Photography

[Mudge]

We have so many excellent photographers on here, I thought this would be a good place to ask this....I have a Canon 20D, a Canon 100-400 IS zoom, a Canon 10-22 wide angle, and a Canon 35-80.
I can't get the real "close ups" I sometimes need from any of these. I mean from like 4-10" away.
Is there a way to use any of these lenses to get such close up photos or do I need a specific "close up" lens?

Help me...help me

Mudge the muddled

[Tim Adams]

You need a macro lens. I have never shot macro, but I'm sure somebody here has, and can chime in. 4-10" is under the minimum focus distance of those lenses.

[RareBear]

Mudge,

Check this one out. It's inexpensive, but has a lot of rave reviews. It will focus down to 0.8 feet (about 9.5 inches). There are other, more expensive units, but most won't focus under about 12 inches. Some wide-angle lenses can focus pretty close (your 10-22mm will focus down to 9.5 inches.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12145-USA/Canon_2537A003_50mm_f_2_5_Compact_Macro.html

This one focuses down to 7.8 inches, but is a bit more expensive:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/371176-USA/Canon_0284B002_EF_S_60mm_f_2_8_Macro.html#features

You also might want to look into one of these of the appropriate diameter to fit your 35-80mm.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Canon+Close-up+lenses&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

Good luck.


Walt

[TimAPNY]

I have one of these and I love it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... Macro.html

But not the cheapest.

Tim

[fotobass]

Mudge, there are a few things to consider here.

Are you shooting this sort of thing outside? You may want to look into a macro light as well..a ring flash that will mount on the end of the lens to make sure you don't throw the shadow of your own lens across your subject.

Also, if you get a set of extension tubes, you can make ANY lens a macro lens. I have all three of the Canon extension tubes, and put them on my 28-70 for my most effective usage. They can be used separately or together to get a variety of closeup options.

Having said that, a true macro lens is probably your best bet depending on what you're trying to do.

[Ztex]

The least expensive way to get up close is the "close-up lens" They are a magnifier that screws on to the front of your existing lens. The quality can be very good with these but they are not quite as versatile and the quality is not as good as a nice macro lens but...the price is right if you have budgetary constraints....

Google "close-up lenses"

http://www.alanwood.net/photography/clo ... enses.html

[RareBear]

Mudge,

The 3rd link in my post above is for Canon close-up lenses. These are not the inexpensive lenses referred to in Alan Woods website treatise, but are optical quality, dual element lenses.

I have a set of the Nikon equivalents I use with my 28-105mm Nikon lens, and they work very well.

Walt

[coastdef]

If you can live with a very shallow depth of field, I really like the extension tubes mentioned earlier. Because there is no glass (they just space the lens farther away from the camera body), there is no loss in image quality. However, depth of field becomes extremely shallow, making it very challenging to take pictures of anything that moves or has much depth. Cost is relatively low, especially for the non-Canon brand (Kenko).

Regards,

Andy