Macro Extension Tubes

Extension tubes work but you'll have to increase the amount of light to get a decent exposure.

Extensions are very effective but they make your lens macro-only when in place, with very little adjustment range. You will need to get pretty close to the right length for a given framing. You also need to make sure the insides of the extensions are well-matted, since light reflecting off them will hit the sensor and reduce contrast. What length lens are you using? The longer the lens, the longer the extensions so you will probably need to buy a couple sets at least. If you are trying to frame a dollar, with a 50mm lens, this is not so bad. If you are trying to frame a cent with a 180mm lens, you're going to need a lot of extension! There are formulas to figure out how much extension you need, but keep in mind you will want to have the correct framing with the lens focus setting near the middle of the range when the magnification is set correctly for desired framing in order to keep a little wiggle room on focusing. You also lose communication between camera and lens with the less expensive extensions.

The zoom lens will give you some flexibility in choosing the extension length. Does the lens "fall" into position at the 55mm or 18mm end of the range, or can you adjust it to where you want and it stays in place? The extensions will shorten your distance between lens and coin, so you will very likely be OK with your setup. Believe it or not it's harder to get farther away than closer...what I mean is that once you have something working, getting lower magnification requires you move farther away, which you can't always do. Higher mag requires you to move closer, which is almost always possible.

My lens is adjustable and it stays in place wherever I put it, usually at 55mm. I use max extension of the copy stand as anything closer starts giving me focus problems. Thanks for that info. Sounds like I won't have any problems with my set-up then. Now I'm wondering if it may be too much macro! I shoot mainly Morgans and this is my first venture with a DSLR but it will an interesting experimentation. Guess I can adjust the lens focus as you suggested and trying varying the lens/coin distances. Not sure exactly what you meant by "well-matted". I recently added a lens hood at the suggestion of SD to try and reduce a grainy effect on reflective coins. Is that related?

Hi Bryan and hope you're not getting ridda that JVC of your's. I still think mine is great for those macro shots. I just wanted an all-in-one, hence the DSLR and higher resolution. I've had it for a couple of weeks now and as you can see, still having fun experimenting with it but so far, think it's great ! Think it's only going to get better the more I learn how to use it. Take a look at https://goccf.com/t/86233 I posted a DSLR vs Point n Shoot photo with the same coin.

Oh yes I don't think I will ever get rid of the JVC butt long as it still works. I did see your thread about dSLR vs Point and shoot and that is what made me realize I needed a better camera because when I started looking at my pictures (that I thought were fine for so long) I noticed that they look ok in the focal area but out around the edges they start to get soft, so I started looking for a dslr camera. Was looking at a XS like yours or an XSi and was getting ready to buy one when I was told a friend had a T1i he was wanting to sell for about the same price the XSi is selling for on ebay. He works weird hours so it will be this weekend before I can meet up with him to check it out but he said he would hold it for me until I made my decision as he hasn't really been trying hard to sell it, just told a few people about it