Best macro lens (1 Viewer)

[John In Ireland]

I'm thinking of photographing flowers and insects. Being new to macro photography can anyone recommend a good lens for my Canon 450D although I'm looking to upgrade to a Canon 7D. Thanks for your time.

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

Sigma 150mm

 

[stuartelsom]

I'll second that. Definitely a great lens for insects including butterflies and most recently beetles; very sharp.

Sigma 150mm

 

[John In Ireland]

Excuse my ignorance would this also do for wild flowers?

 

[stuartelsom]

John,

I would think so but I don't do any flowers so I guess that is something that only a flower photographer could answer. As I said before my macro photography is mainly just insects and at that mainly butterflies. You could always do a google image search on 'Sigma 150 macro flower' and see what the results throw up.

If you want to see how the lens performs for butterflies and insects please have a look on my website under recent additions; then either Butterflies 2011 or Insects 2011.

S

Stuart

Excuse my ignorance would this also do for wild flowers?

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

Depends how big the wild flower is...

Sure it could be used on a Forget-me-not, but would struggle to cope with a Foxglove. I have photographed Orchids and Fungi with it and it copes well. For flowers you are likely to need a tripod to maximise depth of field - you will probably be shooting at f18 for larger blooms.

The other advantage of the 150 is the reach means you don't have to get too close. I have tried the 90 and 100mm but find that you risk disturbing the target

 

[Chalky W]

I'm thinking of photographing flowers and insects. Being new to macro photography can anyone recommend a good lens for my Canon 450D although I'm looking to upgrade to a Canon 7D. Thanks for your time.

MINE.....lol......

Sigma 150mm, for macro and close up its a cracker. Though as mentioned its not the lens for full bloom shots unless its fairly small stuff. My gallery has lots of butterflies taken with this lens and my flickr page has a flower set taken with it too, hope that helps a bit. The Sigma 105mm will be equally as good as well as the Canon versions but Sigma has the advantage of being cheaper I guess.

 

[Shaggy2070]

The Tamron 90mm is a good Macro lens and not a bad price.

I'm mainly shoot insects and birds so don't have any flower shots to show, but these are with a 450D and the Tamron 90mm.

 

[John In Ireland]

Some good examples there Shaggy! . . . . thanks for that.

 

[Ragna]

John i think you would be better of going for the Canon macro lenses the 100 f2.8 is an excellent lens and as your thinking of upgrading to the 7D and i believe that the 7D has a special focusing mode for the 100 IS lens. the non IS 100 macro lens is also excellent and would hold its value better than the Sigma 105 2.8 macro . try camerapricebuster for best prices.

 

[Roy C]

John, seeing you are going to upgrade to the 7D then it makes sense to take advantage of the special AI servo mode which only works with Canon macro lenses as Graham has already said.
BTW the working distance difference at 1:1 between the Canon 100 and the Sigma 150 is only 1.6 inches so hardly anything to get too exited about, especially seeing the Siggy is 50% heavier.
If you can afford it then the Canon 100 L IS lens is well worth it if you like hand holding, if not then go for the non IS.

 

[tjsimonsen]

Those are excellent shots Shaggy, and if anything they demonstrate that 1) in terms of IQ there is very, very little difference between the real macro lenses; and 2) whoever is behind the camera is often as important as which lens is in fron of it.

So, your choice is really down to 1) are the mechanical improments in the Canon 100/2.8L (and to a slighter extend the non-L version) important to you; 2) which focal length fits your style if shooting? I'm using the older Canon EF100/2.8 USM and am perfectly happy with it (got it relatively cheaply from someone who was upgrading to the L version).

Thomas