 Christopher D. Barry |
Shooting With Extension tubes??? I have never shot with a extension tube & would like to know what advanges I will have with shooting with one? I was told to use a 25mm extension tube with my Sigma 500mm lens to get close up shots of small birds. Is there any advantages using a extension tube rather then a 2x teleconverter? I also would like to know what advantages I would have with a extension tube with my Sigma 105mm Macro lens if there are any? Thank For Any Input, Chris
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Bob Cammarata |
Extension tubes decrease the close-focusing distance of your lens, and are only beneficial for macro work. Your 105 Sigma has 1:1 life-size capabilities at 12.3" away. A 25 mm extension would decrease your close-focus distance to about 9", and allow you to shoot larger than life size images. 2X teleconverters double the focal length of a lens, and are most commonly used with fast telephotos. If your 500 Sigma is the APO 4.5 model, the Sigma APO dedicated 1.4 and 2X teleconverters should work, but with manual focus.
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Christopher D. Barry |
Thanks Bob for taking the time to answer my question. I have a 2x tele-converter and you are right, I can only use it in manual focus with my Minolta Maxxum 7. The reason why I asked the question on the extension tubes is that I read a article in Popular Photography(August2002) on Tim Fitzharris. He Says in his article to use a 25mm Extension tube with a 500mm lens to get close up shots of small birds, wildlife, etc. I've read before that you can use tubes with macro photography but not with tele-photo lens. The 500mm Sigma that I own is the 170mm to 500 mm F5-6.3 APO. The 105mm macro Sigma lens has a focus limiter switch that will let me focus as close as 4.7in. with the switch switched to full. Thanks Again, Chris P.S. Any more info. that you can share on this subject will be greatly apperciated!!
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Brenda Tharp |
Chris, While Bob is correct in his comments that extension tubes decrease the focusing distance, this is exactly why you can use them with your telephoto lenses. When I put on the EF25mm extension tube on my 500mm, I can focus closer than the usual limit of that lens. This means I can be closer to the bird and make it larger in the frame. I also use my teleconverter and extension tube toghether. I was photographing a hummingbird making a nest, and put the 1.4x teleconverter on my 500 to make it a 700mm, but that made the focusing distance even worse than without the teleconverter, so when I mounted the ext. tube between the teleconverter and the camera, I was able to focus on the nest/bird that was about 18-20 feet away. You are left with manual focus on some of the older gear or in 3rd party lenses. Hope this helps!
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Robert Bridges |
Ditto Brenda's comments. I rarely use extension tubes with any of the macro's I use but I do use them with telephotos precisly for the reasons stated. They allow me to focus closer with the telephoto lens which, in effect, gives me another close focusing lens. Since I would never dream of using a 500 mm handheld, the loss of light is not a factor hence you can use both the teleconverter and the extension tube.....would help to have a very good tripod head and or tripod collar on that sigma. Am not familiar with that lens so have no clue if it has a tripod collar?
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Bob Cammarata |
Question to Brenda and Robert: When combining a teleconverter with an extension tube,...how to do you achieve a fast enough shutter speed for birds? The light loss, and decreased D.O.F. has to be significant. Do you opt for a faster film or do you use flash? What is the actual distance to subject,(how close can you get), with a 500mm,+ 25mm ext.,+ teleconverter I've used a 2X with a 180 2.8 ED Nikkor and often find it difficult to to freeze action, and still achieve adequate deph of field with 100 speed film
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