[Adrian Owerko]

Has anyone used extension tubes on the DA*300 or DA*200 for macro work?
I have the chance to get a Kenko uniplus 25 with contacts and AF will this work for macro or should I get a tube set?

[roentarre]

I tried the extention tubes on both Fa* 300 and A* 200mm macro. Way too dark for proper macro. Almost impossible to meter and manual focus even under full sunlight condition.

Pentax 300 with any teleconverter or extension tubes usually accentuate its harsh background bokeh as "tram track" sillouettes and very distracting in deed.

[Ron Boggs]

Another option that doesn't have the darkness issues is a multi-element APO close up lens. I use the Canon 500D with the 77mm front element on the FA*80-200/2.8 lens to use it as a macro and I've loaned the 500D for a friend to use with step ring on his FA*300/4.5 with 67mm front threads. It works very very well, sharp and good color rendition. As I recall, both lenses reach just short of 1 to 1 magnification on 35mm film. Haven't retested the amount of magnification since the digital bodies came out...Perhaps with digital it, in fact, reaches 1 to 1 with the sensor crop (don't know all the technicalities of this measurement...)

As I recall, the 500D is for use with telephotos and the 250D is for use with shorter lenses. It is workable to use it with high quality lenses from the preDA* era. I'm presuming this option to work with the newer generation of lenses. Let us know if you try it...