Today we're using extension tubes to do
a lot of macro close-up photography..
Hey welcome back.
Today I've got a question
from Mika LC, and he asked...
Do extension tubes degrade image quality when
shooting close-up photos?
Close-up photos, otherwise known as macro
photography...
It's really a cool thing.... it
allows you to get really close to your
subject to shoot pictures close up of
things you normally wouldn't be able to
get that close to.
So how do you get pictures like that,
well first of all you can't just use a regular
lens, because the focus distance the
minimum focusing distance on most
lenses is like maybe a few feet back.
So you can use... the best
way to do it is to use a dedicated macro
lens... for example Canon makes a 100
mm macro, it's a great lens
allows you to get really close to your
subject... so like if you're photographing
flowers, or bees, or whatever it is.
You can get super super close..
but there are other ways to do it...
at the other end of the spectrum there are
some DIY ways to do it...
for example you could take like a
nifty 50 at an inexpensive 50 mm
lens... actually take it off your body, and
flip it around and shoot through it the
other direction... it's kind of an odd way
thing.. to do and of course there's a lot
of image quality loss, you're going to
have light leaks, there's no
communication between the camera and the lens.
It's kind of tricky to do, but in a
pinch it's a good way to actually get
macro pictures, but you asked about
another method, and those are called
extension tubes.
Let me show you what I've got here...
this setup here, I'm actually using the
Canon EOS arm mirrorless,
and then I've got a 50 mm EF lens on here.
An old 50 mm EF...
and then so because I'm
using the EF, I have to have the RF to EF
adapter, because this is a new body and
an older lens, and then in between I
actually have this Canon extension tube,
and this is the EF 25, they make a 12
which is about half the size, and a 25
which is a little bit longer, and what
that does is actually pulls the lens out
from the body further, it actually brings
the lens out, so instead of the lens
being right up closer to the image
sensor, it's pushing it away.
So what that does is,
allows me to get a lot closer..
The way the optics work is that... it
allows me to focus a lot closer, and make
macro pictures.
Now there's two kinds of extension tubes,
there are the least expensive kind...
....have no electronics
... it's literally just a hollow tube,
and you could get one that's made for
your camera.
So you can mount it on there
properly...
but the challenge there is that
you lose autofocus...
of course now to be fair, the most time
you're not going to autofocus macro
pictures anyway, because
you're so close and your depth of field
is really narrow, if you're probably
gonna want to manual focus anyway...
but you lose that connection between the
camera and the lens... so also the biggest
problem is you cannot change your
aperture, unless you're using an old lens
that has a manual aperture ring on it,
your aperture is going to be wide open,
regardless of whatever you do, because
the camera can't tell the lens what
aperture to shoot at.
So one step up from that...
for example this EF 25 has electronic
connections in it, so that the lens talks
to the camera.
So this is just like
having the lens right on the camera...
I can control the aperture,
I can autofocus,
I can do all of that stuff, so that's,
those are the two different kinds of
extension tubes..
Now how would you use it?
Well we're here again with Erica in the
park, and I can get with this macro setup.
I can get to turn this way, so your eye
is in the light, and what I can do is I
can actually get up super close, and
right up to her eye...
...like awkwardly close and
we practiced this before..
so it's not super awkward now...
although it still kind of is...
and I can go ahead and make
pictures just like that, if I can get
there... there you go,
you can see those frames....
crazy close...
I'm actually having my own shadow...
you look this way so your eye isn't
right into the light, and boom so you can see...
I mean I can literally get inches
away...
an inch from her eye with this
extension tube, now funny thing is I've
seen solutions online of people who don't
want to buy an extension tube.
Literally somebody made one with a
toilet paper tube, so it really isn't
about the, you know.. you don't have to
necessarily have all the electronics in
here... but obviously image quality on that
is going to be severely reduced.
Now that's what you asked about image
quality using extension tubes.
There is no loss in image quality because there's
no glass in here, there's no lens in here,
it's literally just a hollow tube.
Let me actually show you what it looks like....
it's literally just a hollow tube...
so you cannot...
there's no loss in image quality...
if you're using one of those DIY solutions
where you're using a toilet paper tube...
yes there's going to be image quality loss,
and severely...
but from this setup there's absolutely no
loss in image quality whatsoever, of
course you want to buy one that's well
made, and you know that's not gonna
have any light leaks in it,
but if you get a good one
you'll have no issues.
So that's how you make macro pictures.
Thank You Erica, and
your eye, and letting me get it in super
close, but if you have a question don't
forget to go to AskDavidBergman.com
There's a forum on there, you can ask
your own photo questions.
I'll pick the best ones,
and maybe we'll photograph
Erica's other eye next time!
See you then.