Focusing with extension tubes... not going well

[Janice]

Just received a gift of the Neewer Macro Extension Tube Set.10-16mm Internet research suggested putting the 16 on against the camera body, then the 10mm. Using an a6600 with a 16-50mm lens (aka kit lens)
All well and good, but What the heck?! How do you achieve ANY kind of decent focus AND get the ENTIRE item in the frame?

I was able to get just the face and a touch of the lamb this little shepherd figurine from about 3" away (impressively close) (not as sharp as I'd like) but when I tried to get the whole figure of the little boy (he's about 2.5" tall, it was a complete disaster. I did move the camera body further from the statue but no luck. See photo below. Can't upload second photo, the blurry one, because the file extension was .awr. What am I doing wrong with the extensions and how could I correct it?

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Macro isn't as easy as many people think, I went through similar trials as you. I also got the macro tube extensions (Meike brand) in 10 & 16mm sizes. Here's what I learned from playing around with it:

• Use a narrow aperture. F1.8 looks great for portraits, but in macro, the amount of focus area is just so darned difficult to nail. So try again at something like F8.
• Smaller aperture means you will need more light. You may get to the point where you have a decent amount of the picture in focus, but its too dim, or the camera itself is blocking the light, so grab a lamp!
• Manual focusing is best. That's my opinion only though.
• Tripod. Maybe my hands are a bit shaky, but if you're looking for the cleanest lines and best focus, use a tripod.

Advanced macrophotographers also use focus stacking to get the most stunning results. They take multiple pictures of the same subject with all settings the same except where the lens focuses on the subject, then they blend these images into one using Photoshop.

Good luck!

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Can't upload second photo, the blurry one, because the file extension was .awr. What am I doing wrong with the extensions and how could I correct it?

As for this part of the question: you can either change settings in your camera to give you jpeg or jpeg + AWR files for every image you take, but the long term solution is to get a program such as LightRoom or Photoshop that can read .AWR and allow you to manipulate the photo before saving as a jpeg.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Here is a random sample shot I had on my phone. I don't remember the settings I used but I do remember that I used the Sony 35mm with the 16mm macro tube extension. Note how quickly the focus falls off towards the side and bottom of the blackberry.

 

[Janice]

Macro isn't as easy as many people think, I went through similar trials as you. I also got the macro tube extensions (Meike brand) in 10 & 16mm sizes. Here's what I learned from playing around with it:

• Use a narrow aperture. F1.8 looks great for portraits, but in macro, the amount of focus area is just so darned difficult to nail. So try again at something like F8.
• Smaller aperture means you will need more light. You may get to the point where you have a decent amount of the picture in focus, but its too dim, or the camera itself is blocking the light, so grab a lamp!
• Manual focusing is best. That's my opinion only though.
• Tripod. Maybe my hands are a bit shaky, but if you're looking for the cleanest lines and best focus, use a tripod.

Advanced macrophotographers also use focus stacking to get the most stunning results. They take multiple pictures of the same subject with all settings the same except where the lens focuses on the subject, then they blend these images into one using Photoshop.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply. It gives me hope that I'll get this right at some point.

 

[WeeMalky]

Just received a gift of the Neewer Macro Extension Tube Set.10-16mm Internet research suggested putting the 16 on against the camera body, then the 10mm. Using an a6600 with a 16-50mm lens (aka kit lens)
All well and good, but What the heck?! How do you achieve ANY kind of decent focus AND get the ENTIRE item in the frame?

I was able to get just the face and a touch of the lamb this little shepherd figurine from about 3" away (impressively close) (not as sharp as I'd like) but when I tried to get the whole figure of the little boy (he's about 2.5" tall, it was a complete disaster. I did move the camera body further from the statue but no luck. See photo below. Can't upload second photo, the blurry one, because the file extension was .awr. What am I doing wrong with the extensions and how could I correct it?

Check this out Janice it might help Mike is good and clear and has lots of videos about Sony cameras https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyCdzkPm5vQ

 

[Janice]

Check this out Janice it might help Mike is good and clear and has lots of videos about Sony cameras https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyCdzkPm5vQ

WOW! Thank you. Absolutely brilliant video. Really explained how to use extension tubes and why you need to set them up as he did. Fantastic! Thank you for the link!