Macro lens recommendation please

J

jhock

Suspended / Banned
Messages
41
Name
James
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

I am after a lens to take pictures of war game minitures and other models, normally in studio (minitures one on my desk) but some times at shows.

The camera is a Nikon D5000, I am thinking used and not overly expensive if possible.

Can any one recommend a lens, does not have to be Nikon, happy to use Sigma or Tamron if they offer better value and will do the job.
 
Can pick up a few lenses for around £300, so you are in luck! The tamron 90mm is the cheapest second hand and is pretty damn good, although for a small amount extra, you can get the sigma 105mm F2.8 that has more reach and is equally as sharp. These are both well below budget, whilst moving right up to £300, you might be able to get the sigma 150mm F2.8 lens (none OS) which is superb. Owned the later myself and it was easily the most used lens I had whilst I was a canon user, with the nikon version being easily as good!
 
James J said:
Can pick up a few lenses for around £300, so you are in luck! The tamron 90mm is the cheapest second hand and is pretty damn good, although for a small amount extra, you can get the sigma 105mm F2.8 that has more reach and is equally as sharp. These are both well below budget, whilst moving right up to £300, you might be able to get the sigma 150mm F2.8 lens (none OS) which is superb. Owned the later myself and it was easily the most used lens I had whilst I was a canon user, with the nikon version being easily as good!
Click to expand...

Cheers James,

And these lens can be used very close up to the subject? I do not really understand macro photography at present, I want a lens that will enable me to get close and fill the frame with often very small models I wan to take shots of.
 
Nah the beauty of having longer focal lengths means that you can be further away but still maintain 1:1 magnification ratio. For insects, its vital to keep distance, otherwise you can use the vastly shorter focal length lenses such as a nikon 40 and 65 micro (nikons macro) lenses, but you need to be exceptionally close to get the same level of magnification.

If you want to get past 1:1 magnification, you can get extension tubes to lower the minimum focus distance of your lens to attempt to increase the magnification ratio (past 1:1)

How close do you really want to go though? The closest you can possibly go is with a canon 65mm MP-E lens that is highly specialised (and obviously canon only!) that allows 5x magnification but its exceptionally hard to use and about £800, plus requires a flash also.

Personally I'd go with the sigma 150 as its a great all round macro lens as it has the focal length, aperture and build quality that lasts. (also comes with a tripod collar which is handy!)
 
For taking photos of small models then I don't think you'll really need a long focal length. A small subject matter in macro terms is mm long not cm. I assume your small models may be 2cm high or maybe even bigger.

I have a Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens that would certainly do the job that I think you need to do and I picked mine up second hand for £140. For gettins 1:1 closeups of really tiny objects then you do have to get very close but I got it for wedding details shots (rings etc) and for that you only need to be a few inches away.

So if shooting from 8-10 inches from your subject to fill the frame is fine then I'd recommend the Sigma. If you want to be able to fill the frame from say 12-24inches away then go for a longer lens, say 105mm but that will come at a higher cost.
 
-Rob- said:
For taking photos of small models then I don't think you'll really need a long focal length. A small subject matter in macro terms is mm long not cm. I assume your small models may be 2cm high or maybe even bigger.

I have a Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens that would certainly do the job that I think you need to do and I picked mine up second hand for £140. For gettins 1:1 closeups of really tiny objects then you do have to get very close but I got it for wedding details shots (rings etc) and for that you only need to be a few inches away.

So if shooting from 8-10 inches from your subject to fill the frame is fine then I'd recommend the Sigma. If you want to be able to fill the frame from say 12-24inches away then go for a longer lens, say 105mm but that will come at a higher cost.
Click to expand...

Hi Rob,

That sounds Like the sort of thing I need, 10 inches away, the models in question are about 28mm to 40mm in height so the 50mm sounds like what I need for not too much money either.

Cheers Rob.

Thanks for the advise James, thankfully the subject matter of my pictures does not fly off if you get to close!
 
any third party lens would be good, or if you're on the cheap you can get some macro converters for 20 quid maybe?
the 50mm idea on a cropped sensor is great if that's good enough as frankly it's great to have a 50mm prime lens in your kit bag!
also a tripod and some nice soft /bounced lighting is your friend here I think
or an o-ring flash converter maybe?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top