Macro lens Vs extension tubes: Which is better?

Macro extension tubes are a great way of getting close up photographs without spending loads of money on a dedicated macro lens. But can you focus as close and is the image quality as good?

In this week's video, I test this out by putting my Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro up against the Canon 24-105mm f/4 zoom lens and extension tubes. The results were surprising.

#Macro #Photography #Ideas

[myNamezMe]

The two lenses have different physical lengths. Therefore, even though the camera remained in the same position, the working distance - the distance from the front of the lens to the subject - changed when the lenses were swapped. This resulted in different framing for each lens at a focal length of 100mm.

[adude]

Thanks for the interesting and informative post! On a completely unrelated topic, I couldn't help but notice your Macallan and Glenfiddich on the shelf behind you. My drinking days ended long ago, but I did enjoy a good Scotch back in the day, and the Macallan was one of my favorites!

[gordroberts]

This is very helpful, I’d always ignored expansion tubes as a far inferior way to go. I upgraded to a Nikon D850 when it first came out but could not justify the cost of a good macro lens for as much as I might end up using it. This gives me a good price point to dig deeper into the world of macro. Thanks!!

[annbiswas]

Incredibly helpful and interesting! Thanks so much Andrew!

[stevenharper]

Ive just started trying Macro. I have my old Canon 90D a cheap 50mm 1.8 and cheap extension tubes. I was pretty impressed with a few test shots. Ive now bought a cheap set of light cubes . I little budget Macro set up for around £200. Not professional images but perfect for what I need

[perritohiker]

Thanks for the comparison video. It would've been cool to see the results of the extension tubes on the macro lens too!

[sopp]

Just a point to note, the Canon 100mm f/2.8L is known as one of the very sharpest L lenses.
While the 24-105 f/4L is one of, if not the softest L lenses.

If I use extension tubes on my own 24-105, I get similar results, but on the 24-70 f/2.8L I get much better results

[jaketuckeyimages]

Great video, good info. I'm using the Tamron 90mm macro on the EOS R. I'm still a beginner to photography. Your channel is great. Thanks keep up the good work.

[bakhytzhan]

Thanks indeed for this video, you've answered my questions! Good job!

[timproffitt]

Great great comparison! Very much like your work and your delivery sir!

[leeolver]

It so happens I have the 24-105 L series lens you used as well as extension tubes. I concur with your findings, but as you suggest, I don’t (yet) find macro photography so enticing that I’m willing to spend the money on a true macro lens. In the meantime, I can still play around. That lens plus extension tubes is rather unwieldy though for non-studio work. I’ve done some bubble photos - great fun! Great video.

[kesavachandran]

Pretty useful video.Got a clear idea of what are the pros and cons of these two options👌👌👏👏

[petebuttons]

Zooms will always suffer with image quality compared to primes. I would like to see the same test using primes alone.

[ALWH]

Excellent topic and appreciate the test. I use both extension tubes and macro lenses. Macro lens tends to be heavy, not super fast (f2.8), not too fast in auto focusing and very very sharp. Extension tube is cheap, convenient and work well with most lenses, but it slows down lens and may not be as sharp as dedicated macro lens. Not sure why you choose a zoom lens for the test, a prime will perform better. Anyhow, I agree with your conclusion, macro extension tube is good enough for majority use cases. Canon 100mm macro is a great lens, 1.4 magnification is better competition plus that softing effect (sorry forgot what it’s called).

[DieterVanHolder]

Very interesting! The day you uploaded this, I was making a video I just posted where I am using extension tubes for the first time and asking this exact same question! :)

[Gari.Hughes]

I have a 90mm macro lens. im curious about using these rings on a macro lens for even more magnification.

[alanhowe]

I'll be honest... I didn't pay attention to the first minute of what you were saying in this because I was perusing your scotch collection... which gives me an idea.

Okay... got my own pour now, so back to the video. Thanks for the inspiration (photographic and consumable)! Love all your videos.

[jean-pierrelachapelle]

Thanks great explication, I mist the mark of the tube you use.

[balamina]

Great Video Andrew! Thank you so much and God bless you!

[KlipsenTube]

The indicated focal length means nothing on lenses with internal focusing - except at infinity focus. This is because focusing changes the focal length of the lens rather than it's physical lenght (or extension) to focus closer to the camera.
The true focal length can be calculated from subject distance and actual magnification.
The same extension tube will increase magnification more on a 50 mm lens than on a 100 mm lens.
If you want to compare the two lenses, you should either zoom to crop or adjust subject distance to crop ... or a combination of both.