Sakar 52mm Close-Up Filter Set (+1, +2, +4 and +10 Diopters) Magnification Kit - Metal Rim

by Sakar

• Enables macro photography using a standard lens
• Includes +1, +2, +4 and +10 diopter filters
• Includes nylon filter wallet
• Ideal for photographing small items
• Protected by 15-year warranty

Product Details

• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B001ANXRQA
• Item model number: B001ANXRQA
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 30, 2007

Product Description

52MM Close Up Lens Kit Includes +1 +2 +4 +10

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's look beyond the obvious shortcomings ... November 12, 2010

By Collin Zeng

Amazon Verified Purchase

The first things I noticed about this set of macro lens is that they were cheaply made. I ordered this set of diopters along with a bottom-of-the-line uncoated Hoya polarizer and got them both today from Amazon.

The close-up filters grind against my lens tube and paint has already been scratched off the filters. So I would recommend a very light coating of light mineral oil before fitting the filters on your camera - e.g. valve oil for instruments would work. On the other hand, my bargain basement Hoya filter fits the lens tube like a glove - no grinding of parts during installation.

Speaking of the build, the lens are metal, which exudes a certain degree of quality. They are labeled with white paint - no they aren't etched with information on magnification, and the paint is already wearing off (or was it already worn when I received it)? The paint was also smeared a little on one of filters. So quality control isn't the best, however it's no biggie. The filters are also made of glass, not plastic. I dropped one of the filters once from my chest, however it survived. I was changing the filters in a nature trail.

On usage - the filters really allow you to get closer to your subjects. With the +10 diopter, your lens can be almost touching the subject and you can still lock focus and take a sharp picture. Stacking the filters only allows you to get even closer and make the subject appear even bigger in the final photo. Make sure your camera's macro mode is enabled!

While I dwell on stacking the filters, there is a little bit of asymmetrical vignetting when I stack all 4 filters on my camera - the right hand corners are dark while all the other corners are just fine. Not a biggie, a little bit of cropping will have this problem easily rectified....

And the filters do absorb a good amount of light so don't say you weren't warned about lower shutter speeds! Especially when stacking 4!

The pouch the filters came in is a nice touch, although I could see the coarse pockets scratching the lens if the case is compressed - e.g. you put it in your pocket and sit down.

As for image quality, stacking all four filters also introduces a nice bit of distortion into the image and depth of field is decreased significantly along with that little bit of vignetting covered earlier.

The small depth of field that any one of the filters will give any camera makes focusing mishaps very apparent. A +10 diopter even on a compact camera with a minuscule sensor can decrease the depth of field to 1 centimeter, depending on how close your subject is! The eyes of the fly may be in focus, but the legs won't necessarily be in focus!

Blue lateral CA is apparent. Looks easy enough to remove and even if you don't remove it, it's not major.

Pictures using the macro filters also come out a little too soft for my taste, however that, again, is easily rectified using the Unsharp Mask in many photo editing programs. I personally use GIMP, and a little tweaking using the USM filter boosts contrast tremendously.

So past the shortcomings, I am very excited to have this set of filters and look forward to acquainting myself with with them further. I do appreciate this item's "shortcoming" in the price department though ;).

ONE MORE THING!!! You really need a good way of cleaning these lens! With these lens, every speck of dust will show up on your camera screen when composing and WILL ALSO show up in your photos!!! Mine already have a little bit of dust on them, and many of my photos are starting to look like I took them through a dirty car window!

I recommend a good microfiber cloth because if you using something coarse and scratch the lens, then that scratch is going to be very prominent in every single photo. If dust specks show up, then what about a scratch! Read more ›

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for the price! October 10, 2008

By D. Adams

Amazon Verified Purchase

While a far cry from a true macro lens, what can you expect for under $20. These filters tremendously boost the Nikon's 18-55 lens's macro capabilities.

The reason I only gave it 4 stars is beacuse the glass seems a bit splotchy. Perhaps a good cleaning would help. I'm also a bit disappointed in the "wallet" they came in. I was hoping for something a bit softer rather than nylon and nylon nets. But then again, what can you expect for the price?

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun product to experiment with June 26, 2009

By D. J. Boss

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Digital Concepts Close-Up Macro Set is certainly worth it's very reasonable price. The filters don't themselves magnify, but do allow lenses to achieve a reasonable level of focus at much shorter ranges than normal.

The +1 filter significantly cuts the minimum focal distance (perhaps by half?) while the +10 cuts it nearly nothing. As you move from +1 up through +10 the softness of the images does increase significantly. These filters will not replace a good macro lens, but they do give another option while shooting.

Not a perfect product, but these filters have certainly found a place in my camera bag.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard to beat for the money if you want to do Macro September 21, 2009

By S. J. Anderson

Amazon Verified Purchase

If you don't have a dedicated macro lens, or something like a 70-300mm lens with a macro mode, this is an awfully tempting deal. And for less then $10, it really is a good deal. The quality of the glass is more than adequate, and they do exactly what they are intended. The only problem I encountered was that my lens' autofocus would generally not work with the +10 macro filter. However, if setting up macro shots, you should have no problem manually focusing by hand. The case the filters was shipped in was also not of great quality, and could see it scratching the glass if they had not been individually wrapped in plastic beforehand. This is a non-issue for me, as I have dedicated filter wallets, but for someone who will be using this to carry these around, use caution.

PROS:
+ Good quality glass filters
+ Great deal for macro photography

CONS:
- It's still not as good as a macro lens
- Included filter wallet is sub-standard

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Toy lens July 8, 2011

By Ike Rye

(I tried the closup finters on m4/3 kit lens). The filters are more of a toy as they degrade the picture quality by a lot. +10 lens is only sharp in the very center, all filters display a lot of chromatic aberration. Using them is fun as it opens up possibilities, owever, if you are even slightly into macro-photography perhaps you should save the money for Raynox (or better) achromatic filters.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, affordable addition April 9, 2011

By killthebananas

Amazon Verified Purchase

I was a little skeptical about purchasing these filters because of some other reviews remarking on poor image quality and such. I am not having this problem. I think the problem is not with the filters but with the fact that you simply can't use f/1.8 and similarly low aperture settings. When you do use the lower f/ settings you do get soft images. The higher the magnification the larger the f/ has to be to get sharp images. You still get the nice DOF that you would using the lens at a lower f/ without the filter, so (IMO) you're not really sacrificing much in the way of image quality.

When I purchased them, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I'm sure this is only because I wasn't reading enough. But just in case I'm not the only one unclear about this, let me explain a little how these work. They don't turn your lens into a zoom lens. What I mean by this is that if you are standing in one spot with your bare lens and you can focus on something, when you apply the filter you will not get a closer focus while standing in that same spot. You physically have to get closer to the subject to get focus. The higher magnification you are using the closer you have to get. I would say that with the 10x filter you have to be somewhere around 4 inches or so away from the subject to obtain focus.

These filters are not going to be something you can use to get macro shots of insects and bees and such (unless your brave and want to get 4 inches away from a bee, which I'm not). You will, however, be able to get closer to your subject and still be able to lock focus. On a 50mm f/1.8 the min. focus distance is 18 inches. I love the 50mm lens but I do, from time to time, want to get just a touch closer than the lens allows. That is where these filters come in handy for me.... Say you want to use the 50 for a close up shot of some water drops on a leaf or an eyeball or something. You can get that with these filters without having to crop your image and sacrifice some pixels.

I think what these filters do for you lens is pretty spiffy, especially for under twenty bucks. They probably won't suit everyone's purposes but for under twenty bucks they're a fun novelty filter to own, if nothing else. I have a feeling tho that I will be putting these to use quite often.

As far as the lens case goes, I have no complaints. It folds up nice and neat and fits easily into your camera bag.

All in all, I'm very happy that I bought them.

**One final note...I placed my order through Big Mikes Electronics (I didn't notice this until just now) but the item advertised is Sakar, the item I received is Zeikos. Doesn't make a difference to me, but it might to you. Also, the filter case in the picture appears more like a rectangular wallet shape. The case I received with the Zeikos filters folds up into a square. Read more ›