For close-ups you might check your camera and see if there are threads on the front of the lens. If they are threaded, you can buy close lenses that screw on the front of the lens. The threads will be on the inner surface of the lens.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004E54LBQ/

If you have a DSLR with interchangeable lenses, they are almost surely threaded. With point and shoots you may not, but your camera may have an optional threaded adapter that lets you add lenses and filters. They work similar to the magnifying glass idea except they are fixed to the camera, so no trying to hold both. Also they come in different strength.

Jay, I've seen those sold before but have never used them. Have you? Do you have example photos from them? The thought of getting magnifying lens for $10 seems irresistible.

I love them and use them almost every time I go out to photograph wildflowers. You have to practice to get use to how they work and because of the lens curvature you can get distortions but mostly when you try to zoom in to much. I will try to take some sample photos tomorrow. Before you buy make sure you know the thread diameter of your lens. If your camera has interchangeable lenses each lens may have a different diameter so buy the size needed for the lens you would be using most for close-ups.

Thanks Jay, I'd definitely love to see sample photos. For only $10, though, I'm going to buy a set for my 50mm prime lens.

dave said:Thanks Jay, I'd definitely love to see sample photos. For only $10, though, I'm going to buy a set for my 50mm prime lens.

Make sure you are buy based on the thread size not lens size. A 50mm lens will probably have a different size thread. When you talk about a 50mm lens you are talking about the focal length, where the thread size will be the diameter across the front of the lens.

Yeah I've bought many lens filters. My 50mm prime lens has 58mm threads.

Threads..... No need to be embarrassed if you don't know What in the World This Is. They are screw threads, used to attach lenses together. (Lenses are screwed together just like a lid is screwed on a jar.)

If you have them on a camera (or a lens), this is what they might look like:



P.S. Now I know why I have the WITWIT badge! (a. k. a. What in the World Is This Badge)

Thanks Rick! That should help clarify my post.

Thanks Rick. I hope one day to advance enough to use this info.
In the meantime I found a quote that was helpful to me too.

All the fancy technology in your camera (and some cameras list a lot of features) whirl and twirl… and eventually return just two values: an aperture (how big a hole to open to let light in) and shutter speed (for how long to keep that hole open). --- http://www.photoxels.com

I'm going to see if I can get a close-up lens. It would make photographing my semps much easier (and probably more effective) than trying to use the camera's automatic focus with a magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe...

Dave, I think I had a break-through with the manual today. I simply do not (and probably never will) understand many of their boxes and arrows (pages 13 remains a total mystery to me "as is" with its arrows and lines in black and gray. References that have us switching from one end of the manual to the other to try to understand a few words in a single paragraph don't help). However when I completely ignore (filter/block out) their boxes and arrows (and all at once I find my brain has learned to do that) I can read the words.

I now understand the concepts of DSLR (evidently high-end photographers can get significantly better images with SLR, but at the moment, I'm no where near needing that refinement), "noise" as applied to ISO (which would be ASA with non-digital film) and "color temperature" and "noise" as applied to White Balance. It helps me to google these and read the articles that come up. When I get an article that really makes sense, I sometimes copy it out for future study (my personal use only!).

I'll learn how to apply these concepts to the buttons, gadgets, dials and lenses on the camera next. One thing at a time... MR

Ok Dave, I hope this helps. To get a consistent point of reference, I set the camera on manual focus, then set the focal distance at about 4 inches. Since you said you were buying for a 50mm lens, I set the focal length on my zoom lens as close to 50 as I could get.

With no lenses added.


With +1 lens.


With +2


With +4


With +10


Here is an example with my camera set at about 100mm and 12 inches from the subject.

100mm no added lens


100mm with +10 lens.

OK I just sprang for a $26.00 set of 5 macro lenses with a cleaning kit for our Canon Powershot at Amazon (free shipping). We had points so it didn't really cost anything -- but I am hoping they will be everything they are supposed to be... Another similar set had a polarized filter in place of the cleaning kit and cost double that. I'm thinking if I need a polarized filter I can get it separately, but I'm not shooting out in the desert...

Very nice, Jay, thank you.

With each increase in filter power, did you then move the camera closer to the subject?

I did not notice when I took the pictures above, but I tested it just now and the lens will move a little close with each step up. The difference between +10 and no lens was maybe 2 or 3 inches. When I took these pictures, I put the camera in manual mode then preset the distance, then just moved the camera in and out until it looked focused. Auto focus works with these lenses also.

That's the info I was looking for. Thanks Jay! I'm ordering this morning.

I got my new zoomers yesterday and played with them yesterday afternoon. Wow, these are fun fun FUN! But they really do take some getting used to. There's definitely a learning curve to using these. I had to experiment with opening the aperture to get more light, but the depth of field is WAY decreased. I ended up going to f/18 to get everything in focus, but then the light was very difficult. All the photos below are uncropped images taken directly from my camera.






Check out these seeds from Lamb's Quarters:


(f/22, 1/60s, ISO 1600)

And the leaf from Amaranth 'Opopeo' really shows the depth of field.


(f/11, 1/80s, ISO 640)

All the above were taken using the +10 lens filter.

The other neat thing about the magnifiers is that they can be used in combination with extension tubes and/or teleconverters or whatever else you can think of for closecloseclose. Of course the problems with light and depth of focus are amplified, too, but...

At some point it becomes a microscope.

I just had some fun this morning with the +4 filter. Auto-focus works on that one quite nicely (with +10 it just seeks and seeks. You have to manually focus.) So I found +4 is the "just walking around" sweet spot for me at the moment.

Good job Dave, I congratulate you on moving into new territory with your camera. I would say I do prefer to be able to identify and object, sometimes a tooooooo closeup obliterates the subject.