Good Macro Lens to go with a D60

[Onemarshboy]

any suggestions guys?? I'm not looking to break the bank.

Guess £500 would be my max budget.

cheers

Rob

 

[PhotoXopher]

How is the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR in the used market? With the D version you'd only be able to manual focus, but for macro work you'd be doing that anyway.

Looks promising on KEH.com

LN- $616.00
EX+ $499.00
EX $484.00
BGN $429.00

 

[Onemarshboy]

Gud suggestion, thanks. I'll check out some reviews and UK prices for it.

 

[barfastic]

Tamron 90mm di II f/2.8

i bought it and, i must admit that i even use it as a walkaround lens. Its tack sharp, wont break the bank, and can focus closer than it can get! (<--- slight exxageration). Look into it

 

[Fishboy]

Hi sorry to but in on the thread but..... i too am looking for a reasonably priced macro lens, although for a D80. Can somebody please explain the minimum focus distance? Does this mean the lens wont focus any further away than this, or focus any closer than this to the subject?


Cheers,

G

 

[Guido44]

I thought this was a neat idea. I just found this a couple days ago.

quick video 4 , extreme macro photography trick | pro photo life

Dan

 

[Samanax]

Can somebody please explain the minimum focus distance? Does this mean the lens wont focus any further away than this, or focus any closer than this to the subject?

MFD (minimum focus distance) is the closest the lens can focus at. Any closer and it won't be able to focus. The lens will be able to focus out to infinity.

 

[Stubbs]

Tamron SP AF60mm F/2.0 Di-II MACRO 1:1

This lens has gotten some really great reviews. it should be available with a nikon mount soon. i am planning on picking it up once it is.

 

[Derrel]

Eithr the Tamron 90mm Di II f/2.8, the new version with the in-built autofocusing motor in the lens, or the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX macro....both of those are very good macro lenses, with beautiful image quality and reasonable prices. I would stay away from the shorter macro lenses like the 60mm models simply because with those lenses, you must have the camra exceptionally close to subjects to get half-life sized or full life sized images, and that scares away many small insects,spiders, or bees and butterflies,and it also makes it difficult to light your subject when it is 75mm away from the front of the lens.

 

[Onemarshboy]

all good suggestions - thanks guys. The Tamron Di II f/2.8 seems v. reasonably priced. Will try and track one down in the shops to go and have a play!

Dan - excellent video and a neat little trick to try out! I'll definitely give it a go and see what results i get!

 

[Nipper]

The Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR is a fantastic lens.
I bought one last year for photographing jewelry, excellent results.
The lens is also great for non macro work there is something special about this lens not just sharpness and colour but the images appear to have a 'life' I don't know how to explain it but I find myself using this lens all the time.
UK prices are probably above your budget at the moment but I'd try and stretch to this lens if possible.

 

[epp_b]

Is that Tamron 60/2 out yet?

 

[burstintoflame81]

I agree about the Tamron 60mm 1:1. I just read a glowing review of it in popular photography and am also going to be picking one up as my next lense. At $569 it sounds pretty good, but I am not sure what your definition of breaking the bank is. I know that canon makes some good "close-up" lenses ( not close up filters ) for under $150 bucks but I am not sure about nikon.

 

[epp_b]

What I find particularly appealing about this lens is that it's basically three lenses in one:

1. Macro lens (obviously)
2. Short fast telephoto
3. Portrait lens

I might just start seriously considering this lens!

 

[Derrel]

I think you might want to read a few reviews of the new 60mm f/2 before deciding if it really is appropriate for your intended uses. Like this review of the Tamron 60, here Tamron SP AF60mm F/2.0 Di II LD 1:1 Macro Lens Review — Photocrati - Photography Blog, Digital SLR Camera and Lens Reviews

Apparently, the lens's manual focusing is not very good. I own several macro lenses, and one of the single,biggest problems with almost all macro lenses is the focusing from Infinity and coming closer to about 1 meter is traversed in as little as 15 degrees of focusing ring travel. Look at the photo in the review, and note how close Infinity and 3 meters and 2 meters are--what this means is that focusing from 1 meter to Infinity is very "hair trigger", shall we say. Indoors,under portrait shooting conditions, using a macro lens may lead to focusing that is "off" much more so than with a field telephoto.

This isn't just my personal opinion; this is an opinion shared by many people who have used macro lenses for general or portraiture uses; while it is not impossible to make a macro work as a portraiture lens, it is exceedingly critical to focus each and every frame very carefully, and to be prepared to miss focus on many shots that a "field telephoto" would be able to nail. Same with moving subjects or action photography; macro lenses do not reliably focus as well at distances as they do at close ranges. Still,even at close ranges, a macro lens can be tricky to focus:

Like the reviewer of the 60mm wrote, " The problem was that I couldn’t easily and quickly arrive at the optimum focusing point because the lens fought me every step of the way. By the time I had fine-tuned focus using this lens’s manual focusing ring, the frog had moved out of position. "