general macro advice needed

donky7

donky7

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Martyn
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new to this, i'd like a macro to add to my ever increasing bag,

in this months photoplus is a telephoto test, with a tamron 70-300 / macro.

the next page are macros best buys, with a tamron 90/macro.

apart from the price and focal diffrence, am i correct in thinking the 90/macro would be a far better choice then the 70/300 for close ups ?

thanks................. martyn.
 
I don't know what lenses you have but another alternative to a dedicated macro lens are extension tubes which enable you to focus closer. You can get some cheap manual jobs for a few quid from Hong Kong sellers on ebay to try out first. I have an old Cosina Macro lens from my Dad's old Nikon which i use with an adapter, it is all manual so not the best setup but gives me shots like this http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q290/artymanphotos/Photography/Img_a0047.jpg

As a general guide a longer Macro say 100mm enables you to be further away from your subject, some insects are skittish, and when you are at large magnifications they appear to move very rapidly making focussing a challenge, most macro is manual focussing.
 
Dont want to hijack your thread, but i'm also interested in the comments that you get, after seeing some very good macro images last week, I have started to take interest, I have a Sigma 70/300 APO DG macro, but the macro bit is only a close up lens.
 
Hope this makes sense :thinking:

The 70-300 is not a true macro lens as it will only give you a 1:2 image , half life size

so if you take a picture of a ruler at full magnification 1:2 with this lens you would see approx 46mm which is twice as wide as the sensor in the camera used to take this image.

1-2.jpg



where as the same image taken with a true macro lens 1:1 life size, like the Tamron 90, sigma 105 etc will give you the following

1-1.jpg

Which as you can see gives you a image the same size as the sensor which is approx 23mm wide.
 
thankyou very much...........

as plain as a bag of "plain chrisps"....
 
What you can do is get an old MF prime lens, say a 35mm or 50mm, you can pick them up for a song, and a reversing ring which enables you to screw the prime lens on to the filter ring of your other camera lens. THat will give you excellent macro results.
 
Get the true macro lens. Not a zoom!

Canon 100mm is a great lens that has internal focusing
Tamron 90mm and Sigma 105 are also excellent lenses.
 
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