Hi folks!
I've been playing around with photography for close to a year now, almost all of that has been wildlife so the couple of lenses I have bought have been longer focal length. Ocassionally though, I see a flower or an insect I love. I haven't had bad results just using whatever lens I have on at the time. Below is a crocus taken with the kit lens (Canon 18-55 mm f5.6 ) and a bumblebee (Canon 100-400 mm also a f5.6 the only good piece of glass I have, my third lens is the Canon 55-250mm my camera is an old Canon Rebel T4i). I don't think I am ready to splurge on a macro lens yet. So, if I want to take a close up should I be using the the widest lens I have, does it matter?
Thanks!
Like most folks here I use macro lenses for close-up imagery, but the question from the OP was what kind of alternative setup would get them close and personal without that investment. Well, you can't say I'm not prepared to try every option! 
After the debate on extension rings I thought I would delve into my rarely-used camera gear box and see if I could get an image from them, something I had not made a serious attempt to do previously.
Just for a lark, and to add to the challenge, I took the much-maligned Canon EF 28-90 f4-5.6 USM lens (circa 1991): while not renowned for its quality of build it did get some kudos for its close-up performance (in fact it did considerably better than the 18-55). To that I added my generic extension (all plastic) tube set (13+21+31mm) but with communication and focus capability. I attached ALL of the tubes to the lens and the whole thing to my Canon EOS M via the EF adaptor. There was frankly a wafer thin DoF.
I put the whole assembly on a Gorillapod and went in search of action - using available light. And then I spotted this tiny wee caterpillar, it was about the thickness of thread... This is the result:
Canon EOS M, EF 28-90mm @ 76mm + 55mm, f/10, 1/25 sec, ISO-160
The flowers are tiny and measure about 1.5cm (about 1/2") across. The caterpiller is not really thicker than a thread - the back part was WAY out of focus.
To complete the options I might have a shot at using a reversing ring with the same lens or my 18-55 to see if I can get anything like a decent result - you can't get much cheaper than that... No, I don't expect the fabulous result achieved by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contributor referenced in my previous post!!
