One thing many photographers learn quickly is that photography can be an expensive hobby. This is especially true if you head into a niche field and need some dedicated tools to get the shots you want. Macro is one of those specialties, and it asks you to purchase a dedicated macro lens that is generally going to be pricier than your standard lenses. Fortunately, the photo world is filled with affordable alternatives to get you started with your close-up experiments.
The trick to high-quality macro images is getting closer to your subject. Obvious, I know, but it isn’t the easiest thing to do or figure out. One of the simplest ways is to pick up a close-up lens filter. These are popular because they are very easy to use with most lenses (you just screw them on) and because they can be found in various strengths at very affordable prices. Also, they can be stacked on one another to multiply the effect, allowing users to get even closer by just adding another filter, instead of using an entirely different lens.
While these filters are a great beginner’s tool, I need to point out that they aren’t without their drawbacks, not the least of which is that you lose the ability to focus to infinity. Since you are adding another piece of glass in front of your lens, you should be aware that it will be a little more prone to flare and ghosting. This may also result in a decrease in sharpness, especially when you begin to stack the filters, and may cause your camera to have trouble autofocusing. However, because you don’t need to do much to your current gear, they are a great starting point.
Next on our list of affordable macro tools is the trusty extension tube. These are loved by photographers since they can transform regular lenses into macro lenses without needing the additional glass that can affect optical quality. Also, many tubes will retain autofocus and auto exposure, allowing for metadata to be transferred and users to control their lenses with the camera. They work by extending the distance between the lens and the camera, effectively reducing the minimum focus distance and increasing the maximum magnification. Users can even stack tubes to get closer, which is why many of these are sold in sets. As with the close-up filters, you will lose infinity focus when you use an extension tube, but image quality is limited only by how your lens holds up to close-up imaging.
Getting into the more interesting options, we will find reversing rings. These rings work by allowing you to mount your lens backwards, usually by screwing onto your lens’s filter thread and then providing the camera mount on the other side. By reversing the optical design, you will be able to enjoy extreme close-up capabilities. Much like reversing rings are macro couplers, but these require two lenses to work. They allow you to reverse-mount a lens on the front of another lens for additional magnification, again providing extreme macro capabilities These are great to use if you need to get very, very close, but you should be careful, because many lenses aren’t designed to hold their entire weight, or the weight of another lens, on their filter threads.
The last option on this list are bellows, which provide much more control over the other options. These function exactly like extension tubes, but allow you to adjust the distance between the lens and camera to alter the magnification seamlessly. They also let you get a lot closer, since they can usually extend further than your basic extension tubes. If you want to learn more about bellows, we have another article by fellow writer Bjorn Petersen to help walk you through the various options and techniques for getting the most out of these tools.
Hopefully, you will be able to find something that suits your skill level, price range, and shooting needs from the options mentioned above. All of them will do the job of getting you closer to your subject, and open a whole new world of photography.
Have your own favorite tool for getting in close? Please share in the Comments section, below, and be sure to check out Macro Photography Week, right here on B&H Explora!
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