Good Macro Lenses to buy

[Stephen Mifsud]

I am continuing this post here from a rev canon forum post because I feel that here is more adequate forum place.

I want to buy a good (which does not literally mean expensive) macro lens to add on with the A80 via its 52mm ring adapter. Canon have a macro lens for this but I asked for better and perhaps cheaper alternatives.

I got some hint and was suggested Hoya macro lenses +4 and tiffel macro lenses +7, +10. Is there anything else to check out regarding macros lenses ?

PS

PHIL if YOU ARE READING YOU SHOULD INCLUDE A NEW FORUM BRANCH ABOUT LENSES AND FILTERS ACCESSORIES

 

[Dave Walker 56]

I am continuing this post here from a rev canon forum post because
I feel that here is more adequate forum place.

I want to buy a good (which does not literally mean expensive)
macro lens to add on with the A80 via its 52mm ring adapter. Canon
have a macro lens for this but I asked for better and perhaps
cheaper alternatives.

I got some hint and was suggested Hoya macro lenses +4 and tiffel
macro lenses +7, +10. Is there anything else to check out regarding
macros lenses ?

Hi

If you have any SLR gear, the standard 50mm lens can often make an excellent macro lens when reversed and usually have a thread ca. 52mm so just needs eg a 52-52mm coupler which most larger photo shops sell. You may get some light cut off but can be minimised by using a f1.8 lens or wider and zooming in.

It's a tad bulky cf the close-up lenses but the simple ones are uncorrected and can give aberrations cf the well corrected reversed lens.

Not sure how well it works on an A80 but works well on my Sony S75 3x zoom to give a very flat 1x1cm field after crop of light cut off.

If you don't have a 52mm SLR lens some are very cheap on eBay. The Nikon E series 50/1.8 is light and slim and I bought one specifically for this purpose for a few tens of dollars. The below is my computer screen phosphor with this setup (Sony S75 + 50mm/1.8 lens). The phosphor stripes are about 0.1 mm apart

rgds

David