macro lens purchase advice please

Forums Forums Get Technical Hardware macro lens purchase advice please

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 31 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #22030
    Choc-Ful-A
    Participant

    the canon 100mm f/2.8 is outstanding. it’s a little outside of your budget, though. there is also the 60mm EF-S lens, which I’ve heard great things about.

    I have a Tamron 180mm macro lens that I’m thinking of selling so I can get another copy of the 100mm canon. The 180 can be unwieldy due to its length. It also doesn’t focus nearly as fast as the 100 canon I used to have (that was stolen, dammit).

    I have a Tamron 70-300mm lens which can be switched into “macro mode” when between 180-300mm. It’s definitely not the best lens in the world, it’s f4-5.6 and autofocus is slow. But I don’t use autofocus, so that doesn’t bother me. And for outdoor shooting in sunny CA, it’s been workable. It’s light too, so it works for hiking. Plus the price should be like $130.

    #22031
    justkat
    Participant

    i’m really used to getting in super close with my point and shoot and while i know i have to make a lot of adjustments going to the DSLR i feel like the distance i’d have to get for the longer lenses would throw me for a loop.

    soosh, orionid, elsinor
    any thoughts on should i man up and just learn to be further back for a higher quality lens or go for something i’m going to be a bit more comfortable with right off the bat?

    #22032
    Elsinore
    Keymaster

    It really just depends on what subjects are important to you. It sounds like for most of your subjects, 50mm will be fine. And some bugs won’t have issues. It’s the more skittish ones like dragon flies and some butterflies that you’d want some distance on.

    #22033
    justkat
    Participant

    It really just depends on what subjects are important to you. It sounds like for most of your subjects, 50mm will be fine. And some bugs won’t have issues. It’s the more skittish ones like dragon flies and some butterflies that you’d want some distance on.

    what kinds of subjects would a 100mm be better for?

    #22034
    justkat
    Participant

    i don’t want to limit myself

    #22035
    Elsinore
    Keymaster

    It really just depends on what subjects are important to you. It sounds like for most of your subjects, 50mm will be fine. And some bugs won’t have issues. It’s the more skittish ones like dragon flies and some butterflies that you’d want some distance on.

    what kinds of subjects would a 100mm be better for?

    skittish bugs like dragonflies and butterflies and house flies and whatnot 😉 You can always back up with a longer lens unless you’re shooting in a closet, maybe. But getting closer with a shorter lens won’t always be feasible with skittish subjects.

    #22036
    orionid
    Participant

    I’d also say to go with the actual macro lens if you plan on looking at skittish things like bugs. When I’ve been playing around, I usually just cranked up the aperture to make a deeper DOF for things like flowers and used a tripod for a good 15-30 seconds. As is, my telephoto is f/4-5.6 wide open (depending on focal length), throw in another stop or two for the extension tube, and anything other than bright daylight is going to require a tripod and non-moving subject.

    #22037
    sleeping
    Participant

    i’m really used to getting in super close with my point and shoot and while i know i have to make a lot of adjustments going to the DSLR i feel like the distance i’d have to get for the longer lenses would throw me for a loop.

    Getting close to the subject isn’t neccessarily the same thing as macro photograpy, even if it’s often labelled “macro” mode on cameras. A lot of point and shoots focus closest at the wide end, and actually don’t provide much real magnification. This gives you quite a bit of depth of field, and the impression of getting very close, but you can’t actually fill the frame with a very small subject.

    A real macro lens is a different thing altogether, and it will probably reuqire a little bit of practice to get used to it, but once you do, it will be worth it, I should think 🙂

    If you do want a similar effect to the “macro” mode on a compact camera, which can be useful for certain things (like this) you’d want a short extesion tube and a wide angle lens, not a macro lens.

    #22038
    don_carlogero
    Participant

    I’m also looking to purchase a macro lens. The three lenses I’m looking at are all around the same price, but offer different things.

    The first is an Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Telephoto Macro ED Lens, it’s been reviewed as highly recommended by dpreview.
    The second lens is a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC SLD ELD Aspherical Macro Lens, the flexibility of a zoom would be nice
    The third and final option is a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Medium Telephoto Macro Len, the focal length is the selling point on this lens

    The main subject for the macro would be flowers, but I’m sure insects would also be in the mix. I’m leaning towards the Olympus 50mm right now, but any feedback on the three lenses listed would be helpful.

    #22039
    sleeping
    Participant

    I wouldn’t recommend buying a zoom for macro purposes. There are a handful of rare and expensive exceptions to this, but in general they don’t provide much magnification or very good image quality focused close.

    If insects are a significant concern in your decision, the Sigma 105mm should probably be your first choice. It’s got a minimum focus distance of 12.3″ at 1x magnification. The olympus 50mm has a min focus of 9.5″ at 1/2x magnification. Given that the sigma is physically longer, that means the effective working distance is probably about the same, but the sigma is giving you twice the magnification of the olympus.

    Also, to get to 1x magnification with the olympus you need an extension tube, which is going to reduce the minimum focus distance quite a lot and isn’t very convenient if you’re switching between close and distant subjects.

    #22040
    don_carlogero
    Participant

    Insects are not a significant concern, right now the debate in my head is quality vs focal length. This weekend I’m going to try to find pictures taken with both lenses and compare them against each other. I really wish Amazon offered an option to view full size photos in their customer image gallery, but I should be able to find samples of both lenses on one of the various 4/3 websites.

    #22041
    corsec67
    Participant

    I agree that a macro lens just shouldn’t be a zoom lens, if you mention “Budget”. If you are really on a budget, you might try looking for a used manual focus true macro lens that can somehow be mounted on your camera. I find Autofocus and autoexposure to be less useful on my Macro lens than any other of my lenses.

    If you want to get a zoom telephoto, like a Tamron 70-300 with “closeish focus”, that is a telephoto lens that can kind of take pictures of kind of small items.

    /I have a Pentax 100mnm f/2.8, and the focus is so slow and annoying that I consider it a manual focus lens, but there is not much choice if I want to get close. Getting even closer is throwing a 50mm f/1.4 backwards in front of the 100mm macro, and then a BB will fill the frame.

    #22042
    soosh
    Participant

    I think 100mm is a great length for most macro subjects. It’s awesome for flowers. I currently have a 180 macro, and it’s cool for some things, especially where you want to isolate a small object and blur the hell out of the background, but it can be tricky to use. this image, for instance, makes it look like the one fiddlehead is all on its own, but it was really in a clump of many. the longer lens is good for isolating that.

    #22043
    LeicaLens
    Participant

    I’m also looking to purchase a macro lens. The three lenses I’m looking at are all around the same price, but offer different things.

    The first is an Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Telephoto Macro ED Lens, it’s been reviewed as highly recommended by dpreview.
    The second lens is a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC SLD ELD Aspherical Macro Lens, the flexibility of a zoom would be nice
    The third and final option is a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Medium Telephoto Macro Len, the focal length is the selling point on this lens

    The main subject for the macro would be flowers, but I’m sure insects would also be in the mix. I’m leaning towards the Olympus 50mm right now, but any feedback on the three lenses listed would be helpful.

    I looked at the Sigma 105mm, and it was okay, but with the FourThirds system it functions as a 210mm lens, which I thought was a bit unnecessary. I really like the Olympus 50mm macro; the bokeh is especially nice. I currently use the cheapo Olympus 35mm macro, and while it is okay, I would very much like to upgrade to the 50mm.

    Oh, and Olympus is apparently going to release a 150mm macro this year, in the High Standard range. Summer, I think.

    #22044
    U-Man
    Participant

    I may be late and I recognize your budget but…

    I have the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro and really like it. It does a nice job for portraits as well.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 31 total)
  • The topic ‘macro lens purchase advice please’ is closed to new replies.