Beginner Beginner macro photography

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Bodhizan

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Hello all, just bought myself a canon 600D and looking to get to grips with photography. There are a couple of things I am really keen to try, I would like to take some long exposure shots of the sea and I would like to try out some macro photography.
I have just the 18-55mm kit lens at the moment and im on a serious budget, ive looked at a tamron 70-300mm macro lens that i could pick up for around £90 new and that really is kind of my limit spending wise at the moment.
For the long exposure shots im aware I would need a ND filter and i have a friend I could borrow a tripod from. Would my kit lens work if I just bought a ND filter for the log exposure shots?
 
Welcome to TP :) As above really.

Raynox is a good way for macro on a budget, and may be all you need. Have a look here, only 33,000 images to browse https://www.flickr.com/groups/raynoxdcr250/ They're with the DCR-250; DCR-150 is less strong, won't go so close, but easier to use and better for flower portraits and stuff that kind of size. Use them both at the longer end of your kit zoom.

That Tamron 70-300 isn't a great lens, and not a true 'macro' either. Similar price Sigma 70-300 is better with the same close-focusing option, or better still is the Canon 55-250 IS for £170-ish, plus Raynox.
 
Thanks for the advice, I will go with a raynox. No idea they even existed until tonight!.
 
For a tight budget you could always wait till the sun starts going down and the light is low. There is no need to buy a filter if you do this plus you will be in the best light possible this way. As far as macro goes, I heard a lot of good things about extension tubes and they are very cheap. I haven't used them personally but I have seen some shots that were taken with them and they turned out very nice.
 
If you're looking for real close-up shots then I expect you'll be disappointed with the Tamron, it doesn't get very close.
I've been very pleased with my extension tubes, my autofocus set, £60 from Amazon, are so much easier to use than the basic plastic tubes.
Also have a look at reversing rings which allow you to mount a lens backwards turning the wide 17mm into an extreme macro :)
 
The Tamron 90mm 2.8 AF Macro Lens, ideal for fairly close up work and cheap, a great little lens.
 
If you're really tight on money, you cant go wrong with a £10 set of extension tubes.

I have the tamron 70-300mm, its an eye opener on the 600d after using the kit lens.

Just watch about GAS haahahaha.

Extension Tubes £10 (polaroid electronic ones are about £50), F1.8 50mm (about £80) is a worth while investment also.

There are lots of cheapo filters you can buy to go on the kit lens - you wont produce the sharpest, cleanest images - but it will open up the doors to allow you to be creative (and thats what makes a GREAT photo) in your shots.
You can get screw on fish-eye lens to go onto your kit lens, giving you crazy distortion (but looks great), cost, ebay about £8


Have fun, I love my 600d, a little more so than my 6D believe it or not, that rotating display on the 600d - I WISH they had that on the 6d.
 
Bodhizan said:
Thanks for the advice, I will go with a raynox. No idea they even existed until tonight!.
Click to expand...

Just be warned that it takes a while to get used too and lots of patience. As with all things macro but results can be amazing.
 
Hi and welcome, i`ll agree with Bryne (tintin124) takes loads of practice, yesterday i took more than 100 photos and i got 2 descent ones so dont be disappointed if you dont see great results straight away. its blooming harder than it looks.
Dont dispair, help is here, you just have to ask.
 
Not that I've used one myself... but a reversal ring (allows you to mount your kit lens on the camera back-to-front) is a cheap and good macro option...

For macro, often the trick is to set the focus, then move the camera to get a sharp shot, macro ranges often have a razor thin DOF
 
Just some comments:

There are two Tamron 70-300 zooms, both very different. The cheaper £100 'macro' version is not very good (as I mentioned above, the similar price Sigma is better) but the £300-ish Tamron 70-300 VC is one of the best of that spec, and is certainly the best value currently available.

Those cheap £10 extension tubes you can buy have no lens-to-camera coupling, so no aperture control. There are some workaround methods, but they're a right PITA and frankly impractical.
 
As for the long exposures you need will need an interverlometer to go beyond 30 seconds or just install Magic Lantern for free which comes with this and many other great features for free.
 
I'm learning tons of stuff with every single day here. New stuff learned today: Raynox and extension tubes.
Definitely getting these.
 
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