Macro Photography: Almost all my photography has always been travel photography. As I am getting older the long trips are over. I am thinking about macro photography. I bought a Canon...

slovegren

Almost all my photography has always been travel photography. As I am getting older the long trips are over. I am thinking about macro photography. I bought a Canon RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM lens. From best I can tell I get a 1 to 1 image using this lens and a Canon R7 camera. What is the best ways to get closer to the subject. Are extenders or extension tubes effective or available or is it best to just crop in Lightroom? I know very little about this topic. Thanks for your input. Steve

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

I have a ring light flash that I used with my Tamron 90 mm. 1:1 is fine. If you get closer your depth of field is very very small.
Sure f stop matters but distance is a serious factor.
I'm a retired dentist so I used it for intraoral photography.

I don't know stacking but huggers can help with that.

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

You are in for a great deal of fun with your adventure into MACRO It does not need to be an expensive move just a few more items to get great results

Aset of extension tubes- manual ones are $15 - auto ones run more $75 -$150

ring lite $20 or ring flash $50 I use a ring lite.

macro rail $50

Flash deflator all inexpensive or make your own - DIY are on You Tube - great tutorial on you tube also.

Harvey in the Sierras

Grump's Photos Loc: Dunedin FL

You might want to check out Allan Walls macro photography website (https://www.youtube.com/@AllanWallsPhotography) as he apparently loves to do macro photography on the cheap. He has a lot of good info on building things for macro photography DIY'ers. If you can get by the dry sense of humor, there's a ton of good info in his videos.
Andy

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

My ring light was from
Lester Dine a medical dental company for close up work. The ring was $500.00 at the time

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

I have a Meike MK-14EXT-N ring light/flash that I use on my A7RIII & Tokina 100mm f/2.8 macro lens. Got it from B&H for $88.00 4½ years ago. I use it in manual mode since it was designed for a Nikon hot shoe. The only complaint I've had with it is it eats batteries when turned off. I now take the batteries out when I'm done shooting.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

slovegren wrote:

What is the best ways to get closer to the subject. Are extenders or extension tubes effective or available or is it best to just crop in Lightroom? I know very little about this topic. Thanks for your input. Steve

What are your 'subjects' going to be? Will they be static, live or live and easily scared?

Here's how I used to consider things. I want to produce a finished image lets say 1920px wide for viewing. I know that I can retain adequate image quality at that size when cropping by 50% (with my camera and a good capture). I know I need to fill the finished frame 80% with my subject. I know my subject physical size and from that I will know roughly how much magnification (and closeness) I require.

And yes, extension tubes are available and great tools. The greater the magnification, the closer you need to be and the more effort will need to be put in to lighting and camera control.

jcboy3

slovegren wrote:

Almost all my photography has always been travel photography. As I am getting older the long trips are over. I am thinking about macro photography. I bought a Canon RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM lens. From best I can tell I get a 1 to 1 image using this lens and a Canon R7 camera. What is the best ways to get closer to the subject. Are extenders or extension tubes effective or available or is it best to just crop in Lightroom? I know very little about this topic. Thanks for your input. Steve

The lens has 0.5x magnification, so you only get 1:2 image. The working distance (distance from front of lens to subject at maximum magnification) is only about 3 inches.

This is not really a macro lens (that would need to be 1:1).

The best way to improve magnification is to get a true macro lens with long focal length for a working distance of greater than 6 inches. Then you can add teleconverters, extension tubes, bellows, or close-up lenses to increase magnification.

w00dy4012 Loc: Thalia, East Virginia

jcboy3 wrote:

The lens has 0.5x magnification, so you only get 1:2 image. The working distance (distance from front of lens to subject at maximum magnification) is only about 3 inches.

This is not really a macro lens (that would need to be 1:1).

The best way to improve magnification is to get a true macro lens with long focal length for a working distance of greater than 6 inches. Then you can add teleconverters, extension tubes, bellows, or close-up lenses to increase magnification.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

slovegren wrote:

Almost all my photography has always been travel photography. As I am getting older the long trips are over. I am thinking about macro photography. I bought a Canon RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM lens. From best I can tell I get a 1 to 1 image using this lens and a Canon R7 camera. What is the best ways to get closer to the subject. Are extenders or extension tubes effective or available or is it best to just crop in Lightroom? I know very little about this topic. Thanks for your input. Steve

I use extender tubes with great success... Make sure you buy them with electrical passthrough, so your camera communicates with the lens.

Cropping is the very last resort. If you crop heavily , you'll easily reach the point where you get sub-megapixel images.

The point is to achieve the composition with as many pixels as possible, and not to throw them away. It hurts them... poor pixels

agillot

35mm macro would not be my choice , a 90 or so would be .Also for about $60 [ MIKE], you can buy a set of extension tubes that let you use ANY lens from short to super tele . Now there is close up and macro .Most shots are close ups .Real macro are somewhat more involve .With a 35 you are really close to your subject , 90 or more farther .I use the 20mm from the set of 3 with a OLD nikon 70 / 210 , and get good results .with the zoom i can chose the distance from subject s/ so i don t scare it away .

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Your lens has FF coverage and focuses to 0.5x. This is an interesting lens for wide angle close-ups. Indeed I like such photos. Your lens may also be fine for copying art works.

Yes, you can add extension tubes to increase the magnification.

With a wide angle macro lens you will face some challenges. Your subject will be very close to the lens so there will be a maximum magnification that you can achieve before touching the lens. Many macro photographers start with a lens that is near 2x the normal focal length ( around 100 mm in your case).

Some here have suggested the purchase of a ring flash. I find that in most instances these produce flat boring lighting. Dentists use these and ring flashes may be satisfactory for copying flat objects like stamps. The use of natural light or flashes to the side or above in various configurations is better.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

jcboy3 wrote:

The lens has 0.5x magnification, so you only get 1:2 image. The working distance (distance from front of lens to subject at maximum magnification) is only about 3 inches.

This is not really a macro lens (that would need to be 1:1).

The best way to improve magnification is to get a true macro lens with long focal length for a working distance of greater than 6 inches. Then you can add teleconverters, extension tubes, bellows, or close-up lenses to increase magnification.

One can take interesting close-up and macro images with lenses of various focal lengths and each of these lenses has its uses. For Nikon there are macro lenses from 15mm to 200mm. Each can be used effectively. You use lenses of various focal lengths in normal photography for various reasons. The same holds true for macro lenses.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Beside all the advice about how to further increase magnification, I would suggest that you ...
a) work on your diffuser for an external flash. This lens requires a pretty close working distance, so the camera and the photographer will tend to caste a shadow on the subject. But longer exposure times on a tripod will also produce results w/o a flash.
b) Just spend time getting to know the lens you have now. You can do a lot with it already, and interesting subjects are everywhere. It is not just a macro lens. It is also a regular wide-angle lens for landscapes, portraits, and such.
c) Because of shallow depth of focus, you will be seeing a lot of out of focus parts in your compositions. That has its own beauty. Spend time on web sites that show what this, and similar near-macro lenses can do. These can provide all manner of ideas and inspirations. Here is a Flickr page with pictures taken with this lens: https://www.flickr.com/groups/canon_rf_35mm_macro/

Canisdirus

You will want to focus (pun) on still macro photography with your setup as described.

Live wildlife and breezes will be a point of consternation with a 35mm and extension tubes.

You can get fantastic shots in a still environment...tweezers...light...camera...voila...enjoy.

Later on if it suits you...purchase a longer focal length for the outdoor flexibility...more flexibility.