Using Canon's close-up lenses

Close-up photography is very enjoyable and doesn't have to be costly. Canon’s high performance, double-element close-up ‘D’ lenses are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.

Closefocusblossom 

Canon makes two close-up lenses, the 250D and 500D (not to be confused with the Canon EOS 250D and 500D cameras...).

They're called lenses... But when is a lens not a lens?

IMG0689You may think that a close-up lens, like every other type of lens that Canon makes for EOS, attaches to your camera’s lens mount. But a close-up lens is different – it screws into the filter thread of an existing lens just like a filter. For this reason they are also known as close-up filters or supplementary lenses.

In effect, a close-up lens is a high quality magnifying glass positioned in front of your existing lens.

They work by decreasing the minimum focus of your lens. With a close-up lens fitted, you can move the camera lens closer to your subject and gain a higher level of magnification.

Optical quality

Close-up lenses are an economical way into macro photography, but as with most things photographic there can be a trade off – in this instance it's optical quality.

There are two types of close-up lens; those with a single element construction and those with a double element construction.

Single element lenses have one element that magnifies the image. They tend to suffer from chromatic aberrations and poor definition at the edges. Single element lenses are inexpensive and a good way of trying out close-up photography if you’re on a budget or you just want to have some fun without worrying too much about image quality.

Double element close-up lenses have two elements. The second element corrects the chromatic aberrations of the first element. The image is sharper, especially at the edges, which is important if you’re photographing flat objects like postage stamps or postcards. Double element close-up lenses are heavier and more expensive than single element lenses.

The Canon 250D and 500D close-up lenses are both double element lenses (it’s what the ‘D’ stands for).

The optical quality you get from a close-up lens also depends on which lens you use it with. We tested the close-up lenses with a range of different Canon lenses, both zoom and prime.

Just how close can you get?

We experimented with a few different lens combinations to see just how close you can get with Canon's two close-up lenses.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 lens

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no close-up lens

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with 500D close-up lens

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with 250D close-up lens

Canon EF 85mm f1.8 lens

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no close-up lens

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with 500D close-up lens

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with 250D close-up lens

The photos taken with the 50mm lens show that you don't get the same level of magnification as the 85mm lens with the close-up lenses. This is why close-up lenses work best with short to medium length telephoto lenses.

We also took some photos with the Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 macro lens. You can get much closer with this lens, especially when combined with one of the close-up lenses. With regard to image quality we couldn’t tell the difference between the photo taken with the 60mm macro lens and the 85mm lens with a Canon 250D close-up lens. The macro lens required two stops more exposure to cope with light fall off at such short focusing distances.

Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 lens

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no close-up lens

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with 500D close-up lens

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with 250D close-up lens

Then we took some photos with a Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 II lens. This zoom lens says ‘Macro’ on the side, but it’s not true macro (which would be a 1:1 reproduction). The use of the word Macro by Canon simply indicates that the lens can focus quite closely, in this case 50cm from the subject. The photos from this lens weren’t as sharp as the others, which is to be expected (prime lenses give sharper images with close-ups).

Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 II lens at 105mm

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no close-up lens

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with 500D close-up lens

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with 250D close-up lens

Finally we took some photos with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm kit lens. This lens doesn’t have a dedicated manual focus ring, making it a little harder, but still possible, to use manual focus.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm

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no close-up lens

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with 500D close-up lens

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with 250D close-up lens

Another difference we noticed between the lenses is that the 50mm and 85mm primes were easier to use because the lenses have wider maximum apertures and the viewfinder image is brighter. The 60mm macro and 24-105mm zoom were more difficult to focus (all focusing was done manually).

Verdict

The results from using a Canon close-up lens and the prime 50mm and 85mm lenses with close-up lenses were as good as those from the 60mm macro. However, the 60mm macro lens gave the most magnification. For even more magnification you can combine the close-up lenses with extension tubes or, if you have one, a true macro lens like the EF-S 60mm macro.

What about non-Canon close-up lenses?

Because close-up lenses have glass in them, the quality of that glass matters. Canon glass is always of top optical quality, but we have found that other close-up lenses – those with double elements – are pretty good, though you do get what you pay for.

Of all the others we've used over the years, this close-up lens set from UK-based SRB Photographic are what we recommend here at EOS HQ if you can't obtain (or stretch to) the Canon 250D or 500D close-up lenses.

Check out close-up lenses on EOS magazine shop


Benefits of a close-up lens

The most obvious benefit of close-up lenses is price – they are an economical way of trying out close-up photography. But they also have several other advantages over extension tubes, macro lenses, and reversed lenses.

• There is no light loss. Extension tubes and macro lenses suffer from light loss as the lens approaches its minimum focusing distance. With close-up lenses, you can use a faster shutter speed or a wider aperture with a lower ISO.

• Autoexposure metering and autofocusing is retained The reverse lens technique breaks electrical contact with the lens, making it more difficult to set the lens aperture.

• They are smaller and lighter than macro lenses and extension tubes. Close-up lenses are easy to store in a gadget bag or pocket, ready for immediate use.

• They work well with zoom and telephoto lenses. Close-up lenses give more magnification at longer focal lengths. Extension tubes give more magnification with shorter focal lengths. The decision on which to buy may depend on the focal lengths of the lenses you already own.

• They are easy to use. There are no complex techniques to learn – you just screw the close-up lens into the filter thread of the lens.


HTScloseupmacrocover

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