kenco tubes or teleconverter

[Stevie Lee]

As alot of people own the Tamron 90mm. I was hoping for abit of advise.
I would liike my macro shots to be more magnified.
Do I need tubes or a teleconverter? If so what make of tele works well with a Canon 400d and the tamron.
Cheers
Stevie

[Reef bloke]

You need the extension tubes mate,the teleconvertor will increase the focal length of the lens but will probably effect the minimum focus distance, I.e you won't be able to get as close.
Using extension tubes will allow greater magnification whilst being able to focus closer to the subject, you will sacrifice the ability to focus at infinity though.

[Reef bloke]

it's also worth mentioning a teleconvertor will reduce the speed of the lens due to the extra optics cutting down available light.
An extension tube is just that,a tube. The lens if placed further away from the sensor so the image on the sensor grows if you catch my drift. A bit like placing a projector further from a screen,that description isn't technically correct but you catch my drift.

[MrFish]

I found that I can get better pictures using the Kenko than using the tubes, maybe just my technique suits the converter better and you may find different.

[MrFish]

I've just taken some shots using two different tubes, a 2x Converter and a reversing ring with the standard kit lens.

If I get a chance tomorrow night I'll post them up with crops so you can see the difference in the techniques.

[Tervueren]

How close do you want to get :shocking: check this spider out :D
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=28523029

[Wombat]

How close do you want to get :shocking: check this spider out :D
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=28523029

That's a damselfly/dragonfly :)

[Tervueren]

That's a damselfly/dragonfly :)

Scroll down a few pics, I ain't looking again I hate Spiders, and its a big hairy sod :shocking::shocking:

[Wombat]

Ahh yep that's a spider

[Reef bloke]

Wow those macros are close,looking foward to the comparisons Dave.

[Tervueren]

Wow those macros are close,looking foward to the comparisons Dave.
All taken without a macro lens as well :D

[Reef bloke]

Just shows you what can be done,superb.

[zimreef]

Awesome shot of the spider - can even see the photographer's reflection in each of its eyes! Wow! :D

John

[Stevie Lee]

A set of kenko tubes it is. Have a nice big spider in the bathroom and just cant do him justice
Many thanks
Stevie

[MrFish]

Take a look at Mike Plonsky's work, he use a similar technique

http://www.pbase.com/mplonsky/insects

The main problem with the reverse lens technique is the very very shallow DOF, but you can get extremely close. Mike Plonsky sometimes uses photoshop to take several photo's, each focused on different parts of the subject, and merges them to give a much deeper DOF. I've only tried this a few times and its not easy to do, my attempts failed miserably.

I havn't got time tonight but I'll get those comparisons up hopefully tomorrow or Friday. Don't expect anything mid blowing, their just simple shots showing difference in closeness, DOF and Sharpness from the three methods.

[Reef bloke]

Ill have to have a go at stacking macro's Dave on of these days.looking forward to your pics.

[MrFish]

Started a new thread on the comparison -

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=262866

[wookie7062]

If you use the teleconverter you will get closer to the subject and I don't think you will affect minimum focus distance. The problem you will have is that you will lose 1 stop(1.4x) or 2 stops(2x) of light and increase the focal length of the lens making camera shake a bigger problem. Because of the extra glass you will lose some quality.

I think tubes are better because all they do is allow you to focus closer. No loss of quality only a loss of light depending on the size of the tube. It is harder to focus as the viewfinder will be darker and you will get a very shallow depth of field.

The other option is close up filters which add an extra layer of glass and affect image quality. They will allow closer focussing without affecting focal length.