close-up lens sets

[djb]

i'm looking for a closeup lens set. the typical +1, +2, +4. what i need is the expert opinion of y'all to tell me which brand makes the optically best closeup lenses. i believe some makers are hoya, cokin, and tiffin. how do these compare and are there any others out there that make excellent quality lenses? i want to capture closeup video of little creepy crawlers and bad little beasties but, my s602z won't focus close enough in video mode. i figure close up lenses will help. thanx in advance!!!

dennis

[shene]

Originally Posted by djb

i'm looking for a closeup lens set. the typical +1, +2, +4. i believe some makers are hoya, cokin, and tiffin. how do these compare and are there any others out there that make excellent quality lenses?

Frankly speaking, none of these sets is of the best quality. However, they do deliver good to very good results as long as you will not stack more than 2 close-up lenses together and always use the one with the higher diopter closer to the camera lens. I don't have experience in using the Cokin set; but the Tiffen and Hoya sets are very good. If image quality is very important to you, then try the Canon and Nikon expansive versions. After you receive the lenses, try to determine the magnification of each lens and each combination so that from the size of the subject and distance you will be able to determine which lens and lenses should be used. The "Close-Up" page of my Coolpix 2500 user guide has a little more details.

CK
http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam
Nikon Coolpix 950/990/995/2500/4500 User Guide