Spec me a gift £150 max macro lense

roccles · 19 Jun 2013 at 10:57

Hi,

Looking for a bit of advise. I am looking to buy a friend who has helped me out recently a gift of a macro lens (to fit Canon) my budget is £150 max. This can be either new or second hand.

I know I won't get a top spec macro for this price but What would be your recommendations?

Many thanks.

Ace Modder · 19 Jun 2013 at 11:56

I'm interested in the answers to this too. Would love a decent macro lens myself.

Porceliamone · 19 Jun 2013 at 11:59

For 'my first macro' you might want to get some extension tubes and reverse a 50mm prime lens on your camera with them. About £100 all in.

roccles · 19 Jun 2013 at 12:03

Porceliamone said:
For 'my first macro' you might want to get some extension tubes and reverse a 50mm prime lens on your camera with them. About £100 all in.

Thanks, but as its a gift I am really looking to get an actual lenses rather than go down the extension tubes and reversing a lenses route.

Busa · 19 Jun 2013 at 18:59

You wont get a new true macro lens for £150 possibly struggle to find one even 2nd hand for the price sorry. There are a couple of Canon fit tele zooms that say macro on them for that budget but they are not true macro.

Russinating · 19 Jun 2013 at 20:52

Porceliamone said:
For 'my first macro' you might want to get some extension tubes and reverse a 50mm prime lens on your camera with them. About £100 all in.

I was going to suggest this too. The Canon 50mm f1.8 is about £60 (and is a must-have lens anyway for the price) and tubes are no more than £20.

The Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro is ~£420 new and lenses generally hold their value so I'd be surprised if you could find one less than £300.

Raikiri · 19 Jun 2013 at 21:15

Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro is about the only option on Canon, they go for £125-175 used. If you can spend a bit more the Tamron 60mm f2 doubles as a fast portrait lens and it's just generally better. You're looking at ~£250 if you import one though and you may get hit with VAT.

D.P. · 19 Jun 2013 at 22:07

Tamron 90mm Di Macro 1:1 f2.8 Lens For £350 on amazon
Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens £239.00 but too short really
Sigma 70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens £299.00 better length and sharper
sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens £399.00 , better length, less shapr (newer OS model is sharper)

roccles · 19 Jun 2013 at 23:23

Thanks for the advice, it look like my best bet we be to give him a donation towards buying a proper macro lenses.

James J · 20 Jun 2013 at 00:00

roccles said:
Thanks for the advice, it look like my best bet we be to give him a donation towards buying a proper macro lenses.

Probably the wiser choice as they really aren't cheap. Nikon has a few "budget" options (£180 for a brand new 40mm F2.8 macro DX lens for example), but as a canon shooter they aren't much use to you!

Could get something like a raynox D-250 adapter instead, which is a clip on magnifying glass that actually works quite well.

Russinating · 20 Jun 2013 at 00:13

Just a question, but is there any particular reason why they want a macro lens? Of all the lens 'types' they're the least useful unless they're fulfilling a very specific niche.

We have the 100mm macro but the amount of times I've actually used it for its macro capabilities can be counted on one hand.

James J · 20 Jun 2013 at 00:29

Russinating said:
Just a question, but is there any particular reason why they want a macro lens? Of all the lens 'types' they're the least useful unless they're fulfilling a very specific niche.

We have the 100mm macro but the amount of times I've actually used it for its macro capabilities can be counted on one hand.

Can use a macro lens for allsorts of stuff though so I disagree about the niche part. I used my nikon 105 VR (which I'll be buying again when I have the cash!) to do some excellent animal portraits due to how sharp it is at any aperture. The minimum focus distance being capable of doing 1:1 ratio is just a bonus for me

Busa · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:43

James J said:
Can use a macro lens for allsorts of stuff though so I disagree about the niche part. I used my nikon 105 VR (which I'll be buying again when I have the cash!) to do some excellent animal portraits due to how sharp it is at any aperture. The minimum focus distance being capable of doing 1:1 ratio is just a bonus for me

Agree totally with this, i use my Sigma 105 macro for lots of subjects!

D.P. · 20 Jun 2013 at 15:05

Macro lenses are great for portraits, landscape, still life, architecture. Just a bit too slow to focus and sort for wildlife and sports.

James J · 20 Jun 2013 at 15:21

D.P. said:
Macro lenses are great for portraits, landscape, still life, architecture. Just a bit too slow to focus and sort for wildlife and sports.

If you limit focus on the nikon 105 VR - its fast enough for pretty much anything. Even done birds in flight with it.

D.P. · 20 Jun 2013 at 16:49

But 105mm is far too short for most wildlife, even on a crop. The Nikon 200mm Macro on crop would cover some instances.

The biggest bird in my area is the great Blue Heron, this guy was no more than 20feet away and was shot with a nikon 300mm f/4.0 with 1.4xTC on a D90, so around 635mm FF equivalent and still had a small crop (maybe 20% of the frame was removed).

635mm is remarkably close to the pro bird photographers weapon of choice, the 600mm f/4.0.

James J · 20 Jun 2013 at 17:01

I know that, but I was giving an example. The AF isn't slow on the 105 VR at all when the focus limiter is being used, which is what its there for in the first place. Took a photo of a robin sat on a brand and then flying away from me with the 105 and the bird was only around 2 metres away, if that.

D.P. · 20 Jun 2013 at 17:10

The focus speed also tend to vary by lens on macros. I think a lot of the 3rd part lenses are very sharp but slower to focus. Slow focus tends to be common because macro lenses, like ultra fast primes, have to have extremely accurate focus due to the shallow DoF and it is hard to make a system that is both super accurate and super fast, much easier if you slow things down.

Anyway, we both agree that macro lenses are very useful all round lenses. Their sharpness makes them great for landscape and architecture.

Russinating · 20 Jun 2013 at 17:10

James J said:
Can use a macro lens for allsorts of stuff though so I disagree about the niche part. I used my nikon 105 VR (which I'll be buying again when I have the cash!) to do some excellent animal portraits due to how sharp it is at any aperture. The minimum focus distance being capable of doing 1:1 ratio is just a bonus for me

You misread my post:

"We have the 100mm macro but the amount of times I've actually used it for its macro capabilities can be counted on one hand."

In fact you said what I said, just longer. My point is that if he wants to get a macro lens for non-macro photography then us recommending extension tubes is pointless.

James J · 20 Jun 2013 at 17:22

D.P. said:
The focus speed also tend to vary by lens on macros. I think a lot of the 3rd part lenses are very sharp but slower to focus. Slow focus tends to be common because macro lenses, like ultra fast primes, have to have extremely accurate focus due to the shallow DoF and it is hard to make a system that is both super accurate and super fast, much easier if you slow things down.

Anyway, we both agree that macro lenses are very useful all round lenses. Their sharpness makes them great for landscape and architecture.

The 105 VR is also slow to focus, WHEN THE FOCUS LIMITER ISN'T USED. Its basically a standard telephoto prime with VR when you stop it from actually being a macro lens.

Russinating said:
You misread my post:

"We have the 100mm macro but the amount of times I've actually used it for its macro capabilities can be counted on one hand."

In fact you said what I said, just longer. My point is that if he wants to get a macro lens for non-macro photography then us recommending extension tubes is pointless.

Probably, I'm currently suffering with a viral chest infection and gastroenteritis so haven't been sleeping well and at the time of posting, I was spaced out