I fancy giving Macro photography a try with my Canon 450d SLR but don’t have any idea what lens to look out for. i don’t want to spend a fortune but want something decent.

Happy to buy s/hand.

Any recommendations?

Ian

Cheapest way is to get a canon 35-80 and take the front element out, which this was taken with.

Spider by The charge of the light brigade, on Flickr

I’ve been researching macro lenses for a while – keep meaning to get round to actually buying one!

One that seems to keep cropping up in terms of image quality & general performance is the tamron 90mm macro. I think that’s the one I am going for…

You can get adapters for old manual lenses for a few quid. I use an old Olympus OM-fit Tamron SP90 lens which cost me about 40 quid. You can get this close with a set up like that:

Lone moss by Mark-Farrell, on Flickr

For real close ups, an adaptation as nmdbase suggests, or get a reverser ring to mount a prime lens the wrong way round, which can be used to do this:

Close feeding by Mark-Farrell, on Flickr

I’ve been thinking of picking up some extension tubes for a while, maybe paired with a set of diopters. I reckon that’s the most cost effective way of doing it.

The problem with reversing the lens or using non auto tubes is that stopped down the viewfinder is really dark.

Heres one

I found a reversing ring, extender tubes and an old 50mm lens provided the best cheapness/quality compromise.

It’s not as easy as using a proper lens but you do get to find out if you want to take it any further. Cost me about 15 quid in total I think. Ebay is your friend.

Examples…

What you look’in at? by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

spidey by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

Waiting by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

Some great equipment ideas, and some great examples. Keep them coming.

Ian

These are taken with a Sony a300 using a Sigma 50mm EX-DG f2.8 lens. Not the cheapest option but very sharp (if correctly focused!)

http://www.digitalrev.com/en/sigma-50mm-f2-dot-8-ex-dg-macro-lens-1031.html

20/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

53/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

97/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

118/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

122/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

140/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

143/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

284/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

<img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2236/1543897479_e6c5d5f96c.jpg&#8221; width=”500″ height=”450″ alt=”dragonfly”>" alt="" title="" class="bbcode-image" />

this was taken with a tamrom 90 mm

Mav12, was that a 90mm Tamron on a full frame body or a crop sensor?

Mav12, was that a 90mm Tamron on a full frame body or a crop sensor?

I don’t know about Mav’s, but mine were on a FF body. If you’re going down the old lens route, I think Tamron did two SP90 lenses: a rare 1:1 f/2.8 and a 1:2 f/2.5 (the one I use). I’m led to believe the 1:2 is sharper, but obviously you can get closer with the 1:1 (if you can find one).

I believe they now do modern autofocus versions of the same, but I’ve never played with one myself

EDIT: Indeed they do – not seen any reviews though

http://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=33826

Stuartie – loving your work. I <3 the dice in particular.

crop sensor canon

That’s what EXIF data is for.

Taken with an old bridge compact:

P7190026 by molgrips, on Flickr

And from my Olympus E-600 and the ace 35mm macro that was £160 here is a 100% crop of a toy – check the sharpz

Kitty crop 1 by molgrips, on Flickr

Full picture, hand-held hence the fuzzyness

_0223383 by molgrips, on Flickr

The wasp one I took isn’t online.

Have a look at Raynox macro adapters as well.

Thanks Cougar.