How it was taken
- Camera
- Sony a5000
- Lens
- 7artisans 35mm 1.8f AF
- Focal length
- 35mm
- Aperture
- f/1.8
- Shutter
- 1/250s
- ISO
- 200
I wanted to see if a standard lens could handle macro photography without the expense of dedicated glass. It was surprisingly fun to test this by attaching a Meike MK-S-AF3A Auto Focus Macro Metal Extension Ring (10mm+16mm) for Sony E-Mount to my 7artisans 35mm f/1.8 on the Sony a5000. These rings simply act as a spacer, pushing the lens away from the sensor so you can get wonderfully close to your subject.
Getting a good exposure on this drone circuit board was a rewarding little challenge. The extension tubes reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor, so a bright environment is essential. Even shooting wide open at f/1.8 and 1/250s, I had to use ISO 200. The a5000 introduces a bit of noise there, but I am quite happy with how easily it cleans up in the Lumiraw darkroom.
Open in LumiRawDevelopDevelop a raw file into a finished photo.Using tubes does magnify the natural optical flaws of the lens. If you pay attention, you will spot prominent colour fringing around the surface mount components, along with some distortion. Thankfully, a quick pass in the developer sorts these issues out beautifully, leaving a rather clean final image.
The trickiest part is focusing, as the depth of field becomes incredibly shallow. For this single shot, I just placed the narrow focus plane over the subject: the front rice grain and the mechanical pencil.
But you can see in this other picture:
Lens distortion is noticeable with my lens (the Sony Kit Lens) because, as mentioned before, lens defects are amplified. I was trying to focus on the wheel here, but it ended up looking like I was trying to focus on the "Made in Thailand" text... Oh well :)
If you prefer the entire frame to be sharp, you can shoot a sequence with slightly shifted focus points and blend them using the focus stack tool
Open in LumiRawMerge & stackMerge a bracket, or stack frames: average, median, lighten or focus.It is a bit more work, because you have to line up every shot on a moving support or similar, which I do not have.
Conclusion: Can you take macro shots with just an extension tube?
Yes, you certainly can. While you have to work around the shallow depth of field, light loss, and amplified optical defects, it remains a highly effective way to explore macro photography. The raw files clean up nicely in development, and the results are more than adequate if you prefer not to invest in a dedicated macro lens just yet.