Problem with macro filter

Hello,

I have bought these cheap macro fitlers but the lens wont autofocus when i put them on. Neither with zoom or without.

Am i missing something?

This is a guess,if its on a zoom you may have to move closer or further away in conjunction with zooming to achieve focus.

i tried everything! its all blurred

If the macro filter is a close-up lens, your auto-focus will not work too well. It'll have to be manual to get some decent results.

What diopter are you using,if its high the sharp zone could be wafer thin

That's probably going to be the problem. His filter changed the diopter value of the lens affecting it at both ends. The AF can't make much sense of this new situation.

false alarm! it works ! you just have to go REALLY close to the object! **feeling stupid**

flipperzoom said:

false alarm! it works ! you just have to go REALLY close to the object! **feeling stupid**

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An understandable mistake first time

The strength of the filter defines how much shorter your minimal focus distance becomes. If you add another on top, you'll have to get closer again.

Remember to close down the lens to get better results.

by "close down the lens" you mean zoom out as much as possible?

thanks for your replies

You need to set the smallest aperture you can (the highest f number) to give more deapth of field

aw, yes i do that

thanks

What Mike said.

I don't know what causes it but from my experience, the filter requires a higher f/ not necessarily to get more depth of field but to get less "haze".

I have purchased the Raynox DCR-250 and experiencing the same problem.

Will try the extreme up close approach

Shawn_B said:

I have purchased the Raynox DCR-250 and experiencing the same problem.

Will try the extreme up close approach

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yes do so and tell us the results!

Also make sure you use a lens hood to protect it from any undesired light. On a close-up stray light is even worse than on a normal lens.

Shawn_B said:

I have purchased the Raynox DCR-250 and experiencing the same problem.

Will try the extreme up close approach

Click to expand...

Get the hang of it and you should get some great close ups

J-see said:

Also make sure you use a lens hood to protect it from any undesired light. On a close-up stray light is even worse than on a normal lens.

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you cant use teh raynox dcr-250 with the lens hood as it clips on to the front of the 70-300mm lens and the clip extends outwards

Shawn_B said:

you cant use teh raynox dcr-250 with the lens hood as it clips on to the front of the 70-300mm lens and the clip extends outwards

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Ah, didn't know that. You can improvise. I'm doing the same at times with my lens. Something wrapped around and some rubber to attach it will do the job if stray light is a problem.

It doesn't look spiffy but neither do I.

flipperzoom said:

false alarm! it works ! you just have to go REALLY close to the object! **feeling stupid**

Click to expand...

No need to feel that way, it happens to everyone. I just want to give you a heads-up, you will need a lot of patience dealing with those cheap close-up filters. I purchased a couple of sets for two of my lenses, because I could not afford a real micro lens yet. I just love micro photography, I think its fascinating.

Just a couple of tips. Micro filters work best with prime lenses. Although you can use them on a telescopic lenses, you can't zoom because it does funky things to your DOF. Then again, from an artistic perspective, you can create some interesting looking photos. Also, if you still want to use your zoom lenses, you will need a lot of light should you want to zoom, as you play around with your aperture. It can be areal pain in the *ss if you don't have patience, but the results may be worth it to you. Imagine trying to take a portrait of someone with with a shutter speed of of 20 seconds with no tripod! That's what it's like using a micro close-up filter.