markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I have a set of Kenko extension tubes for Canon Ef lenses. My lenses are:
Canon f/1.4 500 mm prime
Canon f/2.8 24 - 70 mm II
Canon f/2.8 70 - 200 mm III
Canon Telephoto Extender 2x III
I shoot Canon 5 d M III and Canon 7d M II
I have a tri and mono pod.

I want to do some macro work with flowers. Which lens and extension tubes should I use. I have not done any macro work before, but I do extensive photography.
Thanks,
Mark

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Think of the tubes as a zoom lens that comes in pieces. Try different combinations to get the image size you want. The more tubes you use, the more focus becomes and issue - limited depth of field. You can also use them a do focus stacking to get a larger area in focus. Experiment with the lenses and see what you get.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Thanks jerryc41.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

To continue what Jerry was saying, you almost always want to use a tripod for Macro work. And to control the razor-thin DOF you will be getting, you may want to set your Aperture to f/8, f/9, f/10, or f/11.

In my estimation, the best Macro lens Canon ever made was the 100mm prime. So, of your lens, I would choose the Canon f/2.8 70 - 200 mm III, set at 100mm focal distance. Of your cameras, realize that your 7D MK II would magnify the results even further.

As an experiment one time, I used a Canon 70-300mm lens with extension tubes (I added ALL of them), and got a beautiful closeup (on a 7D at the time).

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Just googled the topic and found a very definitive article on the use and explanation of extension tubes.

http://www.school-of-digital-photography.com/2013/11/macro-photography-using-extension-rings.html
,,,

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Thanks Bob. Most of that I did know -but, one can never have too much info.
Mark

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

You might take a look at the UHH macro section...

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I too use the Kenko extension tubes, but when stacking all three I lose usually lose the electronic connection ( because of a very loose fit), The weight of my lens may contribute to this problem, but I can usually work through it. I always use a tripod, getting old can't hand hold much these days.
My setup is Nikon D7100, and a Nikkor 200mm macro, Gitzo tripod with a Wimberly head.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Thanks Bob,
Mark

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Thanks Manglesphoto
Mark

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

;) I suspect that's an EF 50mm f1.4 lens you've got. (If it were an f1.4 500mm, it would need to be more than 14 inches in diameter and would probably weigh around 100 lb.) Canon also has only just released the EF 70-200/2.8 IS USM "Mark II" within the last year or two.... It will likely be another 8 or 10 years until they release a Mark III (like yours). ;)

I'd suggest you experiment with your various lens and the individual tubes. Basically, you need about the same length extension as the lens focal length to increase a non-macro lens to full 1:1 magnification. A 50mm lens would need 50mm extension. However, all lenses have some built-in, inherent extension and closer focusing ability, so it's actually somewhat less than that. Also, flowers in particular generally don't require terribly high magnification.

Start with the EF 50/1.4. This particular lens will tend to vignette and will be a bit soft in the image periphery when used on a tube and at larger apertures. It's a standard lens design, not flat field like many macro lenses (flat field lenses are optimized for very close focusing). But this can be okay and used deliberately. For the shot below, I wanted some vignetting and corner softness, so used my EF 50/1.4 at f2.0, with 20mm or 25mm extension...



The above was done with my 50/1.4 on a crop sensor Canon camera. I would estimate it's about 1:2 magnification, or about half life size. If a full frame camera were used instead, the extent of vignetting and corner softening would have been greater. Stopping the lens down to a smaller aperture would have partially offset the softness and vignetting. The EF 50/1.4 can only do 0.16X (less than 1/6 life size) on it's own.

The shot below was made with an EF 85/1.8 lens and a 20mm or 25mm extension tube. It's stopped down to f5.6, but shows less vignetting and corner softness than the 50/1.4 at all apertures.



The 85/1.8 by itself offers even less magnification than the 50mm... only about 0.13X (little better than 1/8 life size). The above shot (also on a crop sensor camera) would have benefited from using a polarizing filter to reduce reflections off the berries and foliage and render better color saturation.

For the shot below, I did use a C-Pol and it helped with contrast and color. But this next shot was done with 24-70/2.8 (Mark I)... without any extension tubes at all. This zoom (and I'm sure your Mark II version, too) is very close focusing already. A 12mm or 20mm extension tube can increase that a bit, if needed.



The Canon 24-70/2.8's are very versatile lenses and can shoot close to 1:3 (1/3 life size) all on their own. You can add extensions to make them even higher magnification.

Your 70-200mm also should work great with the extension tubes. You'll probably want to work closer to the 70mm end than the 200mm end of the range, as less extension will be need to boost magnification... but I suggest you experiment with both. Below was shot with my "Mark I" version of that lens, with 25mm extension (and a flash)...



Some Canon lenses, such as the 24-70s above, are already very close focusing. The EF 300/4L IS USM is another one. It's the closest focusing of all of Canon's lenses with focal length longer than 200mm. It can do nearly 1/3 life size magnification on it's own (the other super teles only do 1/4 or 1/5 mag). Below is cropped a bit in post processing, but was shot with the 300/4L without any extension...



The easily handheld 300/4L is handy for shyer subjects such as butterflies... or anything that stings or bites... and its already good magnification can be boosted even higher, if needed, with extension tubes.

Even though extensions give proportionately less increase in magnification with longer teles, they still can be very helpful simply increasing the lens' close focusing ability a little. I used a 25mm or 36mm extension for each of the below images...



The tiny fence lizard above was shot with 300/2.8L plus 1.4X teleconverter plus 25mm extension to make the lens/TC combo a little closer focusing. The little bush tit on it's nest was shot with 500/4L plus 36mm extension to make that lens a little closer focusing.

So, experiment with the extension tubes and your lenses. They can be used with almost any lens. Use them with true macro lenses, to make those even higher magnification. Sometimes even strange combos can be interesting and might be useful. For the below image I used a 20mm lens with 12mm extension (on full frame film camera)...



The reason I wanted to use a wide angle lens for the above was to retain recognizable flowers in the background. A longer focal length would have blurred them into nothingness. But, even a minimal amount of extension makes for almost no working distance for a close-up with a wide lens like the 20mm. In fact, the flower petals were touching the front element of the lens above... Any more extension, the flower would have had to be inside the lens, to focus on it! (That's impossible, of course.)

The Canon Europe website has "EF Lens Work III - The Eyes of EOS" online in a series of six or eight PDFs that you can download. Toward the back of that are technical specifications of all Canon lenses, including their native close focusing ability/magnification, as well as how they perform when combined with Canon's own 12mm and 25mm extension tubes (only sold individually). You might want to download that info and/or develop a similar data sheet for your own kit of lens with the 12, 20 and 36mm Kenko tubes and the various combos possible with those tubes. You can calculate the possible magnifications.

But, honestly, I rarely do any math calculations for macro shots. I've just done enough experimentation and have a feel for what various combos of my lenses and tubes will do, from hands-on experience using them. With some practice, I bet you'll do the same.

Even though I have several macro lenses (Tamron 60/2.0, Canon MP-E 65mm, Tamron 90mm, Canon 100/2.8 and 180/3.5) I don't always carry them... but do always have some extension tubes with me. I learned to use them many years ago in another camera system and have always found them useful and helpful for a variety of purposes. In my Canon kit I have the Kenko set (12mm, 20mm and 36mm), two of the Canon 12mm, and one of the Canon 25mm tubes. All of mine are older versions that aren't compatible with EF-S lenses. Current versions of both Kenko and Canon tubes work with both EF and EF-S mount lenses... though there really aren't a lot of EF-S that lend themselves to close-up/macro work.

Have fun experimenting with yours!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Wow!! So very helpful. Thanks Alan. I did not realize I had a typo in my lens lists. Yes it is a 50mm not a 500mm. (i wish!!) My 7d MII with it 1.6 crop factor, coupled with my 70 - 200 and extender 2x gets me to 640mm - pretty good providing I'm outdoors.

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

One my favorite setups for shooting flowers is my 50mm with the 13mm extension tube at f16. ET's will decrease your DOF so that is reason for f16. Also consider using flash with ET's to get enough light for your shutter speed. You may want to consider using auto ISO until you get used to DOF and light requirements using ET's.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Speaking of teleconverters (Canon calls them Extenders, which can lead to some confusion), you also might find them helpful for close-up/macro work. A teleconverter increases effective focal length, which is basically the same as saying it increases the lens' magnification capabilities.... And, more importantly, it does so without changing the lens' close focusing distance. So a TC can also be useful for close-ups too (as shown in my post above... the tiny fence lizard shot was done using both a TC and an extension tube).

Macro extension tubes, on the other hand, increase a lens' magnification capabilities by making the lens closer focusing, but not changing the effective focal length.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Thanks,
Mark