Just got my Kenko 3 ring extension tubes for my Nikon DSLR. To those people who are not familiar with extension tubes, It basically adds a “macro” capability to your existing lens without affecting the overall image quality. This means that you can basically shoot extreme close-ups without using expensive dedicated macro lens.

Extension tubes are hollow “rings” which magnifies the image size into your camera’s sensor. Since extension tubes are just hollow “rings”, it doesn’t really affect the quality of the taken image.

Lastly, extension tubes are different than teleconverters. Teleconverters basically “hacks” the original focal length of an specific lens. So let’s say you have a 100mm lens, by using a teleconverter, you can increase its original focal length to 200mm (assuming you use the right teleconverter for the lens.).

I tested each of the extension tube rings i have to illustrate how it magnifies your images. I’m using Kenko Extension Tube DG (they have a DGX model which is somewhat a higher model than DG and more expensive too.). It contains 3 hollow tubes each with different lengths.

12mm 20mm 36mm

The best part here is the flexibility. You can basically combine the 3 extension tubes to give you more options. Check out the images below. All images are taken using a 50mm F1.4 lens at F5.6.

Some notes though. Getting too close to the subject will basically give you a very shallow DOF (Depth Of Field) so you need to adjust your Fstops accordingly. Also, a higher magnification is more susceptible to camera shake which will make your macro shots blurry, so use some kind of stabilization tool when necessary.

Bottomline, extension tubes are a great way to do macro photography without investing in expensive macro lenses. It’s also a great way to capture micro details of your figures specially if you’re into figure photography like me.

PS: Review of Figma Rei, Asuka, and Mari soon!