jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

My lens is a 24-105 L MACRO---

I really enjoy close up work and wondering if these Close Up filters (I'm looking at the B&W Brand) add anything to a Macro lens? I realize the Canon 24-105 zoom is not a 'true' macro--or so I'm told. Or are these filters designed to help only a non-macro lens?

Any experience with this? If so, should I buy a kit of them like the 2, 3 and 4 so I can stack or is say a 4 good enough?

Thanks for your time. Jeff

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

i haved used them one day with 3 piece extension tube. put a drop of milk on table let fly eat then fly moved back got good shot of a bubble of milk it was still eating but cant rememmber which folder it in to save me

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

forgot used a 18 55 lens

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

Dirtpusher-- Would be fun to see your fly pic. Also, I don't doubt they work, what I'm wondering are they overkill or at all effective on an existing MACRO lens?

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

rememmber first time not much focus to play with real short focus. i did talk to owner of camera store he told me need macro then can boostthem but loose focus range

BBNC

Every piece of glass, especially the cheap stuff, you put in front of your lens can be a source of unwanted reflections, image degradation, etc. Having said that, B&W makes very good glass, and if I used close up lens adapters, I wouldn't hesitate to use theirs.

I would rather use extension tubes and just put up with the little bit of light loss each one adds to the equation.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Uniform dof is an issue with screw-on's but they'd definitely boost the macro capability. Tubes are better.

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

So Mr. Gessman...You are saying that the screw-on Macro filters will indeed help even on a macro lens?

Since I know nothing about extension tubes, what do they do differently and/or better than the filters--how do I go about chosing one? Brand? Size? Any further specific suggestions would sure be appreciated.

gessman Loc: Colorado

All the screw-on's I've seen have a curved surface so the flatter the subject such as a longish bug, the quicker the magnification of that subject tends to bend away from the subject which diminishes the in-focus surface of your subject.

Extension tubes move your lens out away from the body hence changing the focal plane and therefore causing the subject to magnify more. Even a teleconverter will amplify the effect of your quasi-macro lens. As Nikonian72 points out, true macro is 1:1 or lifesize. Your lens gets 1:4 or 1/4th lifesize. A 2x teleconverter will double that impact, as I understand it. Add some combination of extension tubes and you can presumably take it to and beyond 1:1. With ext tubes, there is a slight light loss but not bad. If you're steady you might handhold - tripod would be better.

Extension tubes usually come in a set of 3 that you can then use singly or in any combination for less and more effect. Kenko extension tube sets are typically less expensive than those made by your camera manufacturer and if chosen for your camera specifically, will probably allow you to retain autofocus although it might be better to plan on manual focus because you cannot ensure that your setup in autofocus will focus on what you want to showcase primarily.

If you focus manually, you can get an el cheapo brand of extension tubes for as little as under $10 on ebay, plastic of course, but a good way to find out if that's what you want to do or not. A true macro lens is vastly superior because it has a flat field which avoids any impact of curved lens elements that cause the outer limits of your subject to go out of focus while the center is sharp. Extension tubes seem to be superior to filters in that you get to retain the quality of the nice lens you have whereas filters become the least common denominator in the equation and diminish the quality of the entire lens.

I've used all three - macro lens, tubes, and filters and the quality spectrum declines right down the line although none are a bad way to go if you're not going to market your images. If you are marketing the images, then it might be critical.

I am open to further amplification from all those who have qualifying supplemental or correctional information to anything I've said here.