Clovishound
Senior Member
Well, those who may have followed my posts about the Nikon 105 micro lens of my daughter's that went NonFunctinal while I was using it, know that I am currently without macro capability. And since I had to lay out a fair amount of money for a replacement for her, my dreams of a Z mount 105 micro have been dashed, or at least postponed. To salve my macro hankerings for the mean time, I ordered a cheap set of extension tubes to be used with my 24-70 F4 and mounted on my Z5. They came in today and I quickly mounted the 11mm and the 18mm, stacked, on my lens and headed out to the yard in the hunt for small monsters.
This is what I got.
I started off with maximum magnification at 70mm. This guy was munching on my azalea bush in the front yard. It wasn't quite 1:1, but I was happy with the magnification, and the results.
Oh, wait! Maximum magnification is actually achieved with shorter focal lengths. Duh!!!!!! 24mm wouldn't focus at minimum, so I moved it up to 28mm, where it focused, but was too close to the lens. I finally settled on 35mm, and that was a little more comfortable. I still don't think it was 1:1, but close enough. Not entirely happy with the working distance between the front element and subject, but I guess I can live with it. Sharpness seems good at first glance, and light loss is acceptable. This will help me scratch the itch until I can justify the $$$ on the 105 Z lens. FYI, this one was cropped, but not severely.
These were just a few quick shots to test things out, not great shots, but give a sense of what this combo will do. I will try it out more thoroughly and post a few more shots, and impressions. For info, these tubes have full electrical contacts and are supposed to give full compatibility. AF works, although manual focus is almost a must, aperture control is much more important, and seems to work fine as well.
This is what I got.
I started off with maximum magnification at 70mm. This guy was munching on my azalea bush in the front yard. It wasn't quite 1:1, but I was happy with the magnification, and the results.
Oh, wait! Maximum magnification is actually achieved with shorter focal lengths. Duh!!!!!! 24mm wouldn't focus at minimum, so I moved it up to 28mm, where it focused, but was too close to the lens. I finally settled on 35mm, and that was a little more comfortable. I still don't think it was 1:1, but close enough. Not entirely happy with the working distance between the front element and subject, but I guess I can live with it. Sharpness seems good at first glance, and light loss is acceptable. This will help me scratch the itch until I can justify the $$$ on the 105 Z lens. FYI, this one was cropped, but not severely.
These were just a few quick shots to test things out, not great shots, but give a sense of what this combo will do. I will try it out more thoroughly and post a few more shots, and impressions. For info, these tubes have full electrical contacts and are supposed to give full compatibility. AF works, although manual focus is almost a must, aperture control is much more important, and seems to work fine as well.