Don't groan: a slightly different kind of lens and camera question..

[kundalini]

So, before I pop for that kind of money, I feel I should learn how to use what I have first. And eat a lot of beans and rice in the meantime to save up for it, what ever 'it' turns out to be

Solid thinking and kudos to you for being diligent on the box contents.

 

[Overread]

Something else to consider which I really should have said earler (And I can't think why I didn't) is that the macro on the zooms you have linked to is different to the macro of the prime lens that you saw (a lens with no zoom is called a prime lens).
Infact aside from the 50mm macro prime lenses all the prime macro lenses commonly found in the market are all full macro lenses whilst the zooms are not. They have a close focusing ability which marketing has dubbed as macro, but its not true macro - the magnification is not as great as you will get with a proper macro prime lens- here

Taken with sigma 70-300mm macro:

and here is a crop out of the shot at full size - so you can get an idea of the level of detail present:

Whilst this shot is from a sigma 150mm macro - the full image:

and here is a 100% crop from that shot:

So you can see there is a reason for the huge price difference. Also a point - whilst I tend to do a lot of my macro shooting handheld many macro photographers do all their work (or a majority) off a tripod. The best time for this is early in the morning - when many insects are not warmed up from the cold night and thus are suggish - letting you setup and take the shot without problems. Later on the in the day the are generally more active and prone to fly off for any reason. Late evening is also a good time when insects go to find a spot to rest for the night = though they can be more tricky to find

 

[TwoRails]

Solid thinking and kudos to you for being diligent on the box contents.

Thank you. You made me blush...

Something else to consider which I really should have said earler (And I can't think why I didn't) is that the macro on the zooms you have linked to is different to the macro of the prime lens that you saw (a lens with no zoom is called a prime lens). ...

Thanks! I didn't know what a 'prime' lens was.

Infact aside from the 50mm macro prime lenses all the prime macro lenses commonly found in the market are all full macro lenses whilst the zooms are not. They have a close focusing ability which marketing has dubbed as macro, but its not true macro - the magnification is not as great as you will get with a proper macro prime lens- here

Taken with sigma 70-300mm macro:
... snip...

and here is a crop out of the shot at full size - so you can get an idea of the level of detail present: ...snip...

I have to say that is far better than anything I've shot, and it sure looks good overall, until the side-by-side with your next shots

Whilst this shot is from a sigma 150mm macro - the full image: ...snip...

and here is a 100% crop from that shot:

Boy-howdy is that sweet! Thank you for sharing! I know I've done a lot of 'assuming' here, but again I have to say I 'assumed' that a zoom macro just had more flexibility and had no idea there is such a vast difference in results. Sure makes it rough, though. Having gotten use to zoom 'macros' I like the flexibility of not being restricted to a certain standing distance... but then, I sure like sharp images, too. (After reading this, I now wonder if the distance thing is yet another one of my bad assumptions??)

So you can see there is a reason for the huge price difference. Also a point - whilst I tend to do a lot of my macro shooting handheld many macro photographers do all their work (or a majority) off a tripod. The best time for this is early in the morning - when many insects are not warmed up from the cold night and thus are suggish - letting you setup and take the shot without problems. Later on the in the day the are generally more active and prone to fly off for any reason. Late evening is also a good time when insects go to find a spot to rest for the night = though they can be more tricky to find

Very nice tips. Thank you. That is one reason I like the Sony H9 to take closeup shots (can't call them 'macro' anymore) as I can see a butterfly or dragon fly 10 feet away and zoom in on them. Naturally, especially since I've learned more, they (the shots) don't compare to the above. They make OK snap shots, some of which I even like, but I do want more.