Close up Photography

Hello Steve,
I'm having a tough time getting the quality I want with my digital camera. Everything is automatic on it and I can't manipulate it at all. I have my old trusty Nikon FM2 with a couple of lenses. A standard 50mm and and 100mm. I use to have the awesome 105 2.8 macro Nikor but as soon as I needed some money that piggy went to market. So I need something for close ups that isn't as expensive as the 105mm is. Im hoping to find something to go on my 100mm. An extension tube? I havent ever use one of these. Is the quality decent? It sure is a lot cheaper than the built in version I had. I almost bought a close up pack of those filter type lenes but I just cant see how they could be all that great. I need to be able to get shots of low contrast damascus. I want to shoot with Kodachrome 64 too so I can use the slides for prints and to use in a slide scanner for web use. Is my thinking straight? Does the extention tube set up work well? Do you happen to know what mm size would work for my use? Life size? Half?

Tim- you might be stuck for an answer for a while; Steve had to pull out, and we are working on a replacement. Sorry for the gap!

For what it's worth, I can focus down to 8" from the knife with the built-in macro feature in my Olympus C2000-Z digital. It was another $300 for the close-up screw on (filter-like, as you observed)attachments, and I had to pass on that too.

Thanks for the heads up Don. I have been going over to ebay a lot. You can really learn a lot just by reading all the descriptions of the stuff for sale. I think I might go with the extention tube set up for my Nikon.

Tim

The extension tube set is the way to go with your Nikon. You'll get much better quality than with the close-up filters. A +1 close-up filter won't be too bad but you'll see distortion if you go up to the +3, and unless you buy Nikon the optical quality won't be up to the standard of your lens.

I see individual extension tubes going for about $30 upwards on Ebay but you might find a bargain. I'm not sure that there's any point buying the genuine Nikon article anyway, it's not as if they have any optics in them. So the cheap after-market items ought to do the trick.

I have a set from Jessops, a big photo chain-store over here, I think they cost about a tenner.

My Nikon Ebay bargain arrived in the post today, an SB16 Speedlight, it's a monster, especially compared to the SBE I've had for years. I've just rattled through a film and realised I didn't tough the aperture ring once. Go to the back of the class!

Roger

Thanks Roger. I picked up a book yesterday that is excellent. Its called Close Up Photography by John Shaw. It's all on nature photography but it should apply for any close up work. He uses all Nikon equipment too and recommends the extension tubes. I think I'll try that.

Another method you might try is to use a 2X teleconverter and see if that will get you close enough. Metering is generally not as much of a problem as with extension tubes and the light loss is about the same. Image quality may not be as good as with extension tubes, but the range of focus is unlimited. I have used a teleconverter and a short macrozoom and had some terrific results. The only gotcha is the teleconverter costs and F-stop or two from the maximum opening on the original lens. I just use a tripod and faster film or flashes in a copy setup at 45 degree angles.

ckknives

An extension tube can work for you, but it takes twice as much light. Extension tubes darken the F-stop #'s.Compensate & have fun.
A macro lens gets the closeups too.
I take a lot of pictures and many are closeup/detail shots.
It took a lot of practice (and keeping track in a notebook of what I was doing with each shot, until I found the balance.