[Don Schaeffer]

What is the cost of close up lenses. I bought a set back in 1965 or so including +1,+2,+3 and +10 lenses. I don't know what happened to my +10 lens and would like to replace it. I recall the costs then were under $50 each.

I visited a photostore (one that I have bad feelings about) and the salesman told me that +10 close up lenses cost several hundred dollars, that prices have gone way up. I can't believe that.

Does anybody know the cost of +10 close up lenses and where they can be obtained?

[muzza]

adorama

Knock yourself out!

The +10s start on about page 3 and at about $35US.

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks Muzza. That was easy. Why would that obnoxious salesman lie to me like that? I hate that store.

[Toad]

The Canon 500D is supposed to be a superb close-up lens (and works on non - Canon lenses too... )

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks Toad

[shuttertalk]

I visited a photostore (one that I have bad feelings about) and the salesman told me that +10 close up lenses cost several hundred dollars, that prices have gone way up. I can't believe that.

Wow, I can't believe they said that too. I'd never set foot in there again...

You can try bhphotovideo.com too... they're pretty reliable.

[Don Schaeffer]

It is Don's Camera, the most popular of the major old fashioned photo stores in Winnipeg. There are really only two such stores. The less popular of the two, Professional Camera, is much much better. The folks at Don's seem very snooty (or have to me), they never have anything in stock they always have to order it (I've given them several chances on small items) and they seem to be trying to get rid of me. Maybe I don't dress right for them. This guy, who seemed to be an experienced salesman, told such an outrageous lie. I have no idea why.

[Don Schaeffer]

I know why the salesman at Don's Camera told me a close-up lens would cost hundreds. When I was young they used to call auxillary magnifying glass lens, "close up lenses." Now they call them "close up filters." When I asked him for the cost of a close up LENS he was thinking of a full lens assembly for a DSLR. If I had known to call it a close up FILTER. I would have gotten the right answer. Still. This was a rude salesman who didn't care to understand what I was asking for.

[slejhamer]

No, you called it by the right name, close-up lens. Sometimes they're called close-up filters, but they are not filters in the traditional sense. And besides, once he heard "+10" he should have known.

That being said, some of the higher-quality dual-element close-up lenses, like the Canon 500D that Toad mentions (Nikon has a comparable one, but I don't know the model name), do indeed cost close to (or more than) US$100, which would put them well over that price in C$s. That may have been what he was trying to sell you.

Lower priced single-element lenses from Tiffen and Hoya are pretty good. I've had a Hoya set and had no trouble with it, and I've seen amazing shots with a Tiffen +10 (from another guy named Don.)

B+W are usually pretty reliable.

No experience with Kenko close-up lenses, but in my opinion their cheap stuff tends to be cheap ...

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks Slej

By the way, the Canadian dollar is inching toward par with the US dollar. It's currently at 86 cents.