Raynox 250 or extension tubes

[beagleman]

Hi, was wanting to know what would be the best set up to get closer again Raynox 250 or extension tubes, thanx for any help on this.

[Cyclops]

If I'm not mistaken the Raynox is a lens system that fits over the front of an existing lens? In which case there will probably be some chromatic abberation and maybe other artifacts, but having said that raynox do have a reputation for quality. Extension tubes will get you the magnification but have the disadvantage of severe light loss! I think its a 1 f stop light loss for every reciprocal of extension. For example if you use 50mm extension tube with a 50mm lens to give 1X magnification you lose 1 stops of exposure.
100mm extension with the 50mm lens gives you 2X magnification but with 2 stops of light lost etc, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way you lose light with tubes but not with lenses.

[ChrisLilley]

The Raynox 250 is a fairly good quality +8 diopter close-up lens. Its a 3 elements in 2 groups achromat, and is multicoated. However, the diameter is not that large and the adaptor to mount onto the filter threads is plasticy.

(Is it ok to post links to other fora? I maintain a list of close-up lenses at
http://nikongear.com/smf/index.php?topi ... #msg200860
but if that is not OK here I will remove the link from my posting).

[ChrisLilley]

Hi, was wanting to know what would be the best set up to get closer again Raynox 250 or extension tubes, thanx for any help on this.

The answer depends to some extent on what lens you want to use it with.

Lenses that use internal focus or close range correction tend not to do well with extension; they like to have the rear lens element in a fixed position relative to the sensor.

Lenses that rely on electronic contacts for aperture, focus, vibration control will have that connection cut with most extension tubes (unless you get or make ones that pass through the electronic contacts).

Close-up lenses are usually limited to a single size of filter ring (but can use step-up or step-down rings). The Raynox you mention however has an adapter that copes with the range of 52mm - 67mm.

[rjlittlefield]

Is it ok to post links to other fora?

Absolutely! The more links the better, as long as they contribute to the reader's understanding.

--Rik

[mgoodm3]

My quick and dirty view of the differences between adding extension and add-on lens:

1) Add-on: With a good quality lens such as the Raynox, you will add a modest amount of magnification with very little loss in quality - no light loss from effective aperture. They act by shortening the focal length so you will lose more working distance than using an extension.

2) Extension: Good if you want to add a lot of magnification although you may lose either the lens connection with the camera (electrical/mechanical) depending upon the tube. You will lose image quality in a predictable manner defined by the effective aperture.

[beagleman]

Thanx for all the replies there all very interesting, new to this area of photography so not up on a lot of info so the more help the better if yous dont mind,the only lens this would be used on is the Tokina ATX100, i just want to get that bit closer still to the subject,from what ive read i wouldnt lose any of my 52mm if i used the Raynox?

[ChrisLilley]

Tokina ATX100 has a filter size of 55mm.
http://www.tokinalens.com/products/toki ... 100-b.html

The Raynox will fit, and as you get closer the central part of the lens tends to be used more (someone correct me if wrong here, but that is my experience) so you are unlikely to see vignetting.

With a +8 diopter on a 100mm lens your effective focal length is 55mm
E = 1000 / ((1000/F) + D)
so your working distance will be quite a bit shorter.

The closest focus distance was 0.3m (300mm) now it will be 88mm
e = 1/ ((1/d) + D)

[beagleman]

Thankyou for that info chris, for a matter of interest what do yous use & have yous got any images with the use of extension tubes & Raynox 250 that would show me the magnification difference between the 2, if yous dont mind, thanx

[ChrisLilley]

Thankyou for that info chris, for a matter of interest what do yous use & have yous got any images with the use of extension tubes & Raynox 250 that would show me the magnification difference between the 2, if yous dont mind, thanx

I don't have images of the same subject taken with tubes or with close-up lenses to show the difference. That would be an interesting test though, I agree.

I shoot Nikon; in terms of extension I have assorted tubes from the very short "E" to the much longer PN-1 which has a tripod socket as well (mine has been dremelled to make it safe to fit on the D90), a set of three no-name extension tubes of indifferent quality, a nice small helicoid with Nikon F mount on the camera side and M42 on the lens side; and a set of Nikon PB-4 bellows with gives up to 180m of extension.

For close-up lenses I have a Nikon 4T (+2.9) and a Marumi Grad 5 200 (+5), both two-element achromats. I can also borrow Nikon No.0 (+0.7 ) and No.2 (+3.0), which are single element; and a Raynox 250.

I use those on assorted lenses including a Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4 and a Cosina Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5.

I don't have any good stacks to show, but here is a single image, handheld, with the Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5 and the Raynox 250.



and for comparison same day, same location, same lens with Nikon 4T


as I say both shots are handheld and nothing to get excited about in terms of quality.

[beagleman]

Thanks for that, it gives me a kind of idea now about size, only just starting off in this field but from what i see i like the look of the Raynox [like shots in close for that detail],maybe get a set of el-cheapo tubes to to see how i go. cheers