How Much Macro Magnification You Get ? • Reversed Lens • Extension Tubes | Macro Photography

Estee White Created: Feb 22, 2021 Updated: Jul 10, 2021 1 comment

I wanted to make a video showing exactly how much
macro magnification you can get when you use a reversed lens,
or an extension tube set, or if you decide to combine the two of them together.

My most preferable macro magnification range is between 2:1 and 10:1.
I love working with microscope objectives but I am happy to say
that the second best option to reach higher macro magnification
is a combination of using reversed lens with extension tubes.

There is so much hype going on about the standard macro lenses
and the truth is that most macro lenses can only reach 1:1 macro magnification…
So if you are looking for a more powerful & more affordable option – just keep reading 🙂

In this video I am sharing the exact measurements that I took, without doing any digital zooming or cropping.
I started with reverse lens, then moved on to extension tube set and finally I am measuring the
macro magnification when using reversed lens and extension tubes together.

Video Timetable:
00:00 – Intro
00:22 – Video Contents
01:17 – Measuring Macro Magnification of Reversed Lens at 55mm
02:17 – Macro Magnification of Reversed Lens at 18mm
02:46 – Measuring Macro Magnification of Extension Tubes and Lens at 55mm
03:04 – Using Photoshop for even more precise measuring
03:30 – Measuring Macro Magnification of Extension Tubes and Lens at 18mm
03:53 – Measuring Macro Magnification of Extension Tubes and Reversed Lens at 55mm
04:24 – Measuring Macro Magnification of Extension Tubes and Reversed Lens at 18mm
04:30 – Adding my DIY Ring Light for Reversed Lens
05:27 – Getting a Bit More Macro Magnification
05:39 – Measuring Macro Magnification of Extension Tubes and Reversed Lens at 15mm
06:08 – Using Photoshop for even more precise measuring
06:40 – All The Measurements Reference Photo

Not every combination works great… sometimes there are slight issues.
When I was using my first extension tube set with my reversed lens,
I lost quite a bit of sharpness and my stacks didn’t look great…
There were some assumptions that the loss of sharpness could have been
caused by slight vibrations introduced during the focus bracketing…

But after replacing my extension tube set and getting better results with the new one
– I know that it was the old extension tube set causing the problems
(when combined with all the other parts that I was using).
So if you come across something like that – just try using different versions,
different parts and that will most probably resolve the issues.

Here are the measurements of the macro magnification that you can get
when using – reversed lens, extension tubes or the two of them together ↓

Reversed Lens | Extension Tubes | Reversed Lens and Extension Tubes

Macro Magnification Measurements

The EF-S to EF-M adapter adds a little bit of magnification too, because it functions almost like an extension tube part,
so measurements might be slightly smaller without it, but it wouldn’t be a huge difference.