Macro... More magnification please

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Jayceyned

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Hey guys,

Apologies in advance; a long one coming up. Hope you can bear with me...

I Have been playing around with macro for a little while now & have decided I want a little more magnification; either that, or maybe the magnification that I am able to achieve at the moment but from a slightly longer focal distance (I'm sometimes touching my subject with my lens to fill my image).

Firstly, I best let you know that I am using 18-55mm, with full set of extension tubes on a Canon 1000D.

At 55mm, with all tubes, I am able to focus at just a few mm's from my subject, so I thought that using a 'longer range' lens I would be able to both:
i. Gain more magnification with a similar min. focal distance, and
ii. Gain the same magnification as 55mm, but from a greater distance away.

I was wrong. I bought an 80-200mm lens, & end up with far less magnification than my 18-55 (when using in combination with my tubes), due to the relatively large min. focal distance of the lens.

I was also considering getting hold of a cheap 35-80mm lens & trying the same experiment. Could anyone shed any light or share any similar experience?

Does anyone know of any calculations that I could use to help me work out maximum magnifications with my extension tubes & various lens options?

& if 55mm is the optimum zoom for my set of extension tubes, how / is it possible for me to get any more magnification; could I combine extension tubes with a diopter?

Thanks for any help,

Fingers crossed,

Jay.
 
The only way to get a lot of magnification while retaining quality is to combine a real macro lens with extension tubes and a ring flash (even a cheap LED one).
 
Get yourself a prime.

A 50mm and a reversing ring with a full set of tubes will give you from 0.8x to 2x magnification by swapping the tubes, and it will retain quality.

It might be worth you trying a reversing ring with your zoom.

D in W
 
OR- buy a dedicated macro lens and use the tubes + flash

Les :thumbs:
 
Thanks loads guys,

I actually have a 50mm prime so the reversing ring seems a great low cost option. Would be a bit worried about using it though = I hate to think I'm exposing the internal element but will definitey have a good think about it.

Would the use of a 35-80mm zoom with tubes offer a tad more magnification than my 18-55?

Any leads to a magic calculation that would let me weigh up all of the options & pick the best magnification : cost ratio?

Thanks again for all of your responses,

Jay.
 
...oh,

Any any thoughts on using a diopter as well as my 18-55 and tubes,

Would it affect my focussing ability at all?

Thanks again for all of your help.
 
Buy a cheap old 50mm with an aperture ring and reverse it on extension tubes. No worrying about damaging a 50mm you like to use normally as well, plus you've got the convenience of an aperture ring instead of the irritating DoF preview method. You could also try this on a set of bellows for even more mag.
The vivitar 28mm f/2.8 (at least the models with serial numbers starting 28------- or so I'm told) is another good lens for reversing that can be picked up cheap (the shorter focal length will give more mag than a reversed 50mm, but most shorter lenses vignette when reversed)

Also you could put the 50mm reversed onto your 80-200 (leave the 80-200 wide open and stop down the 50mm).

Jayceyned said:
At 55mm, with all tubes, I am able to focus at just a few mm's from my subject, so I thought that using a 'longer range' lens I would be able to both:
i. Gain more magnification with a similar min. focal distance, and
ii. Gain the same magnification as 55mm, but from a greater distance away.

I was wrong. I bought an 80-200mm lens, & end up with far less magnification than my 18-55 (when using in combination with my tubes), due to the relatively large min. focal distance of the lens.
Fingers crossed,

Jay.
Click to expand...

This is only partly true, see tubes are more effective with shorter focal lengths. To double the magnification ratio of a lens you use extension tubes matching it's focal length (so 60mm of tubes on a 1:1 60mm lens should get you 2:1)
So even if the 80-200 did have the same native maximum ratio as the 18-55, the tubes would still be less effective.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Squishy,

Some really good info. I have to admit I was wondering about how you'd go about controlling the aperture of an ef lens if it was reversed, but getting hold or an older manual aperture lens makes total sense.

I tried a quick experiment with my 50mm reverses (just hand holding it) & it worked really well. Think I'll try get hold of the 35mm that you mentioned as I was wanting to have a go with a fully manual lens & currently don't have a 35mm prime.

Thanks again for all of your help, I really appreciate it & can't wait to have a play. Maybe wait until next pay day though.

Have a great evening,

Jay.
 
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