In April, I wrote a post discussing my first use of the 500D close-up lens while photographing wildflowers in the Texas countryside. In late June and early July, I got two more chances to put this great little lens to use during two photowalks at Brazos Bend State Park.
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Slideshows:
- Brazos Bend State Park Close-up photography Photowalk #1 with 500D Close-up Lens
- Brazos Bend State Park Close-up photography Photowalk #2 with 500D Close-up Lens
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Laszlo Perlaky volunteers at Brazos Bend State Park and leads monthly photowalks for visitors at the park. June and July’s photowalk themes were both close-up photography. Over the last several months and with these photowalks, I’ve learned more about and put into practice more of the benefits of the Canon 500D close-up Lens.
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Close-up lenses are sometimes referred to as diopters for good reason. When you attach a close-up lens to your primary lens, it acts a little like a far-sighted person putting on reading glasses. While this will cause you to loose the primary lens’ ability to focus to infinity, it allows a clear vision of close subjects that would ordinarily be outside the lens’ focusing range.
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OK, so why is this important? In close-up photography, you are generally trying to get as close to the subject as you can to fill the sensor frame to achieve as close to a 1:1 magnification as possible. With the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens I was using, the closest focusing distance possible (the distance between the focal plane of the camera and the subject) is 1.3 meters (or about 4.3 feet or 52 inches) to the subject.
However, the working distance is the distance between the front surface of the lens and the point of the subject on which the lens is focused. The closest working distance of the 70-200 therefore is about 9.5 inches less (or 42.5 inches) when attached to a Canon EOS 50D camera body. Still quite a distance between lens and subject and results in a magnification factor of about .17x.
With the the 500D close-up lens you can get to about 1/2 meter (500mm) from the end of the lens to your subject. In terms of diopters this represents a +2 (1000mm/500mm) and gives you a working distance of about 19 inches. This is a good compromise when working with insects and other skittish animals and results in a magnification factor of about .56x.
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While it’s best to use the camera on a tripod because the increased magnification also increase the effects of any camera shake, the image stabilization of the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens can make it possible to get some really good hand held shots given the right amount of light. There are also some instances where you might not be able to position your tripod without disturbing the insect or animal and slowly approaching the subject while hand holding the camera is your only best chance at getting the shot.
On the second close-up photography photowalk, I also learned the value of observing and staking out the insect’s host plants. While you may scare them off when setting up your tripod, the insects often return again and again to their favorite host plants. Another usedul tip to keep from frightening most insects is not to let your shadow cross their field of vision. They detect this as a potenital predator and will fly or jump away.
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With a long telephoto zoom lens like the 70-200, the use of a close-up lens can be a better option than using extension tubes. If you use extension tubes with zooms not only do you loose available light, the focus also changes as you zoom in and out requiring you to continually have to re-focus. This doesn’t happen a close-up lens. Once you have focused, you can change your composition by zooming in and out, just as you can with any zoom used normally.
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Galleries:
- Brazos Bend State Park Close-up photography Photowalk #1 (and sunset)
- Brazos Bend State Park Close-up photography Photowalk #2
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