At the weekend I managed to win a couple of Ebay auctions – the first ones I’d won, since in the past I’ve always been outbid at the last minute, or just used the “Buy It Now” option.
One of the items was a set of macro extension tubes – 9mm, 16mm, and 30mm – with Canon EOS mounts and end caps. These are basically just hollow tubes that fit between the camera body and the lens.
If you get hold of any of these, don’t just put the longest one on, and then point your camera at some distant object expecting it to focus. First of all, autofocus isn’t going to work, since the lens is no longer physically connected to the camera body – manual all the way. Secondly, these are going to help with close up work, but won’t allow focus to infinity. So, you need to choose a close subject, and switch the lens to MF.
I tried them out this evening with the 18-55mm kit lens, and they certainly allow me to focus down to a much closer physical distance… I need to experiment more yet. Stay tuned.
