Slideshow: Canon 500D Close-up lens (with full size images).

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I took a  Canon 500D Close-up lens with me on a trip to shoot wildflowers at Washington on The Brazos last weekend as part of the Wildflower Photography Workshop at Houston Center for Photography. It was recommended by the instructor of the class as an decent alternative to a costly macro lens, but I did a little more research of my own before buying it. I was surprised to see the universal high praise it received from every site that had reviews. Even the folks who shoot with Nikon equipment loved it (it fits on any lens with a 77mm filter size).

I got the lens the night before the field trip and had little time to do anything else but read the insert that came with it (very technical and not at all helpful at first) and so I had a completely awkward time with it on my first outing – although I did get some results that for me are very pleasing all things considered. I will need more practice to get depth of field and focus worked out. I used it with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens with a 77mm filter size.

150mm, no crop, 1/400, f2.8, ISO100

As mentioned, DOF is very shallow and focus range is narrow – you loose the ability to focus to infinity. I was also not stopping down the aperture enough at first. It really seems to need to be at f11 or smaller to get good results (as can be seen below). It can work in autofocus mode but can be tricky.

105mm, no crop, 1/800, f5.6, ISO100

70mm, no crop, 1/800, f11, ISO100

140mm, no crop, 1/250, f18, ISO1000

Ultimately I found it easier to use manual focus. I was hand holding the camera and should have used the tripod, but I think it would have been difficult moving the whole set up to get the right focusing distance while trying to capture flying insects. I obviously need to learn a great deal more about close-up photography, but I had a lot of fun with this lens and will have it with me all the time.

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What I learned:  The Canon 500D close-up lens…

• is for use with lenses with a focal length of 70mm-300mm (there is a 250D for focal lengths of 50mm-135mm).
• has a  maximum possible focusing distance of 500 millimeters (19.7 inches) from the front of the close up lens to the subject (that’s what the “500″ and “250″ in the name indicates). This gives you enough distance from the subject to not scare away most insects and other critters with your lens.
• is small, well built, portable.
• is relatively inexpensive compared to a dedicated macro lens and perfect if you’re only doing occasional macro photography.
• has a double element achromatic design that reduces distortion and chromatic aberration or “colour fringing” (that’s what the “D” in the name indicates).
• doesn’t affect exposure.
• doesn’t darken the viewfinder.
• works best with manual focus although autofocus still works (the USM ring motor on the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L allows for manual focus while in autofocus mode).
• can’t be used well at wide apertures.
• can be awkward to add or remove in the field when changing from close-up to regular shooting in a hurry, although no more so than switching out a whole lens.
• provides excellent definition but  not as good as a macro lens (so I’m told but since I don’t have a macro lens to compare it to, I am very happy with the initial results).
• comes in different sizes and you may need (want) more than one if you have lenses with different filter sizes.