Tips for Macro with extension tubes?

Dman

Dman

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Right, I've decided to have a play with some macro to see whether I want to actually buy a macro lens, and have just bought some Kenko tubes from a fellow TP'er.

The question is, should you always use a prime for macro (I'd use my 50) or is it ok to use a zoom such as my Tamron 28-75 2.8? I take it I should work at around f/8-f/11 to maximise sharpness?

Not sure exactly what I'm going to shoot for test purposes, but it would be good to have an idea of how it all works, as I've never done macro in any way, shape or form.

Thanks
 
You can use zooms or primes. You can use zooms with or without the 'Macro' feature built in too. The aperture you choose will depend on how much DOF you want, when you go macro f/8 is still a very small DOF. I find I use f/16-f/32 more often than not, to get more in focus.
 
Dman said:
Right, I've decided to have a play with some macro to see whether I want to actually buy a macro lens, and have just bought some Kenko tubes from a fellow TP'er.

The question is, should you always use a prime for macro (I'd use my 50) or is it ok to use a zoom such as my Tamron 28-75 2.8? I take it I should work at around f/8-f/11 to maximise sharpness?

Not sure exactly what I'm going to shoot for test purposes, but it would be good to have an idea of how it all works, as I've never done macro in any way, shape or form.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Start of with your fifty and one tube, have a practice the add another tube and practice again , then add the final tube, use fully manual settings including focus, set the lens to its closest focus point , the body to 1/100 and f11, iso 200 use flash. focus by rocking the camera backwards / forwards - take some shots of a ruler and you'll see the effects on magnification by adding tubes, and if you alter aperture you will see changes to DOF.
 
I had a play last night, they're going to take some getting used to I think, especially using handheld.
 
i got some very cheap tubes from amazon which i cant adjust anything with but aslong as the subject i`m using has enough light i can get good shots.
bit small sorry,i`d also use a tripod,holding will make it much harder.
 
They are metal one side and plastic the other. Can't remember which is which though. I asked the question before deciding to buy Kenko.
 
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