How CHEAP Extension Tube Photography Compares to EXPENSIVE Macro Lenses
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- Extension tubes are a cheaper alternative to using a decent macro lens, BUT how far can you push extension tube photography and how do the results compare?? More: bit.ly/macro-photography-hack | Save 10% at Squarespace: bit.ly/SquareSpace-Code-KARL
In this video, I explain what extension tubes are and why they can be a great alternative to a dedicated macro lens if you're on a tight budget.
I also do a detailed comparison between extension tubes and macro lenses on two different cameras at various apertures to help you make up your own mind as to which is actually better.
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Ive said it before and I will again - this level of information, no BS and delivery is second to none. Thank you!
Thank you very much.
I have both, and love both. There is something that frequently leads me to the tubes, and that’s the size and weight! Particularly for hiking and backpacking where weight is a crucial consideration, and even for weddings. Rather than carrying a macro lens just to get a few nice shots of the rings, the extension tubes take up a lot less space and weight in a bag to carry around all day!
In teaching college photography, I generally send my students towards the tubes, for the simple budget considerations.
That Hassleblad camera looks so professional sitting on that stand
5:16
WHAAAAATTTT????
My eyes almost pop out by seeing this crazy magnification
In my experience, it all comes down to 'time'. If you have the slow pace (more trial error and light tests) and tranquility of your own studio, the extension tubes are great. If you are a nature photographer (bugs or flowers) or shoot on the clock (client paying per hour or shooting on the go) you will benefit of a dedicated, lighter AF macro lens.
Good point
Your videos are like your camra system very high quality and very useful. Thank you 🙏🏼
Glad you like them!
Not only one of your best videos ever, but also doing a comparison not seen elsewhere! Bravo!
Great cheers.
Fantastic video, explanations and sample images. Thank you Karl for the great example of highly quality work/production that you share with us and for the positive impact that your educational content has on all of our experiences as fellow photographers. You are appreciated!
Many thanks!
Many thanks Karl, really nicely produced video and great surroundings, the information is clear and precise and music fine but a little loud, altogether excellent !
You always have the most interesting, most helpful, and thoroughly investigated videos. Thanks so much. Getting out my extension tubes today and having some fun.
Thank you.
Clearest diction on UA-cam, such a joy to listen to!
Thank you Karl! I've been following your work for about 8 years and I enjoyed this video!
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks
You deserve every bit of recignition of your work! Excellent production!
Thanks man, was finding the macro extension tubes to be too blurry in corners of frame, but I was at a wider aperture. Now I'll try with f8 or higher.
Good to hear
Thank you for a clear and concise explanation complete with examples.
Thanks for the comparison! I've been wondering about this for a while, but haven't had the resources to test the difference.
Glad it was helpful Reinis!
Amazing video. Top of the line production, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Excellent comparison. I've just ordered some extension tubes for use with my Canon RF 80mm f2 and my R5.
Thank you for the super informative photo technique class… I loved it. Nice studio BTW!
Cheers.
Intro, setup, results, conclusions.
Everything in 1 video, i have to say your videos is one of the best i ever watched.
Rather than those talked the whole day with no results and then make their own conclusions
Learning something new every week, thank you Sir!
My pleasure Mohapi!
Great video! Watched in on a loop like 3 times cause of all the information.
Glad it was helpful!
Nice video I will try the extension tubes with sony 55 1.8 !
Great stuff Ive been eyeing up a macro lens but have been using extension tubes up to this point was good to see your in depth tests that show you can scrape by on a budget using extension tubes more than one realises!
Yes that's true and thanks
Great video thanks for posting a short video straight to the point, I remember being thought photography a very long time ago macro lenses are corrected for a flat field and we had to go and photograph newspapers with a similar test if you could test the print at the edges you had a good combination (some identical lenses were different!). thanks for this.
Cheers
I’ve been subscribed to your channel for about 10 years maybe? Great content man. Great content.
I appreciate that
Nice video. I have not seen extension tubes tested like that before so it was very interesting to watch. I shoot live insects in the field, these days mainly with an MPE-65 or 60mm EF-S. Both handheld using a twin flash. When I first got into this field I used cheap extension tubes on the cheap nifty fifty. I had a lot of fun with that setup and learnt a lot, so tubes still have a place in my heart. I still use them occasionally on my 16mm for a different kind of shot. I think they are a superb tool to have in your bag.
Hi Phil, yes I've got the MPE65 too, it's an interesting lens with its own built in 'bellows' capability.
I've been a pro photographer for 30 years. Kudos Karl. You earned a subscriber.
Cheers
Outstanding video. I´m very grateful for having the privilege to enjoy it.
Thanks. As a beginner I’ll go with the tubes for now.
That is great test and video!
Very timely video. I'm doing a little macro shooting on Thursday. I sold my dedicated macro lens a few years ago and am having to go the extension tube route. I bought a set of tubes from Amazon for $20 US. I have my fingers crossed. It's not a critical shoot so I should be okay. The results will let me know if I should invest in another dedicated macro lens. Love your work, as always, top notch! Hopefully in 2021 I can rejoin your Karl Taylor Education site. Thanks!
Good luck and thanks for watching Gary! We're adding new LIVE workshops, classes and replays so there's plenty waiting for you when you return :-)
Hi carl, great video again! With what lens did you shot the lipstick image?
Super cool video, loved seeing the product image insights too
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love the montage!
Besides sharpness, how do depth do f field compares between the two? For the same aperture and frame, would I increase the depth of filed if I switch to dedicated macro lens?
Thanks Karl! Appreciated.
superb as always.. extension tubes are impressive value for money.. and so handy to keep in a bag! thanks karl
Thanks and yes absolutely
The reasons I opted for the macro tube set are for the low price as well as they were compatible with my entire lens collection. With the Macro filter you can only use them on compatible lenses as well as a reverse macro adapter.
Outstandig video mate.Thanks a lot 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it
Great comparison, thanks for sharing! :) I bought the Andoer Macro Extension Tubes Adapter Rings about a half year ago and I'm still happy with them (price-performance is great).
Thanks for the info and watching.
The loss of sharpness and contrast is exactly what you would expect when using an extension tube.
The image is enlarged beyond the sensor size when you use an extension tube, which means the circle of confusion is also enlarged, which is what leads to the loss of sharpness and contrast.
The important point, however, is that extension tubes work very well and are a good budget choice for many applications.
Nice video.
I got myself a used 60mm EF-S Canon Macro lens for Euro 200
The results are great. Sharpness is excellent up to F11. Then you get the unavoidable diffraction softening. But that is, like gravity, unavoidable.
Thank you sir nice video
Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this incredible information, you just gained a new subscriber..
Welcome aboard!
Does it have to be a prime? I wonder how my Sony 24-105mm F/4 would handle macro work on the A7IV?
so touching for an excellent video
I love my sony macro 90mm lens so much. I have been thinking about buying some extension tubes to mess around with to increase the maginfication on it for some shots and try it on my other lenses. Any recommendations on which extension tubes to get?
I’m probably just going to get a dedicated macro at some point. I’ll just have to narrow things down a bit more! All of my camera gear was in the backseat of my car when I got in my wreck. Long story short, the car started on fire and melted my gear. Thankful to make it out with my life, plus I thought there was no chance of me walking again.
what about macro lens and extension tubes vs bellows .. or reversing ring? just curious
Great stuff! Very informative and helpful for a beginner like me, thank you!
Quick question: Does the order that you stack the extension tubes matter?
Hi, no it doesn't.
Is there a reason you didn't mention the close up lenses that attach to the filter threading?
Do you ever use bellows or systems like a Cambo Actus? I have recently been considering one for both closer up work as well as being able to achieve better focus.
Hi Scott, yes I had a bellows/rail system back in the days of my old Canon FD stuff, it's still in the cupboard I think. I've got the MPE65 macro lens which is essentially a bellows built into the lens as it goes 1:5 I think. Although to be honest I don't use that very often as I don't often have to shoot true macro, just close up, cosmetics size stuff.
Hi Scott, The cambo actus system works quite well with the Rodenstock Diragon Lenses (which are incredible, but also SO expensive!). That said, I find that Mamiya RZ lenses adapt quite well and are very sharp and have a lovely rendering. The biggest problem with these systems is working with the SLR format. Because of the Mirror box, a major swing or shift will cast a gnarly shadow on the sensor, something that doesn't happen when using the same lens/bellows on a digital back.
i've never done macro photography before (im a landscape photographer) but i've been really wanting to try it to capture detailed plant close-ups and bugs and such. i find extension tubes appealing because they're not only cheaper, but i can also use any of my lenses along with them (i assume). i'm interested in trying a wide-angle macro shot though the actual lens touching the subject physically might be an issue. im sure i will upgrade to a macro lens later if i find i want to shoot more macro, but as a way to cheaply try out macro photography, extension tubes seem like the way to go
Thank you very much
So, do extension tubes increase or decrease the focal distance from the lens front element? So for example, if there is a 4 mm focal distance from a wide angle macro lens, and an adapter or extension tube is added, is that focal distance even closer? Or does that distance increase from 4 mm to something else?
Yes the focal distance becomes closer with an extension tube but it removes the ability to be able to focus on distant objects while the extension tube is attached.
Very nice,,,,sir,,,keep it up,,,
Lovely, good thing that I also have sony 50mm 1.8. Maybe I will buy 2 extension tube to achieve great macro shot without buying a 50mm 2.8 macro
outstanding thank you :
One bonus I've found is the 105 dedicated macro doubles up to make a jolly good portrait lens
Awesome review!!! I’ll always wanted to know exactly this!
What about if you put those extensions tubes on a GOOOOD prime? Like in Sony cases, the Zeiss 50 1.4?
I want to buy some extension tubes for my awesome RF 50 1.2
Hi, the results would be similar.
People just say macro is better, nothing like a dedicated macro
Never seen the difference like this.
Now I can decide Consciously and not choose the macro out of just sheer ignorance of hit knowing the true difference
Thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing this video! The price of a macro lens is impossible for my budget. It's still an excellent photo with an extension tube and I'd be happy spending on a 50mm and tubes to get clear photos of my small sculptures. They'll do nicely while my business is starting.
Can you use an extension cube with the Sony 90mm 2.8 if only taking macro photography?
Great video, will be watching loads more. I really could do with a stand like yours for photographing my metal detecting finds, what is the make or where can I get one?
That's a manfrotto super salon studio stand
@@VisualEducationStudio Bit pricey those but thanks for replying
great video Karl, but one other advantage to the dedicated macro lens, is that you have the ability to use apatures of 32 through to 64 like in a large format lens, giving you a much sharper image (dof at it's largest size), as for these lenses, wide open there is an extremely thin dof, so this style of lens can at times be hard to focus, at least manually, also a macro lens wouldn't lose as much light through this system as a set of tubes would, plus the iris is located in optimum position ( for less vignetting, CA, etc.), and less exposing the sensor to dust, as you only add ONE thing in front.
Yes correct and better flat field corner sharpness at any given aperture. Also many lenses such as the Sony 90mm Macro are super sharp for closeups but also double up nicely as a portrait lens.
CAn you tell me why my Canon R6 with an adapter and a Sigma 105 macro lens doesn’t work when I add a Kenko Extension Tube. They have worked on all my previous Canon cameras. I can’t get the shutter to fire. Thanks.
Due to limited space. I been using closeup filters with great success on watches and costume rings.
This guy is a beast. Very talented
Thank you.
Welcome
Thank you again!
Any time
If I use extension tube with 85mm 1.8 in sony a7iii does it work or i must use 50mm?
Karl,
Do you have any experience with achromatic close up lenses and the comparison with extension tubes.
Thank you,
FW
Not a lot i'm afraid. They are essentially magnifying glasses that screw onto the end of your lens like a screw in filter. I don't think they are optically superior to extension tubes though.
If you're going to go through all the effort to ensure the camera is level, why not use a cable release so there's less chance of knocking it out of focus by touching it?
first off on extension tubes, if you have a heavy lens don't trust cheap tubes, they can and do break apart.
i have both tubes and dedicated macro lenses, the tubes are great esp if you dont want to carry two heavy lenses on a walk about.
As for max magnification i have achieved 2mm across a canon crop sensor, it was with the sigma 100-400c at 100mm, 47mm of extension tube and two 2x teleconverters with a small tube to stack them on my M50.
oh and you will need a ton of light :).
as most higher mag macro work is usually manual focusing another great option for keeping it cheap is the get one of the vintage primes that are very sharp like the 55mm takumar ƒ1.8 they are easy to mount to mirrorless cameras with the correct adapter, the easiest being M42 mount to your body mount.
a 55mm ƒ1.8 prime that is crazy sharp for £20 yes please all day long, bear in mind they are manual ap and focus so you will be reaching for the modern af lenses pretty quick if you shoot moving subjects like birds etc :)
Great vid and subject Karl
Thanks and thank you for your comments
Thank you!
Welcome!
I'm just starting out with a Sony A6400 and I bought it with the Sony E PZ 18-105 F4 G OSS lens which has a minimum focusing distance of 0.45 metres (1.5 ft) - 0.95 metres (3.1 ft) and native magnification of 0.11
I'm trying to take photos and videos of shrimp in my tropical tanks so obviously due to the fact that they are in a water filled box I am limited to how close I can get but even if they are a cm from the glass, with a native MFD of 45cm and magnification of 0.11, they are tiny.
I thought extension tubes might help so I bought a 10cm and 16cm Meike set but seem to have an issue.
Depending on the focal length and whether I use 10cm, 16cm or 26cm, the MFD is sometimes less than the length of the lens. I thought it was a MINIMUM focus distance but even moving the focus ring to the other end (infinity), I still can manually focus.
Is what I am trying to achieve with this lens and extension tube combo impossible? If so, why (perhaps a video subject for the future).
Should I just fork out for a cheap 7Artisans 60mm f2.8 macro or go a bit more and get the Laowa 100mm 2x Ultra Macro and I believe it's because I am using tubes with a zoom lens.
Any advise welcome.
2:19 What is that black c-stand looking thing??
It's seems an interesting choice for cheap macro use. I have a question: why, in some videos, the image whit tube extender looks like noisy? Thanks for the answer!
It shouldn't appear 'noiser' with an extension tube as there is no glass, it's just a spacer. If you're referring to 2x converters though with glass those often look like they add noise to an image.
How noticable is this loss of sharpness on lower resolution cameras like an a7iii?
Is there a reason why you use a leveler instead of the one built into the camera (assuming your camera has one)?
Yes I don't trust the in-camera ones. At first I thought they were good and then I found out the drift and they seem to need calibrating regularly.
thank you teacher
You are welcome
70 300 or 55 250mm with extensions is awsume for butterflies nd similar kinda subjects
Thank you
You're welcome
Could you use both the macro lens and the extension tubes? Might get super close ups
Something I might just try.
Cheap slutions can also be:
1. A 2x tele-macro converter.
The 50 mm standard lens will become a 100 mm tele
going from infity to 1 : 1
2. Close-up lenses.
Probably to cheap and nobody wants to sell them
The shop does not know close-up lenses are mae by
Hasselblad, Leica and Minolta for the Rokkor Zoom.
3, Some people wear close-up lenses on their noses,
because their arms get too short to read the newspapers.
Won't lie , when I heard " At F45"
I may have crapped my self a little... I've never heard someone say F45...
Medium format is a whole different beast I guess !
I need to get that 90 macro already.
Nicely done! I really got a kick out of the finger print. I teach security studies and criminal justice. Thank you
Yes it went in very close
excellent video.....
Thank you!
wt abt chromatic aberation
Someone help me. Why does my new zoom lens (for distance photography), 55mm-250mm, Canon EF-S, IS, STM lens, have the word "MACRO" on it?
Why didn't you compare the macro rings with the macro bellows?
what about f128? :)
As always, trade off. Depends on what you're doing.
Dedicated Macro got more contrast. I think its in the coating.
woah, thanks. As a UA-cam troll, I can't troll on this informative video
Karl you should have done a macro of your watch only because I am curious to know what brand it is. I am guessing its a Rolex divers. Good presentation though I'd most likely go the extension tube route and use it on my nifty fifty. I don't think I would do so much macro to actually make it worthwhile buying a dedicated macro lens
Ha yes but it would only upset me when I see all the scratches from scraping it on shipwrecks!
@@VisualEducationStudio I never made it that far on the SCUBA course I was taking it with CMAS. that was my next stage which frankly kind of made me nervous and excited. It was time for me to leave though. Djibouti was probably the best place I dived at second comes Roatan. I am keeping my eye on a Citizen dive watch but no rush right now
What is that focus stacking software?
Helicon?
@@VisualEducationStudio Thanks, have you got a video on it?
Not here only on our site