Archive for the 'Photography' Category

Extension Tubes and Ring Flash?

Monday, January 30th, 2012

A reader asks on my Comparing macro lenses to extension tubes page whether or not hot-shoe or ring flash will work with extension tubes, or whether the working distance is too close.

Answer #1: I don’t know. Answer #2: Let’s find out.

I set up a tripod, put a 6 mm extension tube on a 16 mm lens, and asked Uiharu to model for me. The crinkled paper was intended to give a bit of light bounce from the room lights, but I ended up shining a flashlight into the paper to push up the brightness.

Extension Tube Test Setup.

Setup for the extension tube test.

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Canon Macro Lenses vs. Extension Tubes.

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Last year, when I was in Japan photographing cherry blossoms, I used a wide-angle lens and extension tubes for taking macro photos. This was because I had left my specialized macro lens at home. But the whole time I was there, I wondered: “would I get a better photo had I packed the macro lens?”

Finally, I decided to find out. Hence, this Canon Macro Photography Lens Shoot Out, featuring the following contenders:

  • A bunch of extension tubes,
  • a Canon 16-35 mm f/2.8 wide angle lens,
  • a Canon 50 mm f/1.8 normal lens, and
  • a Canon 180 mm f/3.5 macro lens.

All photos were taken with a Canon 5D Mark 2, at ISO 100, unless otherwise specified. The camera was set to RAW mode. All photos were lit by indoor light, except for the ones taken with the 180 mm lens, which were lit via a Canon Ring Flash. The short subject-to-lens distances when using extension tubes with normal lenses made it impossible to use a ring flash.

And yes, I know the lighting means it’s an apples to alligators comparison; fortunately, there’s a part two further down.

Very image heavy past the more…

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