Bees, no macro

[billtils]

Catching up on Project 52 ... and making the best of what was available to me today, namely the garden and the 70-300mm lens on the X-T5

[Geoff F]

I started macro photography by using a Canon 70-300 lens plus a 25 mm extension tube. Although it is somewhat limited in how close you can get to a subject it often gives better focus depth, as your images show.

[billtils]

Yes indeed! Thanks Geoff, I do have an extension tube somewhere but not in any rush to try it until more familiar with the 70-300 in general.

[DanK]

I may be wrong, but if I'm right, mid-length telephoto zooms vary a lot in their minimum working distances. However, a lot of them are fine for whole-body shots of big bugs. You can use an extension tube to decrease the MWD, as Geoff says. It's a distant memory, but I think that the few times I used a telephotos for bugs, I used a teleconverter to magnify the image rather than a tube to get closer.

[Geoff F]

Yes, Dan, I have also used a converter but you need to remember that most converters will only fit certain lenses. You can often overcome that problem by adding a small extension tube (eg 10mm) between the converter and the lens. This usually works well but you lose the ability to focus at infinity. Which is OK until you look up and see something really interesting, too far away, which requires a quick shot and by the time you have removed the tube it is too late.

[DanK]

Yes, Dan, I have also used a converter but you need to remember that most converters will only fit certain lenses. You can often overcome that problem by adding a small extension tube (eg 10mm) between the converter and the lens. This usually works well but you lose the ability to focus at infinity. Which is OK until you look up and see something really interesting, too far away, which requires a quick shot and by the time you have removed the tube it is too late.

Yes, I've used a 10mm tube also to fit a teleconverter to lenses that aren't designed to accept them.

[Chataignier]

I've got extension tubes for Fuji X mount and have used them with good results in conjunction with the 16-80mm, but I had focussing problems when trying the 70-300mm.

My preferred macro set up, however, is still the Canon 100mm f2.8L macro fitted to the Fuji X mount with a Fringer adaptor. I have tried that with extension tubes also, but as you presumably know, extension tubes do not have much effect on longer focal lengths. Not really worth the hassle.

ref : https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...es-closeup.htm

[Geoff F]

Extension tubes get you closer to the subject which is fine with static subjects including flowers but not so useful when getting closer scares away a nervous live subject like an insect. Which is why I use a 180 mm macro lens plus a 1.4x converter for insect shots.

One other thing to mention about converters. A 1.4x unit should work with most lenses but a 2x magnification may cause focus problems depending on the lens. I think you need a lens which is less than F8 including the magnification factor. Which means a 2.8 lens would be OK but not a 4.5 lens with a x2 converter.

I always manually focus with macro subjects anyway because autofocus has chosen the wrong focus point too many times.