Digital Focus: Take Great Close-Ups

Feature: Getting Up Close With Macro Filters

Based on the photos I get each week as Hot Pic of the Week candidates--grasshoppers, ants, bees, and dew droplets on leaves--Digital Focus readers are big fans of the Tulip icon on many digital cameras, which activates the macro mode. And the macro mode built into your digital camera is certainly a nice start for taking close-up pictures. But if you yearn for greater magnification than your camera is capable of providing, there's only one answer: using add-on lenses.

Many digital cameras are designed to accommodate additional lenses and filters. Of course, SLR-style digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are ideal for this sort of thing. Cameras like the Nikon D100 accept all of the traditional 35mm lenses in the Nikon family, and the Canon D60 works with a whole slew of Canon lenses. Many of these lenses have macro modes that allow you to get excellent magnification.

But what if you're not using one of those cameras?

Adding Macro Filters

Many point-and-shoot digital cameras accept add-on lenses and filters as well. These lenses snap or screw on to the front of your camera's built-in lens. Manufacturers often sell add-on lenses for their own models. Your camera may have standard threads on the front of its lens--if it does, you can visit your local camera shop or search online for filters and lenses that fit.

First, check out the camera manufacturer's Web site for compatible accessories, including lenses and filters. Then visit Tiffen, and also go to Digital Distributors.com to check out Raynox products. Tiffen is the largest manufacturer of add-on lenses for digital cameras, and it's likely to have something for your camera; Raynox has a variety of macro filters as well. Finally, check out Camera Depot. This online store offers a great selection of common lenses and filters, and it ships promptly.

Macro filters are described by the word diopter, which indicates how powerful they are. Diopter is an indirect measure of focal length; it tells you both how close you can get to the subject and what relative magnification the lens provides. Close-up lenses typically come in a variety of strengths, from +1 to +10--the larger the number, the higher the magnification.

Macro filters come in a variety of thread sizes that fit many digital cameras. I got a set of four for about $40 from Camera Depot. Such filters are usually made from a single element of glass and are threaded to screw onto the front of the camera lens, an adapter, or even each other.

Combining Filters

That's right: You can combine close-up lenses by threading them together. Adding a +1 lens to a +2 lens, for instance, yields a more impressive +3 magnification. For that reason, I suggest getting close-up lenses as a set instead of one at a time. That way, you can combine them to get the magnification you need for a given picture.

For example, I took some macro photos with my Olympus e20n that show the effects of four different magnifications: first I tried the camera's built-in macro capability; then I used various combinations of macro filters that result in diopter settings of +1, +3, and +5. Notice that careful focusing is critical with macro filters, since the depth of field drops to virtually nothing at these magnification levels. But if you need to photograph dust mites, you're in business.

When combining close-up lenses, put the highest magnification on first, closest to the camera lens. That way, you can remove them in smaller increments to achieve just the right magnification. Equipped with close-up lenses, you can get so close to your subject that you can capture the antennae on an ant or the surface imperfections on a coin. It's a whole new world down there; grab some macro filters and check it out!