close up work

ive been looking around and there seems to be an array of ways to make close up phoography work.

close up filters, macro lenses, extension tubes, close up bellows...

im really confused. i have a macro feature on my sigma lens but it doesnt allow me to get very close. ive found a set of extension tubes cheap on the net but am not sure how good they really are.

can someone please give me some adv. and disadv. on the equipment listed above.

thanks for your help

Griff

Close up lenses (filters) are cheap and cheerful, need no exposure increase but do need the lens to be well stopped down for best results.

Macro lenses are expensive but excellent and offer the flat field necessary for close ups of flat subjects such as documents.

Extension tubes need an increase in exposure but work very well by moving the lens further away from the camera so it can focus closer. Optical quality is not compromised. If you want meter linkages to work, buy automatic tubes.

A bellows unit works in much the same way as extension tubes and gives greater magnification but is more unwieldy.

Some zoom lenses offer a macro setting, but this rarely gives more than 1:4 magnification (a 1 cm long subject will be 0.25 cm on the film) and the quality varies.

Finally, putting a reversed 28mm lens in front of a standard lens and connecting them via a reversing ring will give very high magnification and good results. (Not a f1.4 standard lens, though!)

Just to add to John's accurate comments:
Close up lenses are very convenient to carry around and use. Optical quality is pretty good.
Extension tubes give great results - you can put them on most lenses (including telephotos), but there's a bit of fiddling around. With the *istD it takes a few extra steps to make it work.
Macro lenses are superb. I have the Pentax SMC-F 100mm/f2.8 which is a beauty of a lense, and since that both my close ups and extension tubes haven't been used I also use the lens for portraiture and it's wonderful, but yes, expensive.

With any closeup work you will need a really solid tripod, a cable release, and a lot of patience. Don't expect good results hand held You need to stop down and go for slow shutter speeds.

There's also a really good overview here: http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm?recid=65

Regards,

Matt

cheers for that Matt.

as a student and being new to photography i think i will leave the macro dedicated lens for now.

what do you think of macro converters? are these esentially the same as extension tubes? and do these need any kind of specification of the lens. i have a 70-210 sigma f2.8 with macro. hope this helps.

A macro converter is typically a 2x converter that doubles the focal length of a lens, so it has perhaps up to 7 elements on its construction. As it magnifies the image it will also magnify abberations in the main lens, as well as having defects of its own. However, as the minimum focus distance remains unchanged it enables close ups to be made. A macro converter also has some form of helical focusing of its own to enable true macro to be undertaken.

It works, but quality may suffer.

Hi,
I would agree with everything John has said. If you are on a budget and want to play with macro, I would avoid the macro converters. You haven't said which camera you are using. If you are using one of the "crippled" mount AF bodies, you may well be very limited. If not, I would go the way of extension tubes and a 50mm prime lens. The best normal 50mm's for macro work are probably the F1.7s. These have a better flat field performance over the larger aperture lenses. With a bit of patience and lokking around, you should be able to pick one up for about £20 or less. A set of 3 ext tubes will be about the same price. These will enable you to focus a lot closer but without any more optical errors. These would also work with a moderate telephoto lens which would allow you to work a little futher away but with the same magnifications.
Regards
Kim