Recently I posted a quick note about using a reverse mounting ring to mount a lens on backwards to allow it to function as a macro lens. That is one inexpensive way to get into the world of macro photography. Today we talk about another – extension tubes.
Extension tubes are fairly easy to use. They increase the distance between the elements of the lens and the sensor and turn a regular lens into one that allows you to focus much closer to the subject. Today I grabbed the Telesar Auto 1:2.8 135mm lens in the OM-EF adapter mount. And I installed it on the Telesar lens and the Canon 6D camera. Then out the front door I went to “see what I could see”.
This type of setup, when shooting hand held, makes for a bit of difficulty in getting accurately focused. It’s mostly a matter of slowly leaning in or out until the image in the lens gets nice and clear. I did fiddle a bit with the focus ring, but as shaky as I am in such a situation it did not do much good. I set the f-stop on 8 and shot up a bunch of photos, many of which I ditched once I could view them on the big screen. Still, some useable ones were captured as well.
As you can see, none of these are extreme closeup macro type, but that’s due to the telephoto lens and the mathematical equations which I DO NOT know. My understanding is that the wider the lens the closer one can get the image to look. So one of these days I need to attach the 18-55 lens and see how big I can get something to look without having to crop it extensively. Unfortunately, the widest manual lens I currently have is a 50mm Konica Hexanon. I’ll have to attach it and see how it goes. The more modern lenses I have do not allow one to manually set the f/stop, which is why I prefer the older “vintage” lenses for this kind of work.