Customer Reviews

Canon EF 25 II Extension Tube for EOS Digital Cameras

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the extension tube to allow me to get closer pictures of flowers. While it is a bit expensive, it does its job. I have been able to take several very creative close-ups that I couldn't do with just my 100mm Canon macro lens. I would certainly buy it again. I use it all the time.

You can focus closer than without it, but you lose the ability to focus all the way to infinity. AF and TTL work just as good as without this between the lens and body. If you are interested in macro work you may want to look at the 60mm or 100mm macro lens before buying this since they allow 1:1 reproduction without any special attachments.

For a circle with a hole in it, this is well worth the money. Of course, you pay for the sturdiness of the piece, since poor build quality could definitely reduce the quality of your pictures. Don't be mislead by the description on Amazon, however. The site implies that this adds 25mm to your lens and that is it, whereas this will "macro-fy" your lenses. With this tube, my 28mm focuses from about 1-1.1" from the front of the lense, with a depth of field of a fraction of a mm at f/1.8. It's also strong enough to support my 200mm f/2.8L + 1.4x II, which is almost more than I can say for myself. My favorite use is in between my 85mm f/1.8 and 1.4x. I got stuck with a mark I, but I don't plan to use EF-S lenses anyway.

If you like close up macro work then this is a necessity. It works great with my two macro lens, Canon EF-S macro and Sigma 150 macro, have also used it with my Canon 135L and 85 f/1.8 and have been very happy with the results. You do lose the ability to focus to infinity so it is primarily for macro work.

I have considered this purchase over the last year and after just using it for two weeks I wish I had bought it last year. It does make auto-focusing a little trickier, and you lose infinity, it is well worth the extra "trouble" in figuring it out. I bought it mainly for macro but last weekend I spent hours in my backyard using this with a Canon 100-400L to capture hummingbird pics. They turned out awesome!

I have owned this tube for a few years. It is a great piece for close-up work however I find that it is somewhat extreme. You get really close up, which is great for some subjects but not so good for others.It is so close it's hard to focus on the entire subject sometimes. If you want extreme closeness, go for it. If you what a little more versatility, go with the 12 II version.

i bought this accessory maily for use with my canon 180mm macro on my 5D mk2. i'm disappointed with this extension tube because it doesn't fit tightly. it's pretty loose on both ends. if it was cheap and not made by canon I would have understood and maybe accepted substandard quality, but a canon extension tube between a canon lens and a canon camera should fit perfectly. i have over half a dozen canon lenses and extenders and everything fits perfectly, then something as simple as an extension tube comes along and ruins my day. i hope this is an exception and not eveyone is facing the same problem.

I've been debating getting a macro lens for quite a while - mainly for taking close up shots of things to list for sale. Folks want to see details that you really can't capture without getting up close.

Like others have said, this is basically an empty ring that passes info from the lens to camera and vice versa. Although autofocus "works" it doesn't work great. The lens really has a dramatically reduced focusing distance. If you're not within the appropriate distance the autofocus doesn't stand a chance. So you move the camera until you're within the range of focus and then either autofocus or do it manually. Since the stuff I'm photographing isn't moving I just manually focus.

I was really surprised by how much versatility I could get from my 100-400 lens. Adjusting the aperture also had dramatic effect.

If you don't want to worry about keeping an exact distance between your subject and your camera then you'll probably want to consider a true macro lens. However, if you're willing to move your camera into focusing distance (dependent upon the focal length of your lens) - then this will give you some interesting flexibility for very little cost.

Exellent piece or art for really macro users, i have this atached to a 60mm macro and get much closer pics, check the pics i have posted here at amazon and you will see what im talking about, i really recommend it, also, if you are taking picture of a fly for exemple, some times they dont let you get really close, so, the extension tube solves this problem too. thanks and enjoy

First of all, I am giving the EF 25 II extension tube 3 stars not because it isn't great (it is), but because it provides a very low ratio of performance to price.

All extension tubes contain the same air and have the exact same impact on close-focus distance. Given this, it is a bit hard to justify the price of this extension tube given that it provides no better optical quality or any other photographic bonus than any other tube.

When comparing this tube to other, cheaper products, it is indeed more sturdy and does have the metal mounting flanges missing from some (but not all) of the cheaper competitors. It also has Canon's anti-reflective coating on the inside of the barrel, while most competitors are simply plain black plastic on the inside. However, for most users, this isn't going to matter at all as most modern lenses are good enough to not require the anti-reflective flocking and most kit is not heavy enough such that the sturdy nature of this tube will ever come into play.

I can only recommend this tube if 1) you are using really heavy kit without a tripod collar (perhaps you are shooting a 300/2.8 hand held) or if you are using one of Canon's larger telephotos. Most of the other brands cause IS instability when used with Canon's larger telephotos (verified on the 100-400L, 500/4, 600/4 and I suspect the 300/2.8 and 400/2.8). I am guessing that their contacts have a high enough resistance that occasionally the voltage running from the camera to the IS gyros drops below a certain threshold, thus forcing the gyros to park themselves. This results in what could best be described as IS stutter and makes photography difficult and (I suspect at least) will damage your IS mechanism in the long run. This doesn't seem to be a problem with most lenses, but I suppose that your mileage will vary.

However, unless 1 or 2 apply, you can get a whole set of tubes that contain the same high quality optical-grade air for less than the price of this single extension tube. Also, be aware that this tube is probably too long for most applications, so unless you have a very long lens or have given some substantial thought to the matter, you likely need the EF 12 II tube instead... if you insist on paying the Canon premium.