Close Up Experiment

I spent a couple of hours today playing with the macro extension tubes to see what they would do. I have worked with a number of macro systems over the years including bellows and rails, close up lenses/filters, compact camera macro modes and SLR interchangeable macro lenses. This is the first time I have actually used extension tubes. Unlike older generations of such things, this particular set offers auto focus. Given that many modern cameras are not set up for reliable fine manual focus the way that film cameras used to be, I was relieved to come across these.

In this connection I must thank Dollykgray for bringing them to my attention.

Today I attached both tubes to my 45mm Olympus portrait lens and went hunting for subjects. With both tubes on, I have to admit that depth of field is VERY shallow and (depending on circumstances) you often need to be shooting at f16 or f22 to get a coherent result. I can see that it'll be a rare circumstance under which I'll be able to use this lens at its f1.8 maximum aperture. This is almost a good thing in that slower lenses should prove just as suitable for close focus as faster ones will.

By way of illustration I have published an extra image, in which I compare two attempts at shooting a wine label - one at f3.5 and one at f9.0. Why not take a look and check out the differing depths of field.