Raynox DCR 250

trapper501

trapper501

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Nick
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I quite fancy trying my hand at a bit of macro.

Years ago when I did a lot of 35mm stuff I used to use extension tubes and took some good pics of flowers and insects but nothing like the sort of stuff you see on the threads on here.

I was thinking about buying the raynox as a cheap starting point but never having used one my immediate thought is that it is tiny in diameter (49mm I think) so that is going to cut down the amount of light significantly.

Perhaps if anybody has any experience of these they could tell me how they got on. The lenses I can try it on are the canon 70-200 f4L and the EF-S 17-55 f2.8

From what I've read the 200 is the right way to go but that is already at f4, what effect does the raynox have on that?

I was hoping for a cheap way in, but it may be that I'd be so unhappy with the results it might just put me off.

If it does work, though, it would be small enough to carry around on the off chance if we found something exotic to photograph when on holiday.
 
It's all about depth of field. To get really close you will need to stop the lens down to get sufficient depth of field so will need to use a flash anyway. Not sure how it'll work on the 200mm. I usually use mine on my 105mm Macro lens which gets me this close. I'll have a play with my 70-300 at 200mm later and post a couple of shots if you like. You might be better with it on the 17-55 at 55mm? :thinking: :shrug:
 
So you use it on a Macro lens?

The alternative, without going for a dedicated Macro lens straight off, seems to be the Canon screw in lens 500D and 250D (though they have made their numbering system very confusing with the 500D body)

Those are more expensive but I could get a 500D for the 17-55, I'd need a step down ring to get down to 67.

Just reading about the raynox further I don't think it would fit on the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 as that is a 77mm filter thread.
 
Here you go. Both at 1/125th, f5.3 (minimum aperture) ISO 800.

Closest focus on lens:
3569164967_d52b44c76f_o.jpg


Infinity focus on lens:
3569164617_9b472c5ed8_o.jpg


Edit: Actually at 240mm - I must have twisted the zoom ring a bit, but you get the idea! :D
 
Thanks for that, very scary DoF, must be about 2mm.

I've been reading up about sticking the 500D onto the front of the 100-400 which sounds fun if a little unwieldy.

For £38 or whatever it is the Raynox costs it might be worth a try. the 500D is more like £120
 
The DOF really is CRAZY on this thing.
You have to be soooooo spot of, and not move even a millionth of a millimetre, or it throws the focus way out!!!

But, it's a cracking (and cheap!) macro lens, and it produces some great shots when you get used to it:

 
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