Macro extention tubes from Fuji

Honeysuckle Bush. Close-up with Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm lens.

Today Fujifilm announced two macro extension tubes for the X mount,  MCEX-11 and MCEX-16 (11mm, 16mm), available from the mid-December 2014, with price tag approximately $100 (USD) apiece. The tubes provide electronic connections between lenses and camera bodies, so the autofocus will work. For XF18-55mm F2.8-4 with MCEX-11 the max. magnification on the wide end changes from 0.08 to 0.69(!!!) with working distance from the lens being just 11 mm, and on the tele end the magnification jumps from 0.15 to 0.37 (working distance 91 mm). MCEX-16 changes the max. magnification to 0.97 and 0.47 for the wide and tele ends of the zoom range, with working distances just 4 and 63 mm, respectively. In other words, MCEX-16 brings XF18-55mm close to XF60mm Macro. Obviously, the macro lens has a better resolution, and it gets more light. For other lenses the information on magnification with the extension tubes are provided in this table (pdf file).

The extension tubes reduce amount of light going to sensors / films but considering low noise of current sensors it should not create any problems. Hopefully, the autofocus speed of XF18055mm with the extension tubes will be faster than XF60mm Macro - it was a big disappointment for me. Hopefully the tubes will create a viable and affordable alternative for amateur macro shooters.