Suggest me a Macro lense...

kjt

Howdy folks,
I'm thinking of buying a macro lense for my 30D. Any suggestions/comments would be brilliant


Thanks

Fajitas!

Sigma 105 or Canon 100



Canon has faster AF, and dosn't extend, the Sigma is sharper.

Paulw

Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro.

Well worth the money.

rymus

sigma 150 f2.8

worth every tenth of a penny.

kjt

Thanks for the replies. Where did you guys buy from? I'm having a look at URGalaxy and Kea Photo, any other suggestions?

bovril

Got my sigma 105 from Kea, smashing lens. Wish I was better at the ould macro lark to be honest. I need to get developing my eye.

The Sigma is a great lens. I tend to use it always in MF as AF is noticably slower. Never used the canon 100 so I can't compare.

rymus

my 150 came from kea too. Must get out with it again this weekend. It's been a while

Third_Echelon

Just out of interest how much are we talking for each of the aforementioned lenses?

5uspect

Don't forget the cheapskate student macro option; nifty 50 with extension tubes!

rymus

150mm is around €420
105mm is around €280
I think the 100 canon is around the same price...

course thats dedicated macro.. could always get a sigma 24-70 or a sigma 75-300 macro.

Thirdfox

Anyone had any experience with macro diopter filters? (for the ultra ultra cheap student macro).

leohoju

Thirdfox wrote: »

Anyone had any experience with macro diopter filters? (for the ultra ultra cheap student macro).

Yeah, I have a set of +1, +2 and +4 from Hoya. They do an okay job with my nifty fifty. I have some examples of my handiwork up here.

The filters leave you without auto-focus (at least for me - not sure if that's for every lens/camera combo) and you ideally need a lot of light and a tripod to get anyway halfway decent results (not saying that mine are any good by the way).

Thirdfox

So using those filters what kind of reproduction ratio can you get? 1:1 or maybe even higher?

leohoju

I'd say yes on the 1:1, maybe higher as you can up to +10 versions (and possibly more). If you combine the whole lot, i.e. have the +1, +2, +4, etc., I'm sure you could get higher than that even.

I picked the set that I have, including a leather carrying thingy, for €30 in Conns a while back.

Thirdfox

Hmm I think I'll go have a look then thanks.

mobileblog

Sorry to butt in, I was wondering the same thing last week regarding a macro for a D80.The recommendations all seem to point the Sigma 105/150 would I be correct in saying that?
Trying to stay under €300.

bradnailer

mobileblog wrote: »

Sorry to butt in, I was wondering the same thing last week regarding a macro for a D80.The recommendations all seem to point the Sigma 105/150 would I be correct in saying that?
Trying to stay under €300.

Got my Sigma 105mm for under €300 off Albert from KEA a couple of weeks ago
very happy with it.

the_manchine

rymus wrote: »

curse thats dedicated macro.. could always get a sigma 24-70 or a sigma 75-300 macro.

Dunno if you'd use the 24-70. I took this one, but it's a fair crop of the original.
Not the best shot - was just messing about at the time.

rymus

that actually made me scroll back up to make sure I hadn't typed 'curse' by accident in a coffee-haze earlier on..

Anyway; I've used the 24-70 macro to great effect over the years. I love my 24-70, it just doesn't get much use as a macro since I got the sigma 150mm

dhaslam

The longer macros are very useful for insects because allow more working distance from the subject. This one was taken with the Sigma 180 f3.5 macro


www.pbase.com/dhaslam/image/82116279/original

mobileblog

180? What damage did it do to the bankA/C
Nice Shot BTW

oshead

Shot these macros with EF-S 60mm. Well worth considering this lens.
Click the image to view them.

dhaslam

mobileblog wrote: »

180? What damage did it do to the bankA/C
Nice Shot BTW

I bought it used for about £350. New they cost about £500 stg. It is my most used lens.

kjt

Great site for anybody looking at the Sigma 150mm here.
Lots of nice sample shots.

I was tempted last minute to get a Fisheye lense but I don't think it'd be worth it with a 30d and 1.6x crop.