Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

Anyone have experience with Meike or Mcoplus tubes?

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

As long as you get all metal tubes you should be OK>

Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

Thanks

bleirer

I just posted this pic taken with Meike, the 18mm +11mm set. Pretty solid quality on the metal one I got, sends all the lens info through from the lens to the camera. Magnification is extension divided by lens focal length plus any native magnification the lens already has. So the 29mm with a zoom lens set at 58mm would be .5 magnification, plus a lens might already have .15 so that makes .65 magnification. If the lens was set at 29, that would be 1.15 magnification. So the math tells you that the longer the lens focal length, the less magnification, all else equal, making it bad to use telephoto lenses if you want more magnification.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-611360-1.html

Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

Thanks. Nice pic. I would be using them with a 35 prime.

bleirer

Another downside is that you have to get really close, plus it eats light but if you open up the aperture you lose dof but if you lower shutter speed the flowers blow in the wind but if you raise iso you lose dynamic range....welcome to chasing your tail 101.

Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

Patience and practice required I guess.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

It would be helpful to know what camera and lens you plan to use the extension tubes with.

Meike and MCOPlus are cheap Chinese knockoffs of other manufacturers' products. They will probably work... but how well made, durable and reliable they might be is anyone's guess.

The main thing with most modern cameras and lenses is that the extension tubes must have electronic connectivity for autofocus and aperture control. There are super cheap ones that don't have those. They can be used just fine with vintage manual focus lenses that have a mechanical aperture control ring right on the lens itself. But they won't work with many modern lenses.... you'll have no autofocus and no means of controlling the aperture.

Lack of autofocus isn't a big deal. In fact, many macro shooters prefer to use manual focus techniques.

But you do need to be able to control the aperture, to be able to stop the lens down in search of sufficient depth of field.

The super cheap tubes that lack electronic connectivity often come in sets of five to seven different lengths that can be screwed together for different amounts of extension.

The little to a lot more expensive tubes with electronic connectivity are sold individual or in sets of two or three, depending upon the system and the brand. For mirrorless cameras, sets of two are common. For DSLRs, sets of three are common. Camera manufacturers such as Canon and Nikon only sell individual tubes, which work out to be pretty expensive.

Some of the best third party extension tube sets with electronic connectivity are made by Kenko. They're top quality. The Kenko set for DSLRs sells for around $130.

Promaster and JJC brand tubes appear pretty similar to Kenko and are sort of "2nd tier".

Opteka, Vello, Fotodiox, Zeikos and a few other tube sets are sort of "3rd tier", a bit more plasticky and less well made, but still are pretty good. These typically sell for between $50 and $75. Some of these brands make two or three different qualities and some are also sold under other brand names. Zeikos makes sets with 11mm, 21mm and 31mm size tubes. They also offer a "better" set with metal bayonet mounts, as well as an "economy" set with plastic bayonets. The latching mechanisms of these are not as sturdy as what Kenko uses. And the release button for some of these protrudes where it would be pretty easy to accidentally release the lens. Fotga and Viltrox are two more brands I'd put in this tier...

I am pretty sure the Opteka and Vello are the same. Their DSLR sets include what appear to be the same 12mm, 20mm and 36mm size tubes.

The cheapest "relabelled" ones with electonic connectivity including Vivitar, es Meike and MCO Plus, and are what I'd call "4th tier" quality... The most plasticky and lightly built, may not hold up to long term use. The ones with plastic bayonet mounts, in particular, I wouldn't trust with a heavier lens and camera. These commonly sell for between $25 and $50.

The non-electronic type sell for under $25... some are even under $15 or $10. But, again, those are really only practical to use with vintage lenses that have built in means of controlling the aperture.

Depending upon what system you're using, the specific camera and lens, make your selection accordingly.

You gave us minimal info, mentioned wanting to use the extensions with a 35mm prime lens. That's pretty short focal length to do high magnification close up work. You won't have much working space. I recommend at least 50mm and, even better, 75mm to 100mm... short telephotos (but, what constitutes a "short telephoto" varies, depending upon the camera system you're using).

Macro extension tubes are very useful. Ever since discovering them for myself and learning to use them 25, 30 years ago, I've always had at least some with me, for the camera system I was using at the time. I now use Canon DLSRs and EF-mount lenses. I have three of the Canon extension tubes, as well as a Kenko set for Canon. I've used them with lenses from 20mm to 500mm.

Here are some examples:

I shot these California poppies with a 20mm lens and a 12mm extension tube. I chose the wide angle lens (on a "full frame" 35mm film camera) for it's additional depth of field, because I wanted to retain recognizable flowers in the background. A longer focal length would have blurred the background into unrecognizable blurs of color. Working distance was cut to nothing. In fact, in some shots flower petals touching the front element of the lens were in focus. Any longer extension tube, to be in focus the flower would have had to be inside the lens!



Forcing a non-macro lens to shoot close-up sometimes causes optical vignetting... a darkening of the perimeter of the image... as well as softening the corners. That's particularly true with some lenses when they are used at a large aperture. For the following shot of a rose bud I knew this would occur with my 50mm lens at f/2 and fitted it with a 20 or 25mm extension tube. The lens was on an APS-C format DSLR (where it acts as a "short telephoto").



Not all lenses show that vignetting or softening effect. The 50mm lens mentioned above shows a lot less when stopped down to smaller apertures, but here I used an 85mm lens that stays sharp and evenly illuminated even when used with a 20mm extension tube (on APS-C DSLR).



Often macro extension tubes have come in handy when an unexpected opportunity presents itself. I was out photographing birds alongside a stream.... lying concealed in some tall grass, when the sun on this garden spider's web caught my eye. I didn't have a macro lens with me, so I put a 25mm extension tube on my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens to make this close-up shot. I used a standard flash diffused with some gauze over the head to add some fill light to the backlit subject. The camera was a "full frame" film SLR.



Some longer telephoto lenses aren't able to focus very close. Not "macro" magnifications, but simple close-ups of small subjects can be helped... the fence lizard with a 300mm lens used 25mm extension, the bush tit and hummingbird on their nests with a 500mm lens used 36mm extension to "help" the lenses focus a little closer and do a better job filling the viewfinder with small subjects.



You can even use extension tubes with macro lenses, to make them able to render higher magnification. For this bee on a poppy I added 20mm extension to a vintage, 90mm macro lens that maxes out at 1:2 (half life size):



These poppy buds were photographed with the same lens. The left one was shot without the extension and the right one with it.



So, I recommend you get a set of extension tubes and start experimenting with them. What's available will depend upon your particular camera system, but they will probably be usable with most or all lenses available in that system. Which you choose to buy depends upon whether or not you need the electronic capability, and beyond that the quality you expect. You generally "get what you pay for" with extension tube sets (an exception are OEM camera manufacturers' own tubes, which tend to be pricey).

Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

Man those are some top quality pics. Quite an article too. I almost feel like tipping you for that "mini macro" brochure you made. Thank you.

{PS: Nikon d5100 with (1.8) 35 prime Nikkor.}

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Was just practicing last night with Kenko. I think the bigger issue is having a good lens to shoot through. Nothing beats goid glass especially a macro lens. D850 and 60mm 2.8 Micro G (No VR) handheld.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Be aware that extension tubes deliver an extremely narrow depth of field. So you need to really stop down. Make sure your tubes will maintain metering a focusing through your camera.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I always mention this when extension tubes come up in discussions. There is a little silver button to release the tubes from the camera. Unlike most other buttons, this one must be slid sideways rather than simply pushed straight in. Maybe this doesn't apply to all extension tubes, but that's been my experience.

NatureRocks

OK, I'll add a bit more to an already well-voiced set of observations. I have all these older Olympus macro lenses with a bellows. So, using a Sony a7rii, with extension tubes on that, then an adapter for the Olympus lenses on top of the bellows allows for incredibly sharp, if definitely limited dof. I put leaves or flowers on a light table, flatten them out either prior to placement and/or with weights on their edges, thereby somewhat accommodating the minute dof. But allows for seriously macro or even microscopic images. And, although it would be nice to shoot outdoors, there is no way to get that whole rig set up and then control wind or other external factors. Just some ideas for possible alternate setups. And, although some of the Olympus lenses are not cheap, the bellows and at least a couple of their macro lenses are available at reasonable prices on ebay.

Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

NICE

Semi-Amateur Loc: Central Indiana

Yes. Thanks.