yes, you may get one or two good shots of stationary items from a closeup filter, but look at what makes up a filter vs. what makes up an extension tube and compare quality based on that. a closeup filter is a convex piece of glass that can have a profit made off of it when it's sold at $10. an extension tube is nothing but a hollow tube filled with air, no glass to add distortions, nothing to get dirty, nothing to diffract light. the cheap diy pringles can extension tube has the same effect on image quality (none) as the $100+ dollar set of kenko extension tubes, then only thing to worry about is getting pringles crumbs or grease inside the camera.