My Macro Lens

I have found a fondness for macro shots.  I am just loving the idea of zooming in really tightly on things, or just a nice close up shot. 

You all know that I am just starting to explore photography.  I am a hobbyist.  I make absolutely no money from photography.  That means anything bought comes straight out of the bank account.  The bank account that is supplied by one income (wonderful hubby’s job) and supports a family of six.  So you had better believe that I get creative with my options. 

I bought my Canon Rebel XSi second hand off of eBay (and got a fantastic price for it).  I bought my 18-55mm lens and my 70-300mm second hand off of eBay.  I got my 50mm f1.8 lens in an even trade and it was in absolutely perfect shape (for a lens that didn’t even fit my camera).

When a friend of mine that I look up to for her fantastic ability with photography kept talking about wanting a macro lens, I looked into what one was.  Yes, that is how little I knew.  I got sticker shock.  At that time I only had the 18-55 lens.  Then I ran across some lens attachments that were supposed to give you macro capabilities.  I emailed my dear friend, Karina, to tell her about them.  I ordered some for myself and fell in love with the macro world. 

All of my macro shots are taken with these lens attachments.   Practically all of my close ups are these.  So the brown recluse spider, these.  The bee from Friday, these.  And all for under $11. 

To show you what these can do I did some shots today.  These are all completely unedited, uncropped, untouched in every way.  I even shot in jpeg to make sure of it.  Now I did have a wiggling, grasping, fussing, teething 10 month old in my left arm while doing these, so please keep that in mind.  These are supposed to be for example, not critique.

This is a dime shot with my 50mm.  I wanted to make sure I couldn’t zoom.  This is the closest I could get and allow my autofocus to focus.  I was about 18 inches away (guess).

 

 

This is the closest I could get with the +1 attachment on.

 

 

This is the closest I could get with the +1 and +2 attachment on.

 

 

This is the closest I could get with the +1, +2, and +4 attachment on.

 

 

This is with all four attachments (+1, +2, 4, +10) on. 

 

 

All of these were taken with an aperture of f1.8.  So you can see that you would need to tighten up your aperture upclose, because the focal point is minute.  When shooting with all four attachments I shoot a minimum of f4.

Now you can also just shoot with only one attachment.  You can just put on the +10 and get much closer than you would regularly without the magnification look of all four combined.  The possibilities are numerous with these. 

They come in various sizes.  I bought the 58mm for my only lens at the time.  Now I prefer to put these on my 50mm (which is a 52mm size).  Instead of buying a new set, I just bought an adjustment ring for $3.  Now I can use the same set on two different sized lenses.  Yes, I am that cheap.

The link above is to Amazon, but it is NOT an affiliate link.  I am not an Amazon affiliate.  Just sharing because I have received so many inquiries about what I use as my macro lens.