Save $1000 on a Macro Lens with THIS Instead.
NiSi 77mm close up lens
NiSi 77mm close up lens
The death of the diopter.
It’s getting a little suspicious that I’ve covered 3 NiSi products, but I really don’t have any affiliation with them. That just goes to show they truly make great products. First filters and now glass! NiSi seems to be the filmmaking company to look out for.
Features
There are 2 filter threads that I am aware of. I bought the largest 77mm, which is perfect for my Zeiss Otus 55. However it comes with a 62 and 72mm to 77mm step-up ring for other macro lenses.
Has a certain ice cream sandwich vibe to it. Also reminiscent of their true color VND design. Has some heft, feels metal and high quality. This really isn’t a diopter, it’s a lens.
While looking for a diopter to get better macro shots, I stumbled upon this macro lens that attaches to the front of your lens like any other filter or diopter. It’s got some heft to it, but maybe all that glass will convince you of its quality. Normally diopters and extension tubes sacrifice image quality, but I’m ecstatic to report that there is 0 hindrance in image quality with perhaps even an improvement in sharpness. I suppose that should be expected with this amount of glass, but it’s such a great relief for image quality enthusiasts. On the Zeiss Otus 55mm, which has an abysmal minimum close focusing distance of 50cm or 0.14x magnification, the close up lens magnifies without losing sharpness or adding CA/other imperfections. It’s magical!
Minimum close focusing distance Zeiss Otus 55mm (0.14x magnification)
With NiSi close up lens. Looks to be around 1:2 or 1:3 magnification now?
Final thoughts
Aside from vaguely more saturation, there is nothing to complain about with this $100 product that will probably save you a lot of money from buying a $1000 macro lens. On the color checker comparison, in order to get the same field of view, I actually had to focus to infinity with the close up to get a comparable framing (I still had to crop to original photo to match). The level of diopter is reported to be around +9, but from what I researched it seems to affect certain focal lengths differently and low magnification lenses more strongly. In any case, my 55mm has pretty poor minimum close focus so you should expect equal to better results for your portrait lens. But if you’re like me and want a 1:1 magnification for a true macro lens, you can just use this on your 1:2 macro lens or other closer portrait lens to get there instead. If you’re using a full frame camera, then you can switch to super35 to get even more magnification. This is awesome because Zeiss macro lenses are often only 1:2 magnification and this makes them finally viable. It seems gone are the days of sacrificing image quality. Diopters, though as light as they may be, are no longer needed when we have this.
Otus 55 Full Frame > With close up lens > Super 35 mode
Recommendations
The best head for the Sachler Flowtech might not be the Activ6.