (phew - quite confusing: "lenses" and "lenses"). With the close-up lens mounted, the focal length of your camera-lens is shortened marginally but you can now focus much closer, so again magnification of the subject goes up. But other than with teleconverters, a close-up lens is not designated by a single magnification-factor (say 2x) as the real amount of magnification that you can get depends on the camera-lens that you're using: with wide camera-lenses, the benefit/magnification of a close-up lens is minimal and with camera-lenses from 50mm upwards the effect/magnification of a given close-up lens is increasing. Beware though that the combination of camera-lens plus close-up lens can no longer focus to infinity: The farthest distance you can focus now is the the focal length of the close-up lens, which normally is the designation of the lens, e.g. 500 = 500mm=50cm. Or the designation of the close-up lens is diopters (e.g. 2, 4, 5). then you get the focal length of this lens by dividing 1m/diopter, i.e. a "2"-diopter lens has 50cm focal length.

As to your question: There is no such thing as a "2xclose-up lens" or "2x close-up filter": either it's a "2x teleconverter" or it's a "2-diopter close-up lens". As you know from the above now both these gears work totally different

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thanks Thomas

For a great explanation !

Teleconverters - makes subject closer when one is far
Diopter close up - makes subject closer when one is at max closest range

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Nikon D7000 and a bunch of Nikkors

It's been a pleasure, DavidL!

But you know: Me as a German engineer cannot live with less than perfect precision (but have to with less than perfect english )
This being the reason why I had to to improve your last sentence just a teeny-weeny bit. I'd say:
"Diopter close up - lets you get closer to the subject when your lens is at max closest range"

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thanks Thomas

You are most welcome to correct any mistake(s).
After all we are here to learn and information is key.
And information would not be informative if its not share, would it ?

Thanks again

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Nikon D7000 and a bunch of Nikkors

Sorry to revive an old thread but it seemed appropriate to place my questions here.

I have a 450D with the 18-55 kit lens and I also have a Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM lens.

The 18-55 has a filter diameter of 58mm. The 17-85 has a filter diameter of 67mm.

I’m interested in the Canon Close-Up lens 500D as an interim option before I splash-out and buy a ‘proper’ and much more expensive macro.

As far as I can see these close-up lenses come in either 52mm or 58mm diameter.


So, here are a few queries; hopefully someone out there can advise me;

1. Am I right in thinking that the 500D is ‘superior’ to the 250D, or are they of equal quality but designed for use with lenses of differing capabilities?

2. Is the 500D compatible with the 18-55 kit lens, or would I have to use a 250D?

3. If I am able to use either a 250D or 500D with the 18-55 kit lens would there then be any point in attempting to fit another close-up lens to my 17-85? (For example, would I be able to focus even closer or get sharper photos with a 500D on the 17-85?)

4. Is there an ‘adapter’ on the market which would allow me to fit a 52 or 58mm diameter 500D to my 67mm diameter 17-85 lens?

I thought the 17-85 had Macro capabilities anyway? In which case I would stay clear of the 250D / 500D and shoot with that to determine if you like Macro or not and use that to gauge whether you want to upgrade to a superior macro lens such as the 100mm USM

ETA: For either of those lenses I believe you would actually need the 250D and not the 500D but I am not 100% sure of this.

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You can get adapters to go from smaller lens size to bigger filter size (step up) or other way around (step down). Plenty on ebay for little cost. Do note that with step down converters you run a significant risk of vignetting as you will be blocking the outer area of the 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
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