Advice for close-up jewelry photography

[wata and wine]

Hi,
I am shooting handmade jewelry with a Nikon D80 (with lightbox setup) and am looking for a better lens for this situation. Need to get detailed shots at a close range and am having trouble achieving this with the Nikon 18-55.

People have recommended a fixed macro and I found this Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG on Craigslist and seemed within my budget.

Any thoughts on this lens in particular or any that you would recommend would be very helpful. Or just any hints on shooting macro with the D80 will help in my research.

Thanks much!
Steve

 

[BuZzZeRkEr]

I own a couple lenses, none a macro though. You can still pump out pretty good pictures with the 18-55 kit f/3.5. These we're taken with the kit 18-55....and using a D40.

 

[saranwrap82]

I know someone who has the sigma lens you are talking about and she is in love with it! She has had some amazing photos with it. I would totally go for it if it is in your budget and you can put it to use. Just my thought though.

 

[KhronoS]

There are quite good

About macro, i saw an article on popphoto.com about extension tubes which makes you lens to focus even closer (makes it to act as a macro lens).

It;s about 75$ to 90$, so it's not too expensive.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/5203/the-75-close-up-kit.html