First Macro setup for a D800. 105 or 200mm??

djacobox372 · Dec 12, 2012

You can save a small fortune by going with an older manual focus ais macro. They're better built lenses, just lack auto focus which is rarely uses with macro anyway.

TheFantasticG · Dec 13, 2012

jaomul said:
As for sharpness I have never read a bad IQ review on a modern macro lens

I have. The Promaster 100mm is the bottom of the barrel. I will never recommend that lens for anyone who values IQ to any degree.

TheFantasticG · Dec 13, 2012

cgipson1 said:
On the diffuser panel...I don't consider it that usable for the type of shooting I do. It might be ok indoors, in perfect conditions.... but sucks for handheld field shooting.

Agreed.

Judobreaker said:
Doesn't the R1C1 set come with 2 diffusers? Mine did, I use them all the time.

Yes. I ended up gutting them so the light wasn't so directional. I'll have to post a pic later. I also use a SB700 with a rogue large rogue flash bouncer attached.

djacobox372 said:
You can save a small fortune by going with an older manual focus ais macro. They're better built lenses, just lack auto focus which is rarely uses with macro anyway.

I use AF a lot. I use AF to get close then fine tune focus manually. Using a Sigma 150 w/1.4x TC attached that's a lot of range to cover manually and it's just faster to let the camera get close. If I'm far enough away and the AF lands where I want it to go ill just take the picture without messing with AF...

I must admit that when using the 150mm (with without the TC) that using a tripod has had an impact on sharpness. I get many more sharp (and the ones that were sharp before are sharper) images using a tripod then not. Yeah, I miss out on some shots but not as many as I thought I would. It also slows me down which is a good thing.