SLR's & Macro Facility (1 Viewer)

I currently have a Nikon 5700 and am thinking about upgrading it this spring to an SLR. One of the things that I appreciate is the macro mode that lets you focus to within a couple of inches of a subject such as a wild flower.

I have noticed that in the specs. for digital SLRs the macro comment is usually given as "n/a". Could someone advise me on what to expect in this area with an SLR, i.e. will I need a specific lens to match the macro facility available on most 'point and snap' cameras, or is is a given feature of digital SLRs?

Thanks for any guidance,

Yaffle

Info on marco will not be given as it is totally dependant on the lens that you put on. You can certainly get some decent macro lenses for slr cameras, but personally I find that my coolpix4500 cannot be beaten for this. Will close focus to about 2cm in macro mode - don't know of any dslr and lens set up that can match this.

Have a D70 & a Nikkor 60mm lens.
The lens goes in to a couple of inches & gets half life size & can focus to "infinity".
You can then get in closer & get life size or larger than life-size in several ways:

Magnifying lens that fit on the end of lens, although I think you lose some image clarity.
Bellows which are supposed to be the best, but are expensive.
Extension tubes (which I have) which come in sets of 3 (12, 25 & 36mm) which are hollow tubes that fit between body & lens (cost about HK$ 1,000/ GBP 80)
Can get much closer & with the 12mm can get life size - with combinations of the tubes can get upto about 8 times life size (I think).
Can go to within about 1cm (I think) if yr subject doesn't move.
There is a loss of light involved so depending on yr light quality might need flash
Below are a couple of examples without Flash & handheld - so with flash & tripod you should be able to get better images.

But yr focus range becomes extremely limited, so don't expect to point at something & think you will be able to focus to infinity - you just won't see anything.

The "Kenko" set of 3 works with AF, but Nikon don't seem to have managed it yet with their extension tube set.
Also syncs with recent Nikon Flash units.

Understand with the 105mm lens you can get life-size without having to go in so close.

I also fitted th 12mm tube to a 80-200m Nikkor lens to photograph a bird (Manchurian Bush-warbler) that I knew was going to come along (can see below) & got what I consider a pretty good image for me (without flash on a dull & overcast day) - the image was only about half cropped.
The first image is also "untweaked" - neither sharpened, nor color manipulated.
This bird is only about 3" from head to toe & was taken from about 6-7' away.
Only thing is that the focus range was only between 4-8' (I think).
With the lengthier tubes the focus range is reduced.


I apologise to all the photo techno's out there, but I'm only giving info from my very limited experience.
Best thing is to check out on the net & elsewhere (that's wot I did)

Good luck - I'm extremely pleased with my step up from the 5400 to the D70 (3 months ago)

If I were you, and I was, I'd go for it.
Guy

BTW - D70 has a macro mode & fortunately for me seems to be "klutzenabled"

The Sigma 50mm Macro lens will focus down to life-size at a distance of approx. 19cms - that's 19cms from the subject to the 'film-plane' not the lens front.

At this close range the main problems to look out for are casting shadows on the subject and inadvertently touching the surrounding vegetation with the front of the lens - especially if it's covered in dew!

Many thanks to all for the advice.

@ anonymous_guy. Great picture of a bee, this is the kind of facility I had in mind!

Yaffle

Thanks Yaffle - took about 300 pics of bees in about 2 days, handheld, without flash & at fairly slow speeds - reckon about 30-40% came out pretty well - all using macro mode, as opposed to a higher speed.

Tip: I was taking pics near a bbq pit & somebody had spilt half a jar of bbqing honey - I had hundreds of willing performers & was able to get within a few cms of them.

Here are a couple of uncropped & untweaked pics - sorry about the marks on the lens - splashed bbq honey from their wings that I didn't notice till later - they were virtually bathing in the stuff

Adey Baker said:

The Sigma 50mm Macro lens will focus down to life-size at a distance of approx. 19cms - that's 19cms from the subject to the 'film-plane' not the lens front.

Click to expand...

Just checked the distance from the front filter-thread of the lens to the subject at 1:1 closest focus distance = 4cms. Although the front element of the lens is recessed by about 1.5cms a protective filter of some sort would be sensible if you want to try the bbq honey tip!

Just to re-emphasise, the Sigma focusses down to life-size continuously, without the need for extension tubes, etc.

A longer focal-length of 90/100/105mm would give you a few centimetres more 'room' with which to work.