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I have a Canon EF-S 60mm Macro lens.

Can I add an extension tube or teleconverter to emulate a 100mm Macro?

If not, is there a solution?

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    "If not, is there a solution?" We don't know, what actual problem are you trying to solve?
    – Philip Kendall ♦
    Mar 18, 2019 at 6:52
  • As in the question can I add an extension tube or teleconverter to a 60mm macro to emulate a 100mm macro?
    – StephenJ
    Mar 18, 2019 at 6:57
  • Why not just crop the image to your desired field of view?
    – xiota
    Mar 18, 2019 at 7:07
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    @StephenJ That's not a problem, that's a solution to a problem. How is turning a 60mm macro lens into a 100mm macro lens going to improve your photography?
    – Philip Kendall ♦
    Mar 18, 2019 at 7:41
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    Possible duplicate of How can I calculate what the effect of an extension tube will be?
    – OnBreak.
    Mar 18, 2019 at 14:11

2 Answers 2

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Can I add an extension tube [to a 60mm macro lens]...to emulate a 100mm Macro?

No, but you can add an extension tube to a 100mm lens to let you focus closer, just like a 100mm macro lens.

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No, an extension tube doesn't really increase the focal length of your lens, it just allows it to focus on closer subjects.

Assuming you want to shoot subjects farther away than with the 60mm, to turn your 60mm into a 100m, you would need either:

  • a teleconverter/tele-extender) (a lens that that goes between the lens and the camera): extenders are rarely compatible with short focal lengths, the good ones are are pricey and are really designed for prime telephoto lenses. And these lenses are also designed to work with extenders...
  • a teleside converter/telephoto conversion lens (a lens that mounts like a filter on the front element). Assuming you find one of decent quality, it could still produce very soft pictures when focusing in the "macro" range.

The real question is whether the resulting definition of your pictures is still the same. If you get a 2px blur/softness, you are better off cropping the picture from the plain 60mm.

The non-IS Canon 100mm is easily found on the second-hand market. Tamron and Sigma also have very good macro lenses in the 90-110mm range

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  • Thanks...gave me the info I needed. Cheers
    – StephenJ
    Mar 18, 2019 at 8:34
  • Doubt a macro lens with a teleconverter will be better than just using a sufficiently close-focusing, garden variety telephoto or even telezoom lens without a teleconverter...
    – rackandboneman
    Mar 18, 2019 at 10:00
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    @xenoid your definitions of extender and teleconverter are not correct. "Extender" is just Canon's wording for "teleconverter". While there are also teleconverters that can mount on a front of a lens, they are generally inferior to rear mount teleconverters.
    – Mike Sowsun
    Mar 18, 2019 at 14:52
  • "teleconverter" seems to apply to both sides of the lens, which is why I went Ĉanon's way to remove some ambiguity, and why I added a definition... If you have better, generally accepted, unambiguous designations, I'll edit my post.
    – xenoid
    Mar 18, 2019 at 15:12
  • For what it's worth (often but not always a reasonable reflection of "generally accepted"), Wikipedia uses teleconverter ("sometimes called a tele extender") for the between-camera-and-lens type, and teleside converter (or " telephoto conversion lens or front mount teleconverter") for the thing that screws on the front.
    – mattdm
    Mar 18, 2019 at 15:15

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