Extension Tubes

Does anyone use extension tubes? I have a 105 Micro however at times I need more working distance and was wondering if a tube would work on my Nikon 70-200 E and or the 500PF to give me more distance from the subject. Mainly butterflies when I can't get physically close but I am still inside the focus distance of the two lenses above.

What brand and size do you recommend? I see Nikon has their own and then a few brands I haven't heard of. Pros and cons?

Thank You!

dtibbals said:

Does anyone use extension tubes? I have a 105 Micro however at times I need more working distance and was wondering if a tube would work on my Nikon 70-200 E and or the 500PF to give me more distance from the subject. Mainly butterflies when I can't get physically close but I am still inside the focus distance of the two lenses above.

What brand and size do you recommend? I see Nikon has their own and then a few brands I haven't heard of. Pros and cons?

Thank You!

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I keep a set of Kenko extension tubes that I mostly use to reduce the minimum focusing distance of longer prime lenses. They can certainly work for midrange macro work but I would not recommend using extension tubes with zoom lenses as the interaction of focusing, zooming and the added extension can drive you nuts. If you do use tubes with a zoom lens it's best to just use one zoom setting (e.g. 200mm) and resist the temptation to zoom in and out from there, IOW treat your zoom like a prime to minimize chasing your tail.

Keep in mind the amount of extension you need to noticeably reduce the MFD is a function of lens focal length. IOW, it takes a lot of extension to substantially reduce the MFD of a 500mm lens and much less to reduce the MFD of a 200mm lens. That's where the set of three tubes is handy.

Extension tubes reduce the min. focusing distance . The longer the lens the less the effect.
There are some calculators in line that will give you idea



I use Kenko tubes

Birdie

I used to use Kenko tubes on my 70-200 and other lenses. I found the mounts/contacts didn't keep electrical contact very long, a set would at most last a couple of years. I tried the Vello brand (B&H Photo house brand) and they seem better built and have lasted longer than the Kenko's. While using a tube on a zoom is a "different" experience, I've gotten use to it.

I use extension tubes frequently on my longer Nikon tele lenses especially my 300mm f4 pf and 500mm f5.6 pf lenses. If you want to maintain AF, you need to use a non Nikon brand like kenko. If you want to make sure you do not get vignetting, use those made by Nikon. The Nikon ones are all metal, are much stronger than the plastic/metal ones made by Kenko and others and have a larger diameter than the ones like Kenko.

If you use brands like Kenko, use just a single extension tube, as if two are used, they might separate in use causing the lens to fall off the camera. This has happened to me with a 200mm f4 Nikon macro lens and two Kenko tubes.

My favorite Nikon tube is the PN-11 tube, a 52mm extension tube that has a tripod collar mount built into it. I use it a lot with my 105mm macro lens--for getting closer/more magnification and it allows me to mount the lens to a ball head. You have to buy it used as Nikon no longer makes it.

An extension tube mounted to a 300mm, 400mm, or 500mm lens allows for getting closer to things like dragon flies and frogs in water or on vegetation in water.

I always have a tube in my camera bag.

I use the Meike MK-Z 11mm and 18mm tubes on my Z6/Z7. I find that my Z bodies and S glass take very well to extension tubes.

You could also use a TC on the macro to get more distance.

joe43 said:

The Nikon ones are all metal, are much stronger than the plastic/metal ones made by Kenko and others and have a larger diameter than the ones like Kenko.

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Perhaps there are different versions of the Kenko tubes but mine are definitely metal and not plastic.

Nikon has been making excellent metal extension tubes that autofocus for years. The problem is that they put glass in them and call them teleconverters. A few years ago I dropped my TC-14E II and cracked the glass. I removed the glass and it worked great for an extension tube.

The set I have for Nikon has a metal mount but the barrel is plastic. If used carefully, and if the barrel of the tube is not stressed, you ought to be OK.

Squawk said:

You could also use a TC on the macro to get more distance.

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This ^^

Add a 1.4TC to the 105 and you'll increase working distance and magnification up close.

Well, if you just need to get "it" bigger in your viewfinder and you are beyond the minimum focus distance of your lens you can use a TC .
But the main thing is that with extension tubes you reduce the minimum focussing distance given by the lens .

By doing that, longer lenses with a minimum focus distance that is already relatively small - like the 300PF - can give really nice combos especially for subjects that are still able to escape on their own and thus require a bit bigger distance.

I would like to get metal rings with a full set of contacts - just to be able to say I don't use plastic - but on the other hand the plastic ones I got are quite usable. They don't even have a name on them, but by comparing them to those from MEIKE, KENKO etc. they look so similar that I would assume they just buy the same rings somewhere and just label them.

The plastic itself is usually not an issue. The wall thickness is usually big enough and considering that many parts even on higher end lenses are made of plastics today it can'T be that bad. I also expected to get problems with leaving the gear in the sun, but even that doesn't seem to affect the functionality. It was interesting to observe that having my camera setup standing in the sun for a while the camera body and the lens tended to heat up significantly more than the plastic rings. From my perspective the main issue is the mount and the contacts:

• Where the ring meets the Nikon body, it has a very stiff metal partner on the other side and stability and contact will be o.k.
• Where the ring meets the Nikon lens, it is the samePLUS the little spring-loaded balls on the Nikon lenses are a bit bigger than those on the rings, they have stronger springs and have a bit more room to travel.
• Where one ring meets another one you have two partners that are just a little less stiff and if the tolerances of the mounts are just a tiny little bit bigger than on the Nikon parts, the smaller contact balls of the rings combined with their slightly weaker springs and the slightly smaller travel range, it can add up and you loose the contact between body and lens - not at the camera or the lens end but between the two rings.

Here's what I got: so far with my plastic:

• Any plastic ring (12mm, 20mm or 36mm) solo is fine,
• 12+36 or 20+36 is fine as long as the lens is supported and the weight hanging on the other side doens't exceed a gripped D750 or D7200,
• Using all three together doesn't work realiably as the longer lever causes the rings to loose contact between each other sometimes. Also the plastic rings make the entire setup much more sensitive to vibrations - not only because of the narrower fierld of view but purely mechanically.

There is also a plus to E type lense when it comes to use of more than of these rings and that is because of the aperture setting transmission.
When doing it mechanically and you have something in between the camera and the lens it adds some backlash to the "command chain" and it can be considerably higher for the cheap rings compared to Nikon parts, e.g. if you put in a TC-14E II or something similar.

O.k. that's my 2 cents so far .... happy "ringing" to everybody