Have You Ever Thought Of Extension Tubes?

Have you ever thought of extension tubes is a question is good to ask ourselves .This not not a blog on how to use the extension tubes but rather to show you the potential of using them.There are enough videos on line to show you how to use them.There is no point in myself repeating what they have already stated. Extension tubes are rings that don’t have lens in them, and they are placed against the body of the camera and from there you place your camera lens on them.

The extension tubes are designed to get you closer to your subject. In the 3 that I bought many moons ago they consisted of a 12mm,20mm and a 36mm.

They act as a spacer that sits between your lens and the camera body.The thicker of the extension tube the higher magnification you have. You can use them independently of each other or you can combine them.The extension tubes will give you different results on different lens. The best thing is to get out there and experiment. If you are a person who enjoys doing close up work , then the extension tubes will open up a new world. As I mentioned earlier, you will need patience as it is not a quick process it’s not a moment where you snap and walk away.

What I need to stress that if you are going to use them, you will need one key ingredient. That is patience. They take time to use, time to set your shot up but the results are stunning.

You will need a good sturdy tripod and you need to allocate time to take your image. Clearly what you take needs to be still and static for the best results.

In this case I own a set of Kenko extension tubes. This brand is excellent and much cheaper than Canons own brand.As you can see by the box I have had these for a very long time and if you look after them, they will last you a life time.

Once you have the tubes on your camera, you don’t leave them on the camera as you won’t be able to shoot things in the distance as they are not designed to do that. It’s worth having them in your camera bag if you like shooting close up material.

Below are a series of images that I have taken over the many years since using the extension tubes.

You can get a lot closer to the subject as this will depend on the lens that you use . As I mentioned earlier, each lens will give you different results.

What I love about the extension tubes is the clarity that they bring out in your subject and all of the imperfections that you are likely to miss with the naked eye.

When you look at the coins ,it is a great example of how the marks and imperfections show. From a distance a coin looks nice and smooth with few blemishes. As you can see nothing could be further from the truth. Exception being if you were to score a freshly minted coin hot off the press.