$20 Macro Lens Filter Review

When it comes to photography equipment things add up quickly, lens are EXPENSIVE, camera bodies are EXPENSIVE, technology is fricken expensive ( I think you get the point ).

I’m very much of a “less is more” type of person so I use minimal equipment, and when I say minimal I mean I have 1 camera body ( canon 6d ) and 3 beautiful lens ( 35 sigma art, 50 sigma art, and canon 85 1.8 ) and that’s it!

I have however been DYING to own a macro lens, because lets face it…tiny objects and creatures are so much fun to capture and between my 35 – 85 they just cannot get close enough for all the tiny little details!

Even though the canon EF 100mm macro lens does not have an insane price tag it was still more money than I was willing to spare just to have some fun with so I hit up the interwebs and visited my boo thang amazon to see what she had to offer, and then I found a MACRO LENS FILTER ya’ll!!! I figured hell…if it does suck, at least I only lost $20, and then I’ll know I need to stop being a cheap ass and just buy the damn macro lens!

Let me just start by saying this was the BEST $20 I’ve spent in a long time.

After I figured out how the hell to use the filter right it was love at first snap!

* here’s a little tip to save your sanity – when using the macro filter you need to get close … like very close to your subject, and it also helps a lot if you shoot at a higher aperture ( f5 and up )

I’m gonna go over the Pro’s + Con’s I have experienced below!

The Pro’s >>

1. THE BOKEH IS AMAZEBALLS. For real!

2. You can use these filters on a wide variety of lens. You just need to buy the filter size according to the lens you’d like to use it on, and buy the filter thread size accordingly. ( All images featured where taken on my Sigma Art 50 – which has a 77mm thread. )

3. Once you nail down your focus the clarity of the subjects is pretty sharp – is it perfect? uh nuh but look it’s a $20 filter, and you can always sharpen the image slightly in LR + PS.

4. Did I mention the 4 filters only cost $20 dollars? yeah enough said.

5. These are great for ring shots, nature, and small objects.

THE CON’S

1. You need to get ridiculously close to your subjects ( when using the +10 filter ) which is why I would NOT recommend using that filter for portraits of newborns + people! Way too close for comfort with the +10.

2. The amount of time it takes to focus on any subject that is moving at all can be slightly annoying – however I am always up for a challenge so this did not throw me off at all.

3. You need to shoot at a much higher aperture for the subject to be in focus through the magnifying glass on your lens ( because that’s exactly what these are ) so if you are shooting in low light you will need to bump up your ISO quite a bit and reduce the shutter speed – which could bring back the issue of focus if the subject is moving AT ALL.

4. Back to the focus thing… I found that with BBF or autofocus my camera to took much longer to focus with the filter so I mostly shot with manual focus.

5. The images do not neccisarily come out tack sharp, but it was only slightly noticeable, and fixable in post processing.

The conclusion

Heck yes I recommend this product. Once again IT’S $20 <—– I think it’s a great tool to have in your camera bag. It’s a blast to go explore the tiny little things around you. Also once again the BOKEH is seriously amazing. Crazy part is you can even find Macro lens filters even cheaper than $20, but I forked out the few extra dollars for the Polaroid Brand!