Close up supplementary lenses and diopters
Close up supplementary lenses and diopters | ||
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While different lenses vary in their close-up focus capability, if you want to produce high magnifications you will almost certainly need some sort of accessory to enable the lens to focus closer. Probably the simplest, quickest, and possibly cheapest route to close-up photography is to use close-up, or supplementary, lenses or sometimes known simply as diopters, which screw onto the front of a camera lens, enabling it to focus closer than it normally would. For non interchangeable lens compact and bridge cameras, this will be the only way of increasing image magnification. Their big advantage over extension tubes or bellows is that they do not reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor, and thus require no exposure compensation. Two (or more) close-up lenses can be used in combination to increase the effect, though quality may be reduced. Only one or two manufacturers now make close-up lenses, and while it is possible to buy relatively cheap, single-element close-up lenses, it is definitely worth investing in high-quality models. Putting a $15 lens onto a $750 lens will probably not yield the best results! Some supplementary lenses are actually matched to specific lenses. Autofocusing may be affected, and manual focusing is strongly recommended. Canon manufacture lenses with two different strengths, in a range of diameters. They are constructed of two lens elements (achromatic) to reduce color aberrations, giving very high quality. The 250D model gives a closest focusing distance of 250 mm or 10 inch, when the lens is set to infinity, and is aimed at lenses in the region of 38–135 mm focal length. The 500D version focuses to 500 mm (20 in.) and is designed for lenses in the region of 75–300 mm. Other current manufacturers of close-up lenses include Hoya and Raynox. Sadly, Nikon have discontinued their line of close-up lenses. Even with a high-quality close-up lens it is probably worth stopping down the lens by two to three stops to ensure the sharpest results. | ||