Fujifilm MCEX - 11 Extension Tube

 I have just received my Fujifilm MCEX - 11 Extension Tube.

I'm no stranger to the world of macro photography having a pair of vintage Macro lenses in the shape of the Pentax M 100mm and 50mm F4.
I wanted to see how my Fuji 35mm f1.4 lens would work in conjunction with an extension tube. It makes sense if you want to travel light and only carry one lens, also auto focus is back in the game and all the EXIF data as well.

There are some third party tubes available through sellers on Ebay,  I have read some comments about the "pass through contacts" damaging the lens or camera and I'm so in love with this camera and lens I didn't want to risk it. The Genuine one was "on special" so the difference in price was only about A$40.
This one is made in China, the build quality is the same as my Fujinon 35mm lens, so, excellent.
I've only had a quick go with it and I’m not disappointed, the 35mm is still as crisp as ever and everything works fine, it mounts perfectly as you would expect.
The focus range is very small with the XF 35mm. Min = 5cm  Max = 10cm from the lens nose, that's it.
Just tried it with my 55mm f1.8 with M42 adapter and it works well Min = 15cm Max = 28cm.

It's not intended to replace a dedicated Macro lens, as a macro lens will focus "close" and all the way to infinity, so keep that in mind.

I think it's pretty good.

Edit: Dec 2016
I've been using the little flash unit that came with the XT1, in conjunction with the extension tube. It works really well, as this little spider demonstrates.

F5.6 Using MCEX 11 and EF-X8 Flash

Fujinon 35mm f11 with MCEX - 11

F8 Fujinon 35mm with MCEX - 11

Dandelion Fujinon 35mm with 11mm extension f5.7

Dandelion Fujinon 35mm with 11mm extension f5.7 100% Crop

Daisy 35mm 11mm extension @f8

Daisy 35mm 11mm extension @f8 100% Crop

Green Tree Ant From Queensland

Astro-Photography Image Proccesing

A little bit about how I currently do my "image stacking" and post-processing.

I'm using "linux Ubuntu" and have loaded "Hugin Panorama Creator" from the software repository.
With this installed and two simple commands you can align and stack your images. You need to be a little conversant with using a command shell.
First put all you jpeg images in a folder and open a command shell and type the following at the prompt

align_image_stack -a  drag and drop all your files from your folder onto the terminal window, then hit return. Nothing will happen for a while....then it should start writing .tif files to the same folder as your jpegs.

When this has finished type enfuse -o 'name.tif' where "name.tif" is the file name you want to use complete with the full directory path, then drag and drop the tif files previously created onto the terminal window, it should then start stacking them and you will end up with a composite image called whatever you nominated at the "name.tif" part.

I then follow up with "Gimp"  adjusting "Curves" and "wavelet de-noise" for a final image.

There is also a good "Java" based program called "Regim" and it runs on any platform and has a nice user interface. This will do the aligning and stacking, but no post processing.

For "Windows" users "DeepSkyStacker" is another good option. Just do a Google search and you will find plenty of options.

I will post some more info and pics soon.

Snorkelling, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia

Saturday the 11th of April greeted us with a reasonably sunny, but not too warm day.
Just before lunch Lisa my wife suggests a trip to the beach to do a bit of snorkelling, OK sounds great I said, its a good job we've got wet suits.

Another opportunity to take the little Sony TX10  out for a swim, and nice to get some pictures from our local waters.

Moondah beach on Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne ,Victoria

Perfect Snorkelling Depth

There's quite a diverse variety sea life in the Bay, most are very shy, and hard to sneak up on, if you manage to take a picture you will most likely have to crop the image to bring it closer.

A good technique when snorkelling is to just float and let the fish come to you. Taking pictures becomes a bit tricky though, as soon as you move your arms they tend to scatter, that's when you learn how fast fish can swim.

Snapper, Port Phillip Bay

Porcupine Fish Port Phillip Bay

Purple Sea Urchin

School of "White Bait"