Extension Tube - Sample Pics?

[daft_biker]

Do the cheap tubes mean shooting with the lens at max aperture? Could explain the very shallow DoF! I don't know about Nikon cameras but with Canon EF lenses it is possible to "manually" stop the lens down by fitting the lens to a camera, setting the desired aperture and then removing the lens from the camera with the DoF preview button pressed....the aperture remains stopped down until you refit the lens to the camera without the DoF preview pressed. (sounds risky but have tried it with all my lenses without issue)

Don't think it's been mentioned as such that you can also use extension tubes with dedicated macro lenses to increase magnification. With the Canon 100mm macro and 68mm of Kenko tubes you get about 2:1 instead of 1:1 at minimum focus. I still use my extension tubes regularly on the MP-E 65mm...normally goes to 5:1 but with tubes I can get a little extra magnification and about 6.5:1...I like extension tubes

[navy.wife_2004]

oh wow, this is all great information! Awesome!

Originally Posted by daft_biker

Do the cheap tubes mean shooting with the lens at max aperture? Could explain the very shallow DoF! I don't know about Nikon cameras but with Canon EF lenses it is possible to "manually" stop the lens down by fitting the lens to a camera, setting the desired aperture and then removing the lens from the camera with the DoF preview button pressed....the aperture remains stopped down until you refit the lens to the camera without the DoF preview pressed. (sounds risky but have tried it with all my lenses without issue)

Don't think it's been mentioned as such that you can also use extension tubes with dedicated macro lenses to increase magnification. With the Canon 100mm macro and 68mm of Kenko tubes you get about 2:1 instead of 1:1 at minimum focus. I still use my extension tubes regularly on the MP-E 65mm...normally goes to 5:1 but with tubes I can get a little extra magnification and about 6.5:1...I like extension tubes

[xxpinballxx]

I use my 50mm which I can set the aperture manually.....
I don't know about autofocus lenses i have never tried them.

[photofun]

I'd love to try the extension tubes for my camera as well. Does anyone know if they work well with the Olympus 4/3 system? Did I understand correctly that I'd only be able to focus manually when using them? Are you not able to adjust the aperature when the tubes are attached? This is all new to me.

[inkista]

Only the e-bay super-cheap tubes (because they lack the electrical contacts that let the lens communicate with the body) force you to manually adjust aperture--so it's probably better to use those with an older manual lens that still has an aperture ring on it. The Kenko and Pro Optic tubes don't have that restriction, but cost a lot more.

Kenko only makes tubes for Nikon, Canon, and Konica-Minolta/Sony mounts, iirc. And the Pro Optic tubes do Pentax. So, you may be out of luck in terms of bargain tube sets. You may have to go with the Olympus manufactured one (no sets of variable lengths you can stack for combinations, and only a single 25mm tube available that I can see; Amazon's charging $120 for it). A lot to pay for what's essentially a hollow plastic tube with contacts.

You could still try lens reversal, though.

[mhuk05]

I use extension tubes with manual focus lenses so am using some cheap fleabay ones; my m42 ones are extremely sturdy (used with an EOS/ m42 adapter).

I don't have a "proper" macro lens to compare against but these are a few shots that I took yesterday with my 50mm lens:





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