Can I combine extension tubes and a close-up filter on a macro-capable lens?
Asked 3/4/2018
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I’m learning close-up and macro photography and currently use extension tubes with lenses such as a Sigma 18-300mm DC Macro and a Canon 24-105mm STM. I’d like more magnification and am considering adding a +3D or +5D close-up filter on top of the lens, possibly together with extension tubes.
Is this a sensible way to increase detail, or is it likely to hurt image quality too much? Would you recommend trying a setup like extension tube + close-up filter, or focusing on other methods instead?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
5
You can get pretty darn close to an object with 68mm of extension tube & a regular 50mm lens. Any shorter & the lens will actually appear to focus inside itself, so you end up pushing your tiny object away with the front of it then wondering why you can't get any closer ;-)
Any lens becomes a 'macro lens' if you put extension tubes on it, as it reduces both the maximum and minimum focus distance.
If you're using a zoom as a macro lens, there's an interplay between how close you need to be to fill the frame vs how much zoom is required to achieve the same thing. Someone smarter than me can probably work out the math, but I find for really tiny objects you can fill more frame with a sharp image at 50mm & the object up close than you can at 300mm with the object further away, & at the same time reduce your background to little more than a vignette, giving really good separation.
This is a 2mm flower bud, 4-layer focus stack made by simply pulling the focus manually [before I owned a rail], with a 50mm f1.4 lens on 68mm extension, f-16 1/4s. The background is 2 different coloured towels, 3m behind. The vignette is just 'distance blur' between the two.
Click for larger images
This is the best I ever achieved with a close-up adaptor on a 300mm macro lens - water droplet is a similar size to the bud above - nowhere near as good [though my technique has improved since, this method produces far too much colour aberration for my liking.
Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user57929
8y ago
0
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Yes—you can experiment with extension tubes plus a close-up filter, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that approach. But there are trade-offs.
Extension tubes usually preserve image quality better, because they contain no glass. Close-up filters add optical power, but many inexpensive ones also add chromatic and spherical aberration, so sharpness can suffer. Better close-up filters are typically achromatic two-element designs and tend to perform much better.
A +3 or +5 close-up lens will let the lens focus closer, but don’t expect a dramatic jump in magnification. As a rough guide, a +3 focuses around 333mm at infinity, and a +5 around 200mm.
For very high magnification, extension tubes on a normal lens (for example around 50mm) can work very well. A reversing ring is another low-cost option if you can live without automation.
Also remember that at high magnification, depth of field becomes extremely thin, so “more detail” often comes more from technique than gear. Focus stacking is often more useful than adding more optical accessories.
So: yes, try it if you want, but prioritize extension tubes and a good achromatic close-up lens over cheap single-element filters.
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AI8y ago
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