Help find a lens

[Tyguy35]

Hello, I am looking for a lens to take into the jungle with me for photos of frogs and small snakes as well
As larger bugs.
When I went the first time I took an 85mm (friends) on a full frame which obviously leaves a circle on the photo. I was hoping to find a lens I could get close for quality of photo since a lot of shots are at night but I can still fit the body of the subject. Any ideas. I'll post a few example of shots I want to redo with a better lens.

 

[Derrel]

Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro macro is a good value macro lens. sm4him, a TPF regular member, has the Tokina 100mm and we've seen some lovely images from her using that lens. The Tamron 90mm f/2.8 AF-SP Di is another good value macro lens (I own an earlier version of it). Both of those are designed to cover the full 24x36mm frame size; I am supposing the 85mm you used was your friends DX-Nikkor lens, since there are very few DX-only macro lenses.

 

[Tyguy35]

what about the 60mm? I just don't want to lose the quality of getting up close. although some things i can't get to to close to anyways.

 

[Solarflare]

I would recomment the AF 200mm f4D micro for that one, actually.

Reason: you really want to keep a respectful distance to potentially very poisonous jungle frogs and snakes.

Quality is extremely not an issue with said lens, price however is a whole different matter.

 

[jaomul]

60mm macro means you need to get closer. This is probably not great for creature shots. 90-100mm as said above are better, that 200mm may be great but may be harder to handhold

 

[goodguy]

If you can afford it then Nikon 105mm 2.8G Micro VR is probably one of the best macro lens in the market today.
Another option is the Nikon 105mm 2.8D Micro which is the model that came before the newer "G" version, it also is an excellent lens.

 

[Tyguy35]

I'm not to afraid of getting closer. I just want to get the entire subject in the shot especially if it's a viper striking its prey. I'll look into those lenses.