How CHEAP Extension Tube Photography Compares to EXPENSIVE Macro Lenses 

Ive said it before and I will again - this level of information, no BS and delivery is second to none. Thank you!

I have both, and love both. There is something that frequently leads me to the tubes, and that’s the size and weight! Particularly for hiking and backpacking where weight is a crucial consideration, and even for weddings. Rather than carrying a macro lens just to get a few nice shots of the rings, the extension tubes take up a lot less space and weight in a bag to carry around all day! In teaching college photography, I generally send my students towards the tubes, for the simple budget considerations.

5:16 WHAAAAATTTT???? My eyes almost pop out by seeing this crazy magnification

That Hassleblad camera looks so professional sitting on that stand

In my experience, it all comes down to 'time'. If you have the slow pace (more trial error and light tests) and tranquility of your own studio, the extension tubes are great. If you are a nature photographer (bugs or flowers) or shoot on the clock (client paying per hour or shooting on the go) you will benefit of a dedicated, lighter AF macro lens.

Many thanks Karl, really nicely produced video and great surroundings, the information is clear and precise and music fine but a little loud, altogether excellent !

Your videos are like your camra system very high quality and very useful. Thank you 🙏🏼

You always have the most interesting, most helpful, and thoroughly investigated videos. Thanks so much. Getting out my extension tubes today and having some fun.

Fantastic video, explanations and sample images. Thank you Karl for the great example of highly quality work/production that you share with us and for the positive impact that your educational content has on all of our experiences as fellow photographers. You are appreciated!

Thank you Karl! I've been following your work for about 8 years and I enjoyed this video!

Clearest diction on RU-vid, such a joy to listen to!

You deserve every bit of recignition of your work! Excellent production!

Thank you for a clear and concise explanation complete with examples.

Amazing video. Top of the line production, thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Intro, setup, results, conclusions. Everything in 1 video, i have to say your videos is one of the best i ever watched. Rather than those talked the whole day with no results and then make their own conclusions

I've been a pro photographer for 30 years. Kudos Karl. You earned a subscriber.

Great video! Watched in on a loop like 3 times cause of all the information.

Thanks for the comparison! I've been wondering about this for a while, but haven't had the resources to test the difference.

That is great test and video!

Thank you for the super informative photo technique class… I loved it. Nice studio BTW!

Learning something new every week, thank you Sir!

I’ve been subscribed to your channel for about 10 years maybe? Great content man. Great content.

superb as always.. extension tubes are impressive value for money.. and so handy to keep in a bag! thanks karl

Great stuff Ive been eyeing up a macro lens but have been using extension tubes up to this point was good to see your in depth tests that show you can scrape by on a budget using extension tubes more than one realises!

Great video thanks for posting a short video straight to the point, I remember being thought photography a very long time ago macro lenses are corrected for a flat field and we had to go and photograph newspapers with a similar test if you could test the print at the edges you had a good combination (some identical lenses were different!). thanks for this.

Super cool video, loved seeing the product image insights too

Excellent comparison. I've just ordered some extension tubes for use with my Canon RF 80mm f2 and my R5.

Outstanding video. I´m very grateful for having the privilege to enjoy it.

Love the montage!

Thanks man, was finding the macro extension tubes to be too blurry in corners of frame, but I was at a wider aperture. Now I'll try with f8 or higher.

Thanks Karl! Appreciated.

Nice video. I have not seen extension tubes tested like that before so it was very interesting to watch. I shoot live insects in the field, these days mainly with an MPE-65 or 60mm EF-S. Both handheld using a twin flash. When I first got into this field I used cheap extension tubes on the cheap nifty fifty. I had a lot of fun with that setup and learnt a lot, so tubes still have a place in my heart. I still use them occasionally on my 16mm for a different kind of shot. I think they are a superb tool to have in your bag.

Nice video I will try the extension tubes with sony 55 1.8 !

Outstandig video mate.Thanks a lot 🙏

Very timely video. I'm doing a little macro shooting on Thursday. I sold my dedicated macro lens a few years ago and am having to go the extension tube route. I bought a set of tubes from Amazon for $20 US. I have my fingers crossed. It's not a critical shoot so I should be okay. The results will let me know if I should invest in another dedicated macro lens. Love your work, as always, top notch! Hopefully in 2021 I can rejoin your Karl Taylor Education site. Thanks!

Thank you for sharing!!

Thank you sir nice video

so touching for an excellent video

Great comparison, thanks for sharing! :) I bought the Andoer Macro Extension Tubes Adapter Rings about a half year ago and I'm still happy with them (price-performance is great).

Thanks. As a beginner I’ll go with the tubes for now.

Thanks for this incredible information, you just gained a new subscriber..

Nice video. I got myself a used 60mm EF-S Canon Macro lens for Euro 200 The results are great. Sharpness is excellent up to F11. Then you get the unavoidable diffraction softening. But that is, like gravity, unavoidable.

People just say macro is better, nothing like a dedicated macro Never seen the difference like this. Now I can decide Consciously and not choose the macro out of just sheer ignorance of hit knowing the true difference Thank you so much!

Very nice,,,,sir,,,keep it up,,,

Hi carl, great video again! With what lens did you shot the lipstick image?

Thank you very much

outstanding thank you :

The loss of sharpness and contrast is exactly what you would expect when using an extension tube. The image is enlarged beyond the sensor size when you use an extension tube, which means the circle of confusion is also enlarged, which is what leads to the loss of sharpness and contrast. The important point, however, is that extension tubes work very well and are a good budget choice for many applications.

This guy is a beast. Very talented

Thank you again!

The reasons I opted for the macro tube set are for the low price as well as they were compatible with my entire lens collection. With the Macro filter you can only use them on compatible lenses as well as a reverse macro adapter.

Thank you!

I’m probably just going to get a dedicated macro at some point. I’ll just have to narrow things down a bit more! All of my camera gear was in the backseat of my car when I got in my wreck. Long story short, the car started on fire and melted my gear. Thankful to make it out with my life, plus I thought there was no chance of me walking again.

Thank you for sharing this video! The price of a macro lens is impossible for my budget. It's still an excellent photo with an extension tube and I'd be happy spending on a 50mm and tubes to get clear photos of my small sculptures. They'll do nicely while my business is starting.

Great stuff! Very informative and helpful for a beginner like me, thank you! Quick question: Does the order that you stack the extension tubes matter?

Thank you.

thank you teacher

Nicely done! I really got a kick out of the finger print. I teach security studies and criminal justice. Thank you

Lovely, good thing that I also have sony 50mm 1.8. Maybe I will buy 2 extension tube to achieve great macro shot without buying a 50mm 2.8 macro

excellent video.....

Besides sharpness, how do depth do f field compares between the two? For the same aperture and frame, would I increase the depth of filed if I switch to dedicated macro lens?

One bonus I've found is the 105 dedicated macro doubles up to make a jolly good portrait lens

Awesome review!!! I’ll always wanted to know exactly this! What about if you put those extensions tubes on a GOOOOD prime? Like in Sony cases, the Zeiss 50 1.4? I want to buy some extension tubes for my awesome RF 50 1.2

Thank you

Does it have to be a prime? I wonder how my Sony 24-105mm F/4 would handle macro work on the A7IV?

great video Karl, but one other advantage to the dedicated macro lens, is that you have the ability to use apatures of 32 through to 64 like in a large format lens, giving you a much sharper image (dof at it's largest size), as for these lenses, wide open there is an extremely thin dof, so this style of lens can at times be hard to focus, at least manually, also a macro lens wouldn't lose as much light through this system as a set of tubes would, plus the iris is located in optimum position ( for less vignetting, CA, etc.), and less exposing the sensor to dust, as you only add ONE thing in front.

first off on extension tubes, if you have a heavy lens don't trust cheap tubes, they can and do break apart. i have both tubes and dedicated macro lenses, the tubes are great esp if you dont want to carry two heavy lenses on a walk about. As for max magnification i have achieved 2mm across a canon crop sensor, it was with the sigma 100-400c at 100mm, 47mm of extension tube and two 2x teleconverters with a small tube to stack them on my M50. oh and you will need a ton of light :). as most higher mag macro work is usually manual focusing another great option for keeping it cheap is the get one of the vintage primes that are very sharp like the 55mm takumar ƒ1.8 they are easy to mount to mirrorless cameras with the correct adapter, the easiest being M42 mount to your body mount. a 55mm ƒ1.8 prime that is crazy sharp for £20 yes please all day long, bear in mind they are manual ap and focus so you will be reaching for the modern af lenses pretty quick if you shoot moving subjects like birds etc :) Great vid and subject Karl

i've never done macro photography before (im a landscape photographer) but i've been really wanting to try it to capture detailed plant close-ups and bugs and such. i find extension tubes appealing because they're not only cheaper, but i can also use any of my lenses along with them (i assume). i'm interested in trying a wide-angle macro shot though the actual lens touching the subject physically might be an issue. im sure i will upgrade to a macro lens later if i find i want to shoot more macro, but as a way to cheaply try out macro photography, extension tubes seem like the way to go

Due to limited space. I been using closeup filters with great success on watches and costume rings.

I love my sony macro 90mm lens so much. I have been thinking about buying some extension tubes to mess around with to increase the maginfication on it for some shots and try it on my other lenses. Any recommendations on which extension tubes to get?

Great video, will be watching loads more. I really could do with a stand like yours for photographing my metal detecting finds, what is the make or where can I get one?

So, do extension tubes increase or decrease the focal distance from the lens front element? So for example, if there is a 4 mm focal distance from a wide angle macro lens, and an adapter or extension tube is added, is that focal distance even closer? Or does that distance increase from 4 mm to something else?

Cheap slutions can also be: 1. A 2x tele-macro converter. The 50 mm standard lens will become a 100 mm tele going from infity to 1 : 1 2. Close-up lenses. Probably to cheap and nobody wants to sell them The shop does not know close-up lenses are mae by Hasselblad, Leica and Minolta for the Rokkor Zoom. 3, Some people wear close-up lenses on their noses, because their arms get too short to read the newspapers.

Won't lie , when I heard " At F45" I may have crapped my self a little... I've never heard someone say F45... Medium format is a whole different beast I guess !

what about macro lens and extension tubes vs bellows .. or reversing ring? just curious

woah, thanks. As a RU-vid troll, I can't troll on this informative video

The question all us macro photographers were thinking but too frightened to learn after spending £100’s on dedicated macro lens’!

Is there a reason you didn't mention the close up lenses that attach to the filter threading?

Do you ever use bellows or systems like a Cambo Actus? I have recently been considering one for both closer up work as well as being able to achieve better focus.

I need to get that 90 macro already.

Can you use an extension cube with the Sony 90mm 2.8 if only taking macro photography?

CAn you tell me why my Canon R6 with an adapter and a Sigma 105 macro lens doesn’t work when I add a Kenko Extension Tube. They have worked on all my previous Canon cameras. I can’t get the shutter to fire. Thanks.

Karl, Do you have any experience with achromatic close up lenses and the comparison with extension tubes. Thank you, FW

70 300 or 55 250mm with extensions is awsume for butterflies nd similar kinda subjects

If you're going to go through all the effort to ensure the camera is level, why not use a cable release so there's less chance of knocking it out of focus by touching it?

As always, trade off. Depends on what you're doing.

It's seems an interesting choice for cheap macro use. I have a question: why, in some videos, the image whit tube extender looks like noisy? Thanks for the answer!

If I use extension tube with 85mm 1.8 in sony a7iii does it work or i must use 50mm?

Bloody hell oh well I’ll carry my z50mm macro, 24-120 and 50-250 mm crazy to the caribean need to do more sunset 🌅 sunrise 🌄 Timelapse’s and everything inbetween.

You didn't say "the lower cost of the tubes comes with lower performance, but might be worth the cost savings"

Focus stacking eliminates all the problems with the tubes. So don't spend your money on a macro if you are not a pro. My take.

Is there a reason why you use a leveler instead of the one built into the camera (assuming your camera has one)?

I'm just starting out with a Sony A6400 and I bought it with the Sony E PZ 18-105 F4 G OSS lens which has a minimum focusing distance of 0.45 metres (1.5 ft) - 0.95 metres (3.1 ft) and native magnification of 0.11 I'm trying to take photos and videos of shrimp in my tropical tanks so obviously due to the fact that they are in a water filled box I am limited to how close I can get but even if they are a cm from the glass, with a native MFD of 45cm and magnification of 0.11, they are tiny. I thought extension tubes might help so I bought a 10cm and 16cm Meike set but seem to have an issue. Depending on the focal length and whether I use 10cm, 16cm or 26cm, the MFD is sometimes less than the length of the lens. I thought it was a MINIMUM focus distance but even moving the focus ring to the other end (infinity), I still can manually focus. Is what I am trying to achieve with this lens and extension tube combo impossible? If so, why (perhaps a video subject for the future). Should I just fork out for a cheap 7Artisans 60mm f2.8 macro or go a bit more and get the Laowa 100mm 2x Ultra Macro and I believe it's because I am using tubes with a zoom lens. Any advise welcome.

How noticable is this loss of sharpness on lower resolution cameras like an a7iii?

2:19 What is that black c-stand looking thing??

Could you use both the macro lens and the extension tubes? Might get super close ups

Dedicated Macro got more contrast. I think its in the coating.

Someone help me. Why does my new zoom lens (for distance photography), 55mm-250mm, Canon EF-S, IS, STM lens, have the word "MACRO" on it?

I'm skint and certainly can't afford a genuine macro lens. They're wonderful pieces of kit, though, and well worth the (outrageous!) expense. I mess about with extension tubes and lens reversers and get some quite pleasing results, but then I can afford to experiment because I'm not a pro with deadlines, trying to earn a living from photography. The big disadvantage of my cheap approach (£28!) is the need to get EXTREMELY close to the subject. Fine in a studio, but if you're hoping to get some pics of dragonflies or those gorgeous jumping spiders out in the field, please don't expect to get the kind of amazing results you see in numerous RU-vid videos without a lot of experimentation and frustration. Most insects and little creepy greebly dudes [technical term] won't sit still long enough to let you get close enough for a shot, so a very expensive macro lens is what many guys use to get their great images FROM A DISTANCE. Extension tubes can mean getting to within 20mm to get a shot. A good macro lens may give you the same effect from 300mm, 500mm, or even over a metre away. Much more practical and comfortable - if you can afford it. Extension tubes will also give a ridiculously shallow depth of field (0.25mm?), but taking multiple exposures and then image stacking is fun. Sort of. If you've got the time. Having said all that, jumping spiders are intensely curious and utterly fearless creatures; they will often come right up to the lens, staring at their own reflection, so extension-tube photography is definitely possible with some live subjects. A dedicated macro lens is always going to be superior, though. Try the second-hand market...🙂

Karl you should have done a macro of your watch only because I am curious to know what brand it is. I am guessing its a Rolex divers. Good presentation though I'd most likely go the extension tube route and use it on my nifty fifty. I don't think I would do so much macro to actually make it worthwhile buying a dedicated macro lens