708/365 - Extension Tubes

There are a whole host of things I want for my camera, but all of them are very expensive and I mostly play with the camera as a hobby between other activities - I am by no means trying to be professional or even semi-professional. So this means most of the time I opt not to purchase equipment because photography gear is quite expensive.

This weekend though I decided that it was time to pick up a small thing. I prefer macro photography, and I'd really like to get a macro lens, but they're expensive. So why not work my way up to it with some extension tubes? I ordered a set of Kenko extension tubes (3, as you can see above) and they arrived today.

(focal length 210mm)

I slapped the extension tubes on the camera and decided to see what they could do with the nearest item I could find in the apartment - which happened to be a set of action figures. With the three tubes (12mm, 20mm, and 36mm) you can step up or down depending on the combination. 

(focal length 70mm)

I played with the different tubes until I finally came up with this, which is much closer than I could get with just the zoom lens alone. I'm sure over the next several days and weeks I'll get a better feel for what control the various tubes provide. So far, I'm please with the outcome.