Howdy, I've been a wildlife photographer for many years, and I'm looking for options regarding going deeper with macro. I've been carrying the 60mm f2.8 for as long as I can remember for the 7D MII, and it's a great lens, which I use for a lot of plant and insect photography. The issue is once the subject drops below 10mm, the photos suffer. In short, I'm not super camera smart but I'm hoping to explore possibilities for solving this issue. My natural inclination would be a different lens, extension tubes, or whatnot. I've looked into the 100mm lenses but I can't find examples that they really excel at these tiny details any more than the 60mm does. Extension tubes seem like they'd work but I can't work out if they still allow autofocus or if they hit the quality so hard it doesn't matter. Here are 2 particular examples, both are minute springtails. The first is on the larger end of these organisms, and the photo is actually not too bad, but still low res once I end up cropping the image 95% from the original. The second is just so tiny I can't manage much of anything, and that's where the issue is very very prominent.
I think that one of the better ways to take the next step in macro photography is to get yourself a set of extension tubes. Cheap enough used. Easy to use. They allow closer focusing, but they loose a little light. There are no glass elements in them, and they maintain auto focus, and aperture control. What's not like. Gary
Here is an example of what I mean. I got home and it is dark, and now it is raining. But I grabbed this lavender plant that is just about to flower. From the stem to the tip of the flower head I would guess that it is all of 15mm. The subject is not the best as it is round in shape, but you can see the narrow depth of field. The image is pretty well straight of the camera. No cropping, I just lightened the image a little. Gear used is a RP, a Sigma 70mm f2.8 macro lens, and a Kenko 36mm extension tube. The tubes that I have came in a set of three tubes. A 36mm, a 20mm, and a 12mm tube. I have found that I can use them singly, or in any combination of tubes, and they work fine. I have read that the Canon ones you can't stack them. I am not sure if this is correct or not. Would this sort of set up work for you? Gary
I also recommend extension tubes as Gary has suggested, also there are other ways you can do this, make your own, you can check this out on You Tube and use screw in macro filters, they come in a range of strengths from 1 up to 10. Again check them out on You Tube, all the best with it.
I think ideally if I go that route I want to be sure I won't lose auto focus, which apparently is an issue with most extension tube setups. But I've heard not all cause that problem...
I can not help you there as I use old film lenses and a adapter with the close up filters. May I also suggest you have a look on You Tube, they have some excellent videos on macro photography.
Just to make sure that was not leading you down the garden path. I grabbed my extension tubes, flicked my macro lens to AF, to see what happens. And yes, the lens will autofocus. Okay, it is not superfast. But it does work. One of the things I do like about using tubes is that they will work with any lens. Gary
have you taken a look at the Laowa 100mm 2:1 macro for ef mount? high quality optics i took this just as a hand hold one as you are shooting live insects, on a tripod you can get it down to 12mm the most i have gotten is a sigma 100mm-400mm @100mm with ext tubes and x2 2x extenders, below is 2mm of ruler but its a really only a studio set up due to the tubes and xtenders making it pretty long set up. body i use is crop M50 both lenses used the ef to efm adapter both images are unedited, uncroped
I've heard of it. 100mm macro lenses intimidate me because most of my field experience requires being very close to the subject (for instance, something buried inside a bush or in a narrow opening, where I can't stand back or easily clear a gap to take a distant photo through). So maybe I'll see if the minimum focus is decent.
Thanks for checking. Just to confirm here, you're using the 60mm macro to test? Do you have the Canon EF 12 II or 25 II extensions by chance? The real burning question for me is actually seeing what they are capable of with the 60mm. None of the local stores here have them so I can't playtest easily. I'd be incredibly curious how much more they add compared to the base 60mm without any extenders. That'll be much of my decision on where to go with them. I want better macro, but I also don't want to sacrifice too much utility (e.g. autofocus, infinity focus, aperture) if possible. Perhaps there is no way to compromise there, regardless.
if you are wanting close working distance have you tried the EF-S 35mm macro IS STM? i have the ef-m version which is a 28mm, both have a built in light in the end of the lens, one of its features is it has a very close working distance of around 3cm and with the end light it might be good for you, from the efm 28mm version and doing the same tape test, hand held, uncropped image, with the light on the end and IS it makes for a very easy to use macro lens
No, I am using a Sigma 70mm macro, an older lens, and Kenko extension tubes. If you use these tubes, you will loss infinity focus while you have your lens attached to these tubes. Same as if you attach a close up lens to the front of your lens. Gary
Thanks that was actuly one of my early images when i first started photography, i'd say at that point i didn't really know stuff all that well which is also a good shout out how easy the canon 28mm efm macro lens is to use if i had of started macro with one of the more dedicated lenses i may well have found it too frustrating. i expect the ef version is probably as easy to use too, i'm guessing the ef one was out first?
I picked up the EF2 II extension tube this morning. It more-or-less seems to push about 1.3x the resolution for the smallest subjects. Losing infinity focus is a harsh side effect though, and I'm not sure if I'll enjoy that in the long run. Without that I can't take general habitat images or further shots of plants, which I do a lot of. I suppose I'll have to think hard on that. Lots of good advice here to remind myself on too. Thanks all!
Silversea, like any new bit of kit, you have to use it and learn it's faults and advantages to get the most out of it. This is what makes photography an adventure
Certainly! I'm just trying to take as few lenses as possible on my expeditions. As is, having two I have to switch on the fly every few minutes can be a hassle, but it's a price that's worth paying. The teleconverter for my telephoto lens hasn't reduced its functionality by more than some light generally speaking. So I was optimistic that something similar could be the case for the macro.
Silversea, I have a heap of gear and used to carry a fair bit but in recent years have set up a travel kit, to keep things light and to hide the fact I have camera gear in my bag. I use a Thinktank Retrospective 7, it has a shoulder strap so it is not a back pack with heaps of pockets on it, so it does not look like a camera bag. I usually find that the more pockets a bag has, I have a habit of putting things in them so the weight goes up, defeating the purpose of having a lighter load. to access it, just pull it around to my front and lift the large flap covering it. in the bag I have my Canon 60D, a 28 - 105 zoom lens, 75 -300 zoom lens, a cheap lens wallet with 3 close-up filters for macro work and a polarizing filter and a yellow filter, when it comes to sunsets, I like to cheat and enhance the image, A nutral density filter for very bright days and finally some spare SD cards in aluminum wallet which take up up to 6 SD cards. This set up is very light and gives a good range of focal lengths. your use of a tele-converter should also aid in this, Some times I have ditched the 28 - 105 and put in it's place 0.43 reducing filter, This is just a bit of glass that screws onto the front of the 75 -300mm lens, giving a wider view. Focal lengths now range from 32mm - 129mm. This leaves me with just one lens. Like anything in life you need to chop and change to find a good fit.