# Affordable Canon Macro lens?



## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

I have a canon eos rebel t4i and I'd like to get a macro lens to photograph my tanks and their inhabitants a little more closely. Any suggestions for an affordable/cheap lens I could pick up

Also any other equipment for better tank photography I might find useful?


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

I just use the macro lens kit, they are only a few bucks off of amazon and are great if you are low on money. They just screw on your current lens that you are using and can take great macro shots.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

They're called diopters, magnifying lens you put on your existing lens. They come in x2, x10 etc... Make sure they fit your lens.

A macro lens is better but this works pretty well. The depth of field is pretty narrow.


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> They're called diopters, magnifying lens you put on your existing lens. They come in x2, x10 etc... Make sure they fit your lens.
> 
> A macro lens is better but this works pretty well. The depth of field is pretty narrow.
> 
> ...


ah so thats what they are called lol and yes if you have the money go for the real thing but for ~10-20 bucks these lens are worth it in my books


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## Mojo31 (Dec 6, 2011)

Get the Canon 60mm macro or the 100 f2.8 macro. Great lenses, and neither will break the bank. Both will work well on your camera.


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## Virto (Dec 6, 2012)

The non-L EF 100mm 2.8 USM Macro is the best bang for your overall buck. The older micromotor EF 50mm macro is a decent lens but can't reproduce 1:1 without the optional "life-size" converter.

Protip: Sometimes you can find the older, non-USM EF 100mm 2.8 Macro for sale, used, for a song. Same optics as the newer lens, but without the silent focusing. The 100mm macro does have a very long focus throw, however, and both versions are not what you'd consider speedy when shifting from infinity to focus.

Since you have an EF-S compatible camera, the aforementioned EF-S 60mm macro is a very good deal.

Rather than using diopters, you can also opt for a set of of extension tubes which will shift your focus plane and enable you to focus much more closely. A non-reporting set will require manual focus, but they can be had on the cheap.


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## sushant (Mar 3, 2007)

You can even consider tamron 90mm, it's almost as good as Canon 100mm if not better.


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## jrygel (Jan 29, 2014)

Lens tubes can also work well - they just go between your camera and whatever lens you want to use. Tubes basically change the center of your focus range, so you will have a far focus distance limit while you have tubes installed - i.e. you won't be able to focus beyond a certain distance from your camera. The full set of Kenko tubes is less than $200 and you retain full control of the lens. These are usually somewhere between diopters and a true macro lens in image quality: there is no glass in a tube, so the image quality is the same as whatever lens you are using, diopters (especially cheap ones) can degrade the image quality quite a bit.


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

Wow. Lots of suggestions. Thanks!

I'm really looking for something under $250, which I realize is a little unrealistic for an actual lens. I think the tube extensions may be the best option so far, but I don't really know how to go about picking them. 

The lenses I have right now are the kit lens: Canon zoom EF-S 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS II and another zoom which is basically another kit lens: 28-90 EF 28-90mm 1:4-5.6 III 

Do you know of a good set of tubes that would work with what I have, or should I just go with diopters for this price range?


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## saiko (Mar 30, 2007)

well, the extension tubes are a generic set(12mm, 20mm, and 36mm) from any make, just see they have the eletronic link from cam to lens.


I generally use the 12mm one, if I use the larger one/s I cant focus in the complete fish in frame. A overhead flash will help a great deal, thats what the pros say.


With overhead flash


x_IMG_2377 by SaikumarUckoo, on Flickr


x_IMG_2331 by SaikumarUckoo, on Flickr

With on cam flash.
IMG_0964_ by SaikumarUckoo, on Flickr


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

Overhead flash is tough when using macro or extensions. You're too close, the lens shadows the subject. You really need a ring light.

In my old school days of photography I used extension rings with a reversing ring on the end to turn the lens backwards. Much sharper pictures with the lens reversed when you're extending it out. I ordered extension tubes and a reversing ring for my Canon DSLR. After I recieved them I realized I had no way to adjust the aperature at all so all the shots have to be done wide open. The depth of field is just ridiculously shallow.

You might want to take a look at some of the "macro" zoom lenses. They aren't a true macro lens, but they might work well for you. Try an Amazon search for "Canon Macro" They have a Tamron 18-200 that gets decent reviews for $199.


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## Virto (Dec 6, 2012)

You could even use an EF 50mm 1.8 II with a reversing ring, but it would require incredibly close distances to focus, and obviously it would be in true macro fashion - moving the camera closer or further from the object rather than turning a focus ring.

I'll be honest - when I shoot fish, I stay away from the tank and use a 70-200 F4 L with a remote flash on top of the tank. Staying away from the glass helps maintain natural fish behavior with skittish critters.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

This particular picture was taken with:

40mm canon pancake 
30-50$ cheapo set of extension tubes. 


If you're high light on the tank you won't need much more in terms of light. 
You can prob use a cheap 50mm. I never had one and you can spend a few bucks more and get a cool 40mm 


I have other macro setups. Super macros more than 1:1. But the shrimp don't fit into one picture


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