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Macro add-ons for the Canon 100 2.8(non-IS)

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Extension tubes, close-up front attachments & Teleconverters (Extenders) all can increase the magnification.

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Gautam
 
Thanks Gautam. Looking for more specific info, make, magnifications, what's best for a 1st buy, but nothing to break the bank.
 
Kenco has a very good set of ETs, 36, 20 & 12 mm long which can be used singly or in combination. Canon's ETs are much more costly but provides no real advantage. Advantage of ETs is that there is no additional glass, so the image quality is not degraded. Longer the extension, more is the magnification, more is the light loss and shorter is the minimum working distance. AF usually works with ETs though may not be important. AF will slow down with longer extension though.

Front attached close-up lenses are convenient as they can be attached & taken off very quickly. Canon has two of them 250D & 500D. 500D will be more suitable for 100mm lens. Raynox 150 & 250 are of almost equal quality to Canon's offerings & are much cheaper. Raynox 150 would be convenient for 100mm lens. Another advantage of Raynox is that the close-up lens can be attached to lens thread 52 to 67 mm without step up/down rings. There is no light loss but minimum working distance will be reduced. These are essentially magnifying glasses and some loss of image quality may occur though in practice I have not noticed any either with Canon or Raynox lenses. AF usually works with close-up lenses.

Lastly, the TCs. They will magnify the image and the magnification is the same as the strength of the TC. Canon & Sigma TCs (extender - in Canon speak) won't fit the 100mm macro but Kenco has very good TCs which will fit. There are several models and the costlier ones are better for image quality. However, some loss of image quality is expected. There will be light loss (1 stop with 1.4x & 2 stops with 2x) but minimum working distance will remain the same. AF will work with 1.4x TC albeit a bit slowly but may not work with 2x TC (even though the effective minimum aperture is 5.6 & theoretically AF should work).

HTH

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Gautam
 
I assume you already have the lens hood? Great lens, by the way.
 
Gautam Majumdar said:
Kenco has a very good set of ETs, 36, 20 & 12 mm long which can be used singly or in combination. Canon's ETs are much more costly but provides no real advantage. Advantage of ETs is that there is no additional glass, so the image quality is not degraded. Longer the extension, more is the magnification, more is the light loss and shorter is the minimum working distance. AF usually works with ETs though may not be important. AF will slow down with longer extension though.

Front attached close-up lenses are convenient as they can be attached & taken off very quickly. Canon has two of them 250D & 500D. 500D will be more suitable for 100mm lens. Raynox 150 & 250 are of almost equal quality to Canon's offerings & are much cheaper. Raynox 150 would be convenient for 100mm lens. Another advantage of Raynox is that the close-up lens can be attached to lens thread 52 to 67 mm without step up/down rings. There is no light loss but minimum working distance will be reduced. These are essentially magnifying glasses and some loss of image quality may occur though in practice I have not noticed any either with Canon or Raynox lenses. AF usually works with close-up lenses.

Lastly, the TCs. They will magnify the image and the magnification is the same as the strength of the TC. Canon & Sigma TCs (extender - in Canon speak) won't fit the 100mm macro but Kenco has very good TCs which will fit. There are several models and the costlier ones are better for image quality. However, some loss of image quality is expected. There will be light loss (1 stop with 1.4x & 2 stops with 2x) but minimum working distance will remain the same. AF will work with 1.4x TC albeit a bit slowly but may not work with 2x TC (even though the effective minimum aperture is 5.6 & theoretically AF should work).
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Thank you. This is very informative. I'm going to look into the ETs & front attached close-up lenses. I actually have the Kenco 1.4 extender, but never tried it with this lens. Loss of aperture with macro is not a problem. Can the front attached lenses be used in conjunction with the extender & does anyone do this?
 
Whoa! There ya go. The hood decreases flare, increases contrast and provides protection for that superb lens. I bought the pricey, but good, Canon hood because it has that internal black velvet-like flocking. Steer clear of the collapsible rubber hoods--they always get all weird and mutant-shaped after awhile.
 
selwynbr said:
Thank you. This is very informative. I'm going to look into the ETs & front attached close-up lenses. I actually have the Kenco 1.4 extender, but never tried it with this lens. Loss of aperture with macro is not a problem. Can the front attached lenses be used in conjunction with the extender & does anyone do this?
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Definitely try out your Kenko 1.4x. I've used it with the 100mm f/2.8 and noticed very little image quality reduction (you might see some purple fringing at the edges of bright white areas).
 
You can use them all together. But the light loss and reduction of minimum working distance make the use of ET & close-up lenses together quite difficult, specially if are hand holding. It is quite common to use ET & TC together though.

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Gautam
 
Gautam Majumdar said:
You can use them all together. But the light loss and reduction of minimum working distance make the use of ET & close-up lenses together quite difficult, specially if are hand holding. It is quite common to use ET & TC together though.

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Gautam
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Gautam, what is the logic behind using ET and TC together on a macro lens? Is there some benefit in the combination over using a 'stronger' version of either?

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Cheers,
Damien
 
Greater magnification without reducing the minimum working distance too much and less image degradation.

With the 100mm macro lens of OP, doubling magnification will need about 70mm ET (full Kenco set is 68mm) but working distance will be reduced to about 4 cm. A combination of 1.4x TC & 36mm ET will give about the same magnification but working distance will be 9 cm or so. A 2x TC will also double the magnification without reducing the working distance (15 cm) but image degradation will be greater than the combination. Light loss will be the same in each setting, about 2 stops.

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Gautam
 
Thanks for your explanation. So:
  • ET increases magnification but/because decreases MFD; and
  • TC increases magnification without affecting MFD, but may cause image degradation.
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Cheers,
Damien
 
As you say you have off-camera flash setup already: look for Novoflex UNISET

It is a camera plate with Arca-Swiss bottom with two articulated arms out front which have cold-shoe flash mounts allowing you to position the remote flashes nearer to your subject.
 
That's absolutely correct Damien. For macro lenses, it is a choice between the two depending on the subject. For static subjects and those insects that don't mind close approach ETs are fine. However, most insects are rather skittish and for them TC is better.

For non-macro lenses ETs are the primary choice. Take Canon 100mm F2. It's maximum magnification is 0.14x. Even a 2x TC will increase it only to 0.28x. Far from macro. A set of Kenco TCs (68mm) will take the magnification up to about 0.7x. Now if you add a 1.4x TC you get virtually 1x. As its minimum working distance is about 70cm, with ETs it will get much closer but not too close to scare away the subject.

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Gautam
 
I use the Opteka extension tubes with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 non-L.

You DO want electronic coupling in your extension tubes if you're going to use a Canon lens for macro photography. The reason is not auto-focus (because you'll likely want to manual focus anyway for any macro setup) but because Canon's lenses have electronically controlled aperture, and if you don't have this electronic coupling you will not be able to stop down the lens. f/2.8 is more often too shallow of a DOF for most macro work of still subjects.
 
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