Macro gear for a beginner?

Just bought that first macro lens? Post here to get helpful feedback and answers to any questions you might have.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

Fievioma
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:24 am
Location: Montreal, Quebec

Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by Fievioma »

Hey, I'm a canon 600d user and I got this camera a few days back. I'm interested in macro photography but I don't have any gear for it. The only lens I have is the 18-55mm kit lens. So could you guys recommend a good lens(under 250$), a good set of extension tubes, a good macro flash(under 200$), and other equipment that I may require? Also. I'm a poor college student and photography is just a hobby, so I'm on a very tight budget. Any help would be much appreciated...

ChrisR
Site Admin
Posts: 8662
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:58 am
Location: Near London, UK

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by ChrisR »

HI Flevioma.
A 600D is fine
I'm moving this to "Beginners macro". Do have a look there, there are some good answers.
How close Macro do you want to go? (In field-of-view terms?)
Chris R

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23543
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by rjlittlefield »

Fievioma, welcome aboard!

Thomas Shahan has a good series of videos on YouTube.

Start with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmMcCjEU68Y , "Methods in Macro Photography with Thomas Shahan". Search for more.

Modest equipment, great results, and a really nice guy who is easy to listen to.

--Rik

MarkSturtevant
Posts: 1942
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:52 pm
Location: Michigan, U.S.A.
Contact:

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by MarkSturtevant »

I can second those recommendations. If you can swing it, and you possibly, can, using a electronically focusing prime lens plus extension tubes makes the work a bit easier. The EF lens is not so much for auto focusing on the subject, since that can often 'hunt' when doing this kind of photography. Rather, it's for having automatic aperture control. When using this type of rig, people often just rely on manual focus with the focusing ring + rocking back and forth. A basic EF 50mm lens for Canon is not expensive, and you can get decent extension tubes for not much as well. The external flash can be one of the inexpensive Chinese brands (Neewer, etc.). You can price these out and see how it fits your budget, but I think it will. The less expensive option of using an old manual prime lens on extension tubes is also a common way to go. This requires manual aperture control. That can be harder, since stopping down the aperture for depth of focus means it can get pretty dark while you compose and focus. But people do manage.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

Online
Adalbert
Posts: 2403
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:09 pm

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by Adalbert »

Hi Fievioma,
Welcome to the forum!
You can stack using ML with your 600D:
https://magiclantern.fm/index.html
Best, ADi

Cyclops
Posts: 3084
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 5:18 pm
Location: North East of England
Contact:

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by Cyclops »

If you get any old manual 50mm lens and a special ring called a reversing ring you can mount that lens on the camera in reverse for instant macro. The reason I say an old lens is you are able to control the aperture. On a modern lens the aperture is controlled only when it is attached to the camera. When you put one on in reverse the aperture is fixed wide open.
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

CharlesT
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2020 9:02 am

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by CharlesT »

You are at bit of a 'disadvantage' in that you probably dont have an old film camera lying about with manual lenses, at no cost.
So maybe go for the the cheapest used macro lens you can find.
The Canon ef-s 35mm macro is great, very light weight, short and functions as a fine everday lens.
Avoid using the Av mode when using the pop-up flash (with the 600d)
Canon 600d
Watson Service 1
Beck Epimax

Ichthyophthirius
Posts: 1152
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:24 am

Re: Macro gear for a beginner?

Post by Ichthyophthirius »

Hi,

It depends a lot on the type of subject (static or fast-moving) and on the reproduction ratio (0.5x - 1x you have many options; higher than 1x is more demanding on the equipment and technical skill and requires a lot of practice).

Personally, I have used the following:

1) Canon EF-S 24mm f2.8 (approx. US$100 used) https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-s-24m ... ation.html
This pancake lens already focusses quite close (0.27x) which is enough for plants and some larger insects. With automatic extension tubes (Kenko 12mm and 20mm*) you can get all the way up to about 1x; I mainly use the 12mm that gets you to 0.77x). https://petapixel.com/2016/05/16/cheap- ... cake-lens/

Very lightweight, fast-focussing lens that you can take with you at all times even if you don't bring the rest of your macro gear.

2) The Canon EF-S 24mm again, but mounted in reverse using an automatic adapter ($60-$40 used; Hoya 52mm UV filter for dust protection $10 used) https://www.movophoto.com/products/movo ... -canon-eos
This gets you to around 2x. The massive advantage of this automatic adapter is that you can focus with the aperture wide open at f2.8, which makes it a lot easier. The EF-S is very lightweight so it can be used safely with the automatic adapter. Many larger lenses, mounted by their filter rings, might be too heavy for this adapter. This technique almost always requires artificial illumination, like flash.

3) Canon EF 40mm f2.8 ($100 used) https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-40mm- ... ation.html
Same idea as with the 24mm. It doesn't magnify as much mounted in normal orientation (up to 0.5x with 12mm automatic extension) or reversed but is otherwise similar. Because of the longer focal length, it's easier to separate the subject from the background. https://petapixel.com/2017/09/11/high-m ... o-rig-230/

4) Sigma EX 105mm f2.8 DG Macro OS HSM ($300 used) https://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/lens-i ... dg-os-hsm/
Fully featured macro lens with a more conventional focal length that would give you good separation between subject and background. The working distance at 1x magnification is about 18cm without the lenshood, which makes it easier to approach fast-moving subjects and to use natural light.

This lens hits the sweet spot when it comes to performance and affordability. There may be optically better macro lenses but they are either more expensive or they don't have an automatic aperture. There may be cheaper ones but they don't have autofocus and optical stabilisation for non-macro use.

5) Twin flash
Even though they are expensive, I found these easier to adapt to a diffuser than the conventional large flash lights. Canon makes one ($400 used https://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/produc ... e_mt-24ex/; the current model is very expensive) and there is a very affordable Chinese clone** of it as well. I mounted my YN24EX not directly to the lens (the EF-S 24mm is much too small and fragile for that) but to the tripod mount via a ring bracket https://www.scvphotoideas.com/2013/08/c ... flash.html For the reversed Canon lenses I use a white yoghurt pot as a diffuser.

Good luck,

Ichty


*The Kenko extension tubes are not perfect; the mount rattles a bit. But that's OK for the very lightweight pancake lenses.
** No idea how long it will last but it does work.

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic