So you like macro photography, huh?  Think its neat to see down into that super small world of tiny objects?  Its cool to make it larger than life, right?  Macro photography is, generally speaking, a reproduction ratio of better than 1:4 or at least 1/4 life size.  In english, this means you can magnify an object to fill at least 1/4 of your viewable area (and therefore, the camera’s sensor, film, etc).  Full macro, meaning 1:1 or life size reproduction (Nikon calls this Micro) require specialty lenses designed for this style of photography.  Canon goes the extra mile with a VERY special Macro lens called the MP-E 65 f/2.8 1-5X Macro.  As you might suspect, this lens can achieve a reproduction rate of up to 5X greater than life size.  There is an entire group dedicated to the use of this lens on flickr.com.

Im not one to leave well enough alone.  Here’s the setup: Canon 5DmkII, Canon 2X Extender II, Canon 1.4X Extender II, Canon 25mm II Extension Tube, the MP-E 65 lens and the Canon MR-14EX Ring Flash.

And here are the results:

The top image is the “D” in the word dime on a, you guessed it, United States Dime.  The bottom image is even a little bit greater magnification of the words “E Pluribus Unum” written across the back of a dime.  The letter D is approximately 1/16th of an inch in height or about 1.6mm tall.  This combo turns the 65mm lens into a 252mm focal distance.  A 252mm lens focusable at less than an inch away from the subject which equates to approximately 15X life size or 15:1 reproduction ratio.  The margin of error in focus is a hair’s width, so a tripod mount with a micrometric adjustment plate is essential for precision focusing. I did mount the camera system on the tripod you see behind me in the top picture for the shots of the coin.

Other than a small amount of diffraction resulting in a loss of sharpness caused by stacking the Canon Extenders together,  I highly recommend this setup for extreme closeup photography.  Hopefully, the new mkIII Extenders with their improved optical design can correct this loss of performance.  Get on our wait list today for Canon’s latest and greatest 1.4x and 2x Extenders.

Happy Shooting!