I admit I do a lot more collecting equipment than taking photos, and this is much more true of macro equipment. Today I decided to try and use some of this stuff that I
had to have. Maybe someone could learn from my results.
What I attemped was a rough comparison of
minimum focus distance and
maximum magnification of each method. I used natural light, 2 second delay and an inadequate tripod. The exposures are close but not perfect or perfectly equal. The angle to the subject varies somewhat to achieve the minimum focus distance for each method. I resized the image without cropping and sharpened slightly to compensate for resizing.
First, the old DA18-55 kit lens which most already have. This is at f8, 55mm:
Now a super zoom that claims macro capability. This is at f8, set at 300mm, but as you can see, not exactly 300mm results:
Now I'm going to explore some uses of a 50mm. I'll use the common Pentax-M 50mm f1.7. First, just the lens itself at f8:
Now with a Kalimar #3 closeup filter. I think this is 4 diopters but it's not labeled:
So far, the kit lens is looking pretty good, probably the best looking photo overall. It has a better lighting angle but I used a homemade softbox so the lighting is mostly similar. Because of the low magnification, none of these methods so far have been too difficult, again with the kit lens as a winner.
Here are some options with geater magnification. I'll start with the Vivitar Macro Focusing Teleconverter, with the M50/1.7 again at f8:
Here's a real macro lens, the Panagor PMC 90mm f2.8 made by Kiron, at f11. I think I could have done better, I usually do with this lens - lighting angle may be the difference again:
Now the M50/1.7 is back, with 68mm (all 3 of a set) of extension tubes:
Last, a Kiron Reverse-Mate adapter and a Kiron 24mm f2 lens. I had the lens on f2. (I don't know if stopping down gives greater DOF or less CA.) This photo could probably be better with more patience, but this is where my patience with the cheap tripod ran out:
Large magnifications need some sort of method to move the camera precisely, which I don't really have. The Vivitar MFTC is pretty flexible, also useful as a general TC. A dedicated 1:1 macro lens makes the whole process easier with no adapters, reversing, modifications, etc. Extension tubes are very useful, it's just annoying how expensive the fully functional ones are.