Best lens for macro picture (insect size like bees)

GagBagger · Apr 16, 2004

RogM said:
Still, I'd like to see Nikon come up with a lens similar to the
Canon MP-E 65mm, wouldn't you?

It's certainly a neat lens, but it's a bear to work with and I passed on buying one myself (I shoot Canon). I think it's Canon's slow-selling lens -- yet they still offer it for those who need it.

Brendan
--
Things that make you go, hmmmm...

MaleManGuy · Apr 16, 2004

I tried a Nikon 105... and even tho it is a micro lens... it would not auto-focus on anything too close... like a 1.5 feet or less it seemed... not to mention... it was slow and noisy. What is the new Tamron 180 like?

Is it like silent wave, fast focus? Anyone have details on it or a hint a cool micro lens?

thanks

kaiyen · Apr 16, 2004

It's almost impossible to have a fast-focusing macro lens. The distance the focusing motor has to move from infinity to the nearest focus point is so long that it'll always take a long time. The Sigma 180 is an HSM but is actually slower than the Tamron in that German test (if I remember correctly. It's a fabulous test, by the way).

Most people do true 1:1 focusing manually.

A roughly 100mm macro should be able to focus down to about 1'. The ~~200mm lenses should go to about 1.5'.~~

k.

MaleManGuy said:
I tried a Nikon 105... and even tho it is a micro lens... it would
not auto-focus on anything too close... like a 1.5 feet or less it
seemed... not to mention... it was slow and noisy. What is the new
Tamron 180 like?
Is it like silent wave, fast focus? Anyone have details on it or a
hint a cool micro lens?

thanks

--
http://www.pbase.com/romosoho (pbase supporter)

Patrik Kosnac · Apr 16, 2004

I see it's quite expensive in Europe. It is around 240 EUR here in Beijing.

Sasa Pahic Szabo said:
http://www.preissuchmaschine.de

i bought mine might cheap (around 320) euro .

enjoy !

ziegler benjamin said:

Thanks for the advice

Any idea of the price in france or even in europe ?

Click to expand...

Sasa Pahic Szabo · Apr 17, 2004

well

add up shipping and customs from china and it will turn out at around 300 smthing euro.

Patrik Kosnac said:
Sasa Pahic Szabo said:

http://www.preissuchmaschine.de

i bought mine might cheap (around 320) euro .

enjoy !

ziegler benjamin said:

Thanks for the advice

Any idea of the price in france or even in europe ?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

JP Scherrer · Apr 19, 2004

...couldn't it ? It's been shot anyway with the SP90, wich I prefer against of the 180 because ther is more DOF, and it's a lot more usable HANDHELD...

Fuji S2 Pro + Tamron SP90 - 1:125 @ f:11 - ISO 100 - handheld with flash SB-80DX as fill-in

Cheers,
Jean-Pierre
http://www.pbase.com/scherrer/s2
Equipment list in profile

ziegler benjamin · Apr 19, 2004

Which is the minimum distance for Focus with the Tamron AF SP 90/2.8 MACRO 1:1 ø 55mm ?

Gavin Cato · Apr 19, 2004

Well, ignore the nikon 60mm and 105mm. Ignore the tamron 90mm.

All great lenses, but not enough working distance. Getting stung is not nice.

Either get Tamron/Sigma 180's (I've never used them) or the Nikon 200mm which I have used and is fantastic.

Here's a very old shot from the nikon 200mm with the nikon d1h at f/16.

http://www.gavincato.com/gallery/Macro/aan

cheers

ziegler benjamin said:
Hi,
I'm looking for a afordable macro lense for a nikon D70.
I plan to take macros of insects like bees or buterfly.

Any advice ?

Thanks

BobHo · Apr 19, 2004

I own the Sigma, which I bought after my 100 Canon proved too short for insects on my FILM camera.

With the 1.5x FOV crop, you might get away with a 105 Sigma or Nikon. A 90mm macro seems a little too short.

Last but not least, the 100 F3.5 Vivitar looks and feels like a toy, but it's less that $150 and takes amazingly good pictures.

A few other points (1) Plan on using F16 with a 90 to 105 lens and F22 for a 180 (2) Plan on using some sort of artificial light. I own and use a ringlight, but it gives very flat lighting. I'm moving slowly toward using a standard high-end shoe mounted flash. (3) Forget autofocusing. In fact, I focus a lot by my moving my body in and out. (4) You will get tired. Photographing fast-moving insects is WORK.

Hope that helps

--
Bob

Joseph S Wisniewski · Apr 19, 2004

J-P. Scherrer said:
...couldn't it ? It's been shot anyway with the SP90, wich I prefer
against of the 180 because ther is more DOF, and it's a lot more
usable HANDHELD...

Very nice shot. And I agree about the handheld use. But DOF is entirely determined by the f stop and macro ratio. At f11, framing the pic the same way, you would have had identical DOF with either the 90mm or the 180mm.

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A cyberstalker told me not to post anymore...
So I'm posting even more!

Ciao!

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Joseph S Wisniewski · Apr 19, 2004

Bob Howland said:
I own the Sigma, which I bought after my 100 Canon proved too short
for insects on my FILM camera.

With the 1.5x FOV crop, you might get away with a 105 Sigma or
Nikon. A 90mm macro seems a little too short.

Would you believe the 105 Nikon and the 90mm Tamron have near identical working distance? The Nikno is 155mm from the lens front vs. 147mm for the Tamron.

Both lenses are variable focal length designs. In the process of focusing to 1:1, the Nikon changes forcal length from 105mm to 75mm. The Tamron goes from 90mm to 70mm.

BobHo said:
Last but not least, the 100 F3.5 Vivitar looks and feels like a
toy, but it's less that $150 and takes amazingly good pictures.

I'll take your word on that. It makes sense, there are a lot of 100mm f4 designs that make good macros, an enlarger lens on a long helicoid would do it.

Does it go 1:1 with it's own helicoid, or just 1:2?

BobHo said:
A few other points (1) Plan on using F16 with a 90 to 105 lens and
F22 for a 180 (2)

Why? At the same macro ratio and same f stop, you have the same DOF.

BobHo said:
Plan on using some sort of artificial light. I
own and use a ringlight, but it gives very flat lighting. I'm
moving slowly toward using a standard high-end shoe mounted flash.

I only use ring light for some very specialized shots. Usually involving metal objects, bigger versions of things I would do with epi-illumination.

BobHo said:
(3) Forget autofocusing. In fact, I focus a lot by my moving my
body in and out. (4) You will get tired. Photographing fast-moving
insects is WORK.

Amen to both these.

--
A cyberstalker told me not to post anymore...
So I'm posting even more!

Ciao!

Joe

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

Joseph S Wisniewski · Apr 19, 2004

ziegler benjamin said:
Which is the minimum distance for Focus with the Tamron AF SP
90/2.8 MACRO 1:1 ø 55mm ?

The distance that matters is 147mm (just under 6 inches) from the front of the lens to your subject. The lens has a 290mm minimum focusing distance spec at 1:1. That's from the subject to the film plane (or sensor). The lens mount is 46mm in front of the sensor, and the lens length is 97mm. So that's 290 - 46 - 97 = 147mm.

--
A cyberstalker told me not to post anymore...
So I'm posting even more!

Ciao!

Joe

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

dregelmyller · Apr 19, 2004

How important is a flash in macrowork ?

I got these options:

Buy a Tamron 90 DI + SB800/SB600

Or

Buy a Tamron 180 DI only

Its a hard choice becouse i dont know how fast i can save up
for a flash if i choose the later alternetive.

GagBagger · Apr 19, 2004

dregelmyller said:
How important is a flash in macrowork ?

If you normally shoot outdoors in good lighting with a tripod you may not need a flash at all -- in fact I personally use flash only when absolutely necessary as I still prefer natural light and can, generally, tell a flash photo every time.

If you will be shooting without a tripod in poor light then obviously flash will be necessary, and it can, at times, punch up the subject.

Brendan
--
Things that make you go, hmmmm...

dregelmyller · Apr 19, 2004

I dont think i will be using a tripod but the lighting will probably be good.

GagBagger said:
dregelmyller said:

How important is a flash in macrowork ?

Click to expand...

If you normally shoot outdoors in good lighting with a tripod you
may not need a flash at all -- in fact I personally use flash only
when absolutely necessary as I still prefer natural light and can,
generally, tell a flash photo every time.

If you will be shooting without a tripod in poor light then
obviously flash will be necessary, and it can, at times, punch up
the subject.

Brendan
--
Things that make you go, hmmmm...

kaiyen · Apr 19, 2004

Joe,

You make an excellent point - the distances I mentioned earlier are from the film plane. That's the spec'ed amount, so that's what I quoted, but obviously you have to account for the length of the lens, too.

Is the Tamron 97mm when extended all the way out for 1:1?

k.

Joseph S. Wisniewski said:
ziegler benjamin said:

Which is the minimum distance for Focus with the Tamron AF SP
90/2.8 MACRO 1:1 ø 55mm ?

Click to expand...

The distance that matters is 147mm (just under 6 inches) from the
front of the lens to your subject. The lens has a 290mm minimum
focusing distance spec at 1:1. That's from the subject to the film
plane (or sensor). The lens mount is 46mm in front of the sensor,
and the lens length is 97mm. So that's 290 - 46 - 97 = 147mm.

--
A cyberstalker told me not to post anymore...
So I'm posting even more!

Ciao!

Joe

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

--
http://www.pbase.com/romosoho (pbase supporter)

kaiyen · Apr 19, 2004

You're thinking of using a 180mm macro lens at or near 1:1 without a tripod?

Wow.

I just did a series of tests with my Sigma 105, handheld, at f8 (and sometimes f5.6 when needed) with 400 speed film and barely got half my shots with any acceptable focus (ie - not nec. focused on the right spot, but at least part of the image was in focus). Of course I can still get better, but that's an even steeper learning curve with a 180mm lens.

k.

dregelmyller said:
GagBagger said:

dregelmyller said:

How important is a flash in macrowork ?

Click to expand...

If you normally shoot outdoors in good lighting with a tripod you
may not need a flash at all -- in fact I personally use flash only
when absolutely necessary as I still prefer natural light and can,
generally, tell a flash photo every time.

If you will be shooting without a tripod in poor light then
obviously flash will be necessary, and it can, at times, punch up
the subject.

Brendan
--
Things that make you go, hmmmm...

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/romosoho (pbase supporter)

ziegler benjamin · Apr 19, 2004

Does anyone has macro picts taken with the sigma 70-300 apoMacro ?

dregelmyller · Apr 19, 2004

Did you use flash ?

Thanks

kaiyen said:
Wow.

I just did a series of tests with my Sigma 105, handheld, at f8
(and sometimes f5.6 when needed) with 400 speed film and barely got
half my shots with any acceptable focus (ie - not nec. focused on
the right spot, but at least part of the image was in focus). Of
course I can still get better, but that's an even steeper learning
curve with a 180mm lens.

k.

dregelmyller said:

GagBagger said:

dregelmyller said:

How important is a flash in macrowork ?

Click to expand...

If you normally shoot outdoors in good lighting with a tripod you
may not need a flash at all -- in fact I personally use flash only
when absolutely necessary as I still prefer natural light and can,
generally, tell a flash photo every time.

If you will be shooting without a tripod in poor light then
obviously flash will be necessary, and it can, at times, punch up
the subject.

Brendan
--
Things that make you go, hmmmm...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/romosoho (pbase supporter)

kaiyen · Apr 19, 2004

No, I didn't. Are you going to use flash to freeze the motion, then? I would have a hard time tracking anything at such a magnification ratio.

I guess it would be different with flash. I generally prefer natural light.

k.

dregelmyller said:
Did you use flash ?

Thanks

--
http://www.pbase.com/romosoho (pbase supporter)

Best lens for macro picture (insect size like bees)

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