gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

A higher price should reflect brand popularity, tolerances, and durability. If those are important, go with the more expensive one. Kenko tubes have been around a long time so there must be something about them that users like.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Kenko is as good as any.
No glass so it is just electric connections being extended.
No different than what Nikon does.
For all you know they come out of the same Chinese factory.

gessman Loc: Colorado

I have a set of Canon and a set of Kenko. They are equally functional and appear to have been made by the same manufacturer. I would challenge anyone to pick which is which with the name covered. That said, unless you know for sure you're going to use tubes, you might want to consider an el cheapo set from ebay, $10+/- if you have a lens with an aperture ring.

Many people eventually resort to manual focus for macro so the effective differences are the absence of electrical connections and the cheaper mounts are plastic and won't tolerate the weight of unsupported heavy lens or other careless use very long but will function fine as long as you can experiment a little to work out your exposure - shoot 'n chimp or work off of the histogram. You might also entertain the idea of buying a cheap bellows which can offer much more flexibility than tubes and can be had inexpensively on ebay, $35 +/- to experiment with.

You can pay a lot more for a more precision bellows. I say these things because I recall your comments from the thread you posted yesterday.

RDJpanther

The description state "Made of high-quality Aluminum material that is stronger". They look plastic with only the color band made of Al.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Can't speak to Nikon's extension tubes, but the Canon extension tubes are more rigid with less "play" than the Kenko version. However, the Kenko tubes are significantly less expensive, and seem to work well in a short test I performed. I would caution using them with a heavy lens though because of the amount of play.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

Rather than extension tubes, have you considered a bellows? Although more expensive, a bellows does not limit you to specific extension lengths. Also consider that since you will almost always be using either tubes or a bellows on a tripod, automatic functions are not that important when you consider the premium price you will pay.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Interesting. My experience testing both was that the Kenko versions had noticeably more play than the Canon versions. Perhaps quality control?

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

The Kenko tubes are excellent.

In fact, in a number of ways they are BETTER than the Nikon tubes (PK-13, 27.5mm and PK-12, 14mm and PK-11A, 8mm).

The Kenko are better because they cost less per tube... you get three in the set for $130: 12mm, 20mm and 36mm. The Nikon tubes are only sold individually and cost $89 or $99 each... To get close to the 68mm of total extension possible with all three of the Kenko, you'd have to spend at least $287 (two 27.5mm and one 14mm, not a very good selection of sizes... other combos are possible, but will cost even more). On price alone, the Kenko are winners by a large margin.

Using them singly or in various combinations, the three Kenko tubes give you seven different possible amounts of extension, for use with a wide variety of focal lengths. I've used them on everything from 20mm to 500mm lenses.

But even more importantly, the Kenko tubes are fully usable with ANY F-mount lens. They have electronic contacts to fully support autofocus and aperture control with "G" lenses (lenses that don't have a built-in ring to set the aperture). The Nikon extension tubes have no electronic contacts, so there is no autofocus and - most importantly - THERE IS NO MEANS OF SETTING THE APERTURE on any "G"-series lenses that lack the aperture control ring (of which there are many). This isn't just "loss of automation". With the Nikon tubes, you will be stuck using a "G" lens wide open all the time, unable to stop it down for increased depth of field (important with close-ups and macro). So it's not just a lack of automation that you can work around... the Nikon tubes are for all practical purposes unusable wit "G" lenses. Not so with the Kenko, thanks to the electronic contacts built into their tubes. I honestly don't know why Nikon has so stubbornly kept making their "old school" extension tubes and never updated them to fully function with their modern lenses. It wouldn't be a big deal to just add the electronics to their tubes, too.

So the Kenko tube functionality IS NOT the same as the Nikon. In fact, the Kenko tubes are BETTER.

And the Kenko tube quality is pretty much equal to the Nikon or Canon tubes. They are well made with similarly strong latch mechanisms. I don't know that it matters very much, but someone told me the Kenko are are plastic now (I use an older set that's definitely metal... cosmetically a little different, but functionality and quality identical to sevearl much more expensive Canon tubes I use, too). Well engineered plastic can be fine, anyway. I think the Nikon tubes are still metal... but I'll leave it to someone else to confirm (I don't have any of the Nikon tubes on hand right now... I had a couple of them stolen during a break-in recently).

Besides the Kenko, here are cheaper third party tube sets... such as the Vello set for around $80, also incl. 12mm, 20mm & 36mm (some other brands instead provide 11mm, 21mm & 31mm). These also have the electronic contacts to provide full functionality with any F-mount lens. While not bad, these are definitely made of lighter plastic and don't appear to have as strong latching mechanism. I'd be hesitant to use them with heavier cameras and lenses.

There are even cheaper"econo" versions of some of the third party, Chinese tubes... typically selling for under $50 (sets of either 12, 20, 36 or 11, 21, 31mm). These use plastic bayonet mounts (like some entry-level "kit" lenses do). They might be okay for occasional use with the lightest of lenses. But I wouldn't expect them to hold up over time or trust them with a more valuable lens.

Heck, there are even dirt cheap extension tubes... under $25... some even $15 or less. These are very simply "dumb" tubes, without any electronic contacts or even the "AI" mechanical linkage such as the Nikon tubes have. With these super cheap tubes, AF and aperture control will be completely manual. PLUS, the lens aperture will actually stop down as it's set to a smaller aperture, dimming your viewfinder along with it (in other words, open aperture isn't maintained until the moment of exposure, the way it is with the Nikon "AI" or "auto indexing" tubes).

All three types of the cheaper, Chineses tube sets sell under a BUNCH of different brand names. I would wager there are actually only two or three manufacturers and all the other brands are just relabeled from those.

I highly recommend the Kenko tubes... Or the Vello for someone who will never be using them with heavy lenses and is on a tight budget.

Tubes are MUCH easier to use than the bellows someone recommended above. Bellows are essentially a variable length extension tube... but they also are rather bulky, fragile and easily damaged, and they have no support for AF or aperture control (same as the "dirt cheap" tubes above). Also, bellows MINIMUM extension is typically around 40mm, while their MAXIMUM is usually around 150mm. With many lenses, this will make for VERY high magnification. With bellows I'd highly recommend a tripod and a precise geared focusing rail. Note: There are some bellows with electronic connectivity to support AF and aperture control with modern lenses and cameras... However, they are quite expensive.... upwards of $500 typically. See "Novoflex" brand. I don't know if they are offering anything that's Nikon F-mount compatible right now.

There also are "helicoids", which are another type of variable extension tubes... the range of extensions possible isn't as great as bellows, but the idea is similar. They essentially are two rigid tubes, one fitted inside another, that allow for some adjustment of the length of extension. I don't see any of these available for Nikon at present, but - if memory serves - typically these give a range of approx. 40mm to 65mm extension.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I use Meike autofocus extension tubes for my Nikon D810 and they work wonderfully well with full communication to the camera. They sell for $50 on Amazon. I also use the Meike macro dual head flash which I believe to every bit as good as Nikon's which they want over twice the price for. The flash heads are wireless and can communicate up to 100 ft. away from the controller so they make a very versatile set of speedlights in addition to their macro capability.

https://www.amazon.com/MK-N-AF1-Electronic-Extension-Adapter-D300SD800/dp/B07236CYDY/ref=sr_1_9?crid=LQ6ZCXCXO60G&keywords=auto+focus+extension+tubes+for+nikon&qid=1554132281&s=gateway&sprefix=autofocus+extension+tubes+%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-9

Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California

Yes, the Kenko brand is the best one to get. Unless they have come out with something recently, the Nikon one is not automatic. Some of the other brands are plastic, Kenko is not. I have had mine for years.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Really? Never been a problem for me.

Tex-s

My two cents is to forego any name branding and attempts at retaining autofocus, as my experience in so doing was that after a moderate amount of extension, the light reduction to the sensor made my auto-focus hunt like crazy anyway. Enter live view and manual focus.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Some mentioned bellows.
They are substantially better because of ease of use and versatility.
You most likely will be on a tripod anyway.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I agree but decent set of bellows that I can grow into is well out of my current budget. The extension tubes can be added to a bellows if a rich uncle dies.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You can get the cheap, manual tubes for $20 or less. That's what I've used. One tip: there is a silver button to release the tube from the camera. In many cases, you must slide that button. Pushing it will not disengage the extension tube.