Looking to try out Macro..(and other stuff) Economically...


weeloong

New Member
Jan 4, 2011
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Hi all,

Recently started photography as a hobby.. Currently I'm only equipped with the canon 18-135mm kit lens.

I'm thinking of going into Macro shooting but am hesitating to go out and buy a dedicated macro lens as of now. So.. here are my questions:

1) Would close-up filters be a good choice to start off my mac shots (and more importantly, will they work with my current lens)?

2) I'm also thinking of investing in a set of prime lens (say the canon 50mm, f1.8 or 1.4) for sharper portraits. Will close up filters work on that as well?

3) If I'm only in still-life mac shots (i.e. not much of shooting small animals), will I still require more than 1:1 magnification?

Thanks in advance for the advice..
 

1. Close-up filters are definitely a good choice to start with if you just want to know if macro is for you. It will work as long as you get the correct size for your lens' filter thread. There are cheap ones around.
2. No human portrait with close-up filter. Close-up filter will not allow you to focus far. With the close-up filter on, you can only focus some 10-50 cm in front of the lens, depending on what filter you are using. Unless you just want to shoot a pimple on your subject's face.
3. It depends on how "magnified" you want your object to be, or how small your still life object is. It is your personal artistic taste.
 

Read the FAQ in the macro section.
 

Hi Chooz & Raskae,

read the FAQ.. but still have 1 question:

what is the difference in effect between the 2 setups:

- Camera + Extension tube + Telezoom/prime lens
- Camera + Extension tube + Telezoom/prime lens + closeup filter

Thanks
 

If you want to shoot cricket, butterfly, dragonfly etc get a +4 and +3 closeup lens for your18-135mm.

It'll give you plenty of fun for a start. These filter cost approximately $25 each

DSC03735.jpg
 

These are taken with closeup lens of different magnification +3, +4 and +10.

Closeup lenses

DSC00014-2.jpg


Samples taken with closeup lens

DSC00008-2.jpg


DSC00009-6.jpg


DSC00017-1.jpg
 

You can switch from closeup lens to higher quality Raynox when you develop the love for closeup. These cost approximately $120.

DSC00009-7.jpg
 

Hi Diavonex,

thanks for the help!!

The close-up lens u mentioned are actually close-up fliters rite?