Budget Macro Lens for Nikon D40

[dan.rpo]

Im looking to spend no more than $200 on a macro lens for my D40, for close ups and such...what would be some good lenses i should be looking into?

 

[Garbz]

For that price I highly recommend getting yourself either a set of extension rings or some actual bellows. It'll be much better than any actual macro lens you can buy.

Nikon 105mm macros second hand start at around $400, You could get a Vivitar 1 series 105mm f/2.5 which should go for around $300 but you'll lose metering I think.

Not sure what other true macro options are.

 

[Overread]

hmm your really working with a small budget there - if you could double it you could go for the second hand Nikon 105mm macro as Garbz said or you could get a sigma 70mm macro new.
Avoid the 50mm macro lenses - they tend to be the very cheap end of the make and also many are not true macro lenses and need additional adaptors to become them.

The extension rings would work - also look out for Raynox macro filters; they tend to sell cheaply and yet are surprisingly high in quality.
more info on the Raynox here: http://www.juzaforum.com/forum-en/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3460

 

[djacobox372]

You'll also want a macro extension ring or a bellows.. there's a place in hong-kong that sells belows on ebay for $25... I bought one and LOVE IT.

I recommend buying the ring or bellows first--you may find that one of your current lenses works well enough as a macro lens. Keep in mind that most rings and bellows will not allow light metering or setting the aperture on G lenses. You can get around the light metering by setting the exposure manually and checking the results--not a big deal with macro photography which rarely requires speed.

The thing to look for when shooting macro is QUALITY glass... macro photography will emphasize any imperfections in your lens. This is why most people use fast prime lenses when shooting macro--better IQ for the $$. Lens speed really doesn't matter, BUT faster lenses are typically better quality, so even though you may never shoot below f8 when doing macro work a 50mm 1.8 or 105mm f2.8 is still a great choice.

You can use a zoom for macro work, but just don't use a cheap one. A 70-200mm f2.8 zoom will take quality macro photos and give you a comfortable working distance for instects and such, BUT it won't take as clear of photos as a cheaper micro nikkor 105mm f2.8

 

[dan.rpo]

since i am new to photography...i am not familiar with the extension rings or bellows...can someone explain?...i currently just have the 18-55mm kit lens...could i use this as a suitable macro lens with the additional purchases recommended here?

 

[benhasajeep]

With the D40 your a little bit limited in automatic stuff. You might want to look into a MF nikon macro lens used. Right now there are no bellows or extension tubes that will allow coupling to the camera and lens. So you will loose auto information anyway. Most people manual focus anyway. As for metering I am not sure how the d40 is with non-cpu lenses.