About macro extension tubes – P365 Nov03
- At November 10, 2007
- By Neil Creek
- In Equipment, Macro, Top Posts
65



Pros and cons As with all compromises, there are trade-offs to the solution. This is especially true of a cheap, bare-bones solution like mine. Here's the costs/benefits of tubes like mine:
Weaknesses
- Moving the lens out from the camera sets an upper limit to how far away you can focus the lens.
- There is no auto function control over the lens, such as aperture or focus.
- The threads can be accidentally overtightened and thus become very difficult to seperate.
- The centre of gravity is moved forward and there is no tripod mounting collar, putting greater stress on the camera body's lens mount.
- Moving the lens out and focusing closer makes the light rays more parallel at the focus point. This causes increased chromatic abberation which is much more obvious in high contrast macro photos.
- No aperture control means that in order to change it, the lens has to be set to the desired aperture while on the camera body, then with the camera on, removed from the body while holding the depth of field preview button to keep the iris at the desired aperture.
- Using the DOF preview hack to control the lens aperture, along with the fact that small scenes have less light on them, makes for an exceptionally dark view through the viewfinder.
- With no autofocus and a dark viewfinder, focusing manually can be extremely difficult.
- A natural and unavoidable effect of macro photography is an extremely small depth of field. This increases the need for a small aperture and the resulting dark viewfinder even more.
- Extreme close-up macro photos put the lens so close to the subject, lighting it can be very difficult. Side or back lighting may become your only options, as the lens gets in the way of the light.
- As there is no data connection between the camera and the lens, the camera has no idea what lens is attached, and as such much possibly useful information will not be stored in the images' EXIF metadata. (Thanks to whipartist for this point, found via this discussion thread.)
- Photographic opportunities otherwise unavailable (without very expensive specialist lenses) are possible.
- Dirt cheap! (Mine cost $30AUD including shipping)
- Works with most lenses, except for those with very short focal lengths.
- A light and compact addition to your gear. I carry mine with me everywhere.
- Useful even with telephoto lenses. A long lens is great for making things bigger, but they can't focus very close at all. An extension tube can allow you to enlarge with the telephoto but still maintain a good working distance.
- Mechanically simple. There's not much that can go wrong with these.
- They'll get you thinking about new ways to take photos. Extension tubes make your lenses a whole lot more flexible, and don't just have to be for photos of insects or flowers.
Alternatives

Lighting for macro This can be an extremely tricky and frustrating issue. In fact it's worthy of a detailed post in itself, so I'll only mention it briefly here. There are many possible solutions, including:
- Shooting in a light tent.
- Using reflectors.
- A professional ring flash.
- A macro flash bracket.
- Or even a super cheap and fast hack.
Final thoughts and links

- Macro group photo pool at Flickr.
- Equipment Options for Macro Photography at Epic Edits weblog.
- No Cropping Zone a blog about macro photography.
- How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio at Strobist.
- Macro photogarphy at Wikipedia.
View some of my macro photos at Flickr
odette
Thank you so much for explaining how to get the extension tubes off. I was freaking out but due to your helps it was a short lived freak out….tks everybody.
Now just have to learn how to use my extension tubes.
odette
Hildeno
Hey, guys. I have the Nikon d3000 and it does not come with a Dof prewiev button. How can I fix the aperture? If I have the camera on and remove the lens it just go down to zero. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
john broadbent
I have been considering trying macro extension tubes to further progress my photography.
Your article seems to (very lucidly) explain the pros and cons and considering how inexpensive they are it seems folly not to experiment.
Thanks for such a superb website.
Marlon
Hi Neil..im using a d90 with a 18-105 lens..i bought an extension tube and i really couldnt use it..the one that i bought is a phottix auto..
Carol
Hi Neil,
I have a Nikon D 50 I have the same extension Tubes as yours. I just bought them. Do you have any book out on how to use them? What to use as setting? I have them on my camera now. I have tried to take a picture of a rose with water drops on it. I am not getting the whole rose, But I do want to get the water drops up close to.
Can you help me?
Carol
kristina
I cannot get the stupid thing off of my 50mm lens. Any tips?
Bob
There’s a little silver screw that slides towards the camera body – doesn’t take much :)
Ric
Hey guys! great website for discussions on the tubes. I have a Nikon d5000 and yesterday I bought on Trademe the Macro rings extention. It looks great in the viewfinder, just like a powerful microscope really, but my photos look really dark, when i change the ISO to high, it gets too grainy (of course..daaa) but has anyone there any suggestion on how to bypass this problem? I use a 18-55mm and 70-200mm lens by the way. all in manual as the seller suggests. f stop dead, everything dead, except ISO. use flash at all times? Great post about tubes by the way! and the shots are awesome!
Laurie
Thank you so much for all the useful information!!
alan muir
hello neil , when you have to hold the depth of field preview button is it just whilst you connect the lens or do you have to hold it whilst shooting , many thanx , alan
alan muir
hello neil , when you have to hold the depth of field preview button is it just whilst you connect the lens or do you have to hold it whilst shooting , many thanx , alan
Barbara
I very much appreciated the aperature control tip – easy to find my depth of field button on my Canon by checking my manual. Thanks so much!