I would guess that you could shoot any of those shots without a macro tube or a true macro lens. I know I can easily get that close to subjects with my 50mm.

You have all your gear now, right? Might not be a bad idea to a quick and dirty test of your minimum focal distances for each lens, so you get familiar with the spatial relationship between how things look in the viewfinder as compared to your naked eye.

a 50mm and rings will get ALOT closer than that.

Those are nowhere near macro territory.

Macro is, essentially, when you reach 1:1 reproduction or better. Micro is even higher magnification. 1:1 means a 1cm object covers 1cm on the sensor (or film).

I don't know what the closest focus is on your 50 1.8, but I wouldn't be surprised if you can take photos exactly like those with it already. Give it a shot.

Yeah, what the others said... your 50 1.8 can rock that.

What aperture were you shooting at? (f number)

Shoot at f/1.8... you'r background will be barely be discernable if its far enough away.

Originally Posted by Colonel Lingus

I am not sure what I was using. I just set up a couple similar objects in a room with better lighting, and played around a bit with the 50. It is indeed achievable.. quite easily in fact. I am happy, to say the least, with the purchases so far.

Good. Your shots will be sharper than the ones you posted as well. I'm not too impressed by them to be honest. Might be web compression though.

they just look compressed.

50mm with 12mm tube


50mm with 12mm tube


50mm

Originally Posted by Colonel Lingus

Are there different tube sizes? If so, how does each correlate to picture DOF?

Yes there are, have a look here

You can stack them or use them individually. The farther you put the lens away from the sensor the closer to the lens objective focused images can be resolved. But the focal plane gets narrower and narrower with each extension and manual focus is a must, as is probably a tripod.

Did you get to use that wax? I've heard they have a 1000-2000dollar model (the low price one) that still has the lifetime refill thing.

I think its cool that you have that. Which type did you get? I know there was the 'lesser price' version of around 2 grand, and the higher priced version of 10grand or something like that. That might be a different wax. Google turns up the vintage to be 2k.

What is their deal about the lifetime refill? How often can you get a refill, and what does 'lifetime' mean? Yours? Forever? Its 'only' 50 dollars a year if you use it for 40 years (I say 40 years to be the time you will wax your own car)

That's some expensive ass wax.

Damn, ~$2k on wax
But we each have our spending habits so I hope you enjoy it, that's all that matters.

As for Macro, the example shots in the OP can easily be done with the lenses in your kit CL. Macro tubes are for getting things the same size ON THE SENSOR as they are in real life. You'll be fine shooting that stuff w/o rings, and with the 50mm f1.8, get rings for cheap effective macro when you need it. Good Luck!