Sigma 105mm Macro?

[mwcfarms]

Ok so I bought this lens this summer, have used it a few times. Most success I had with it was for flower macro shots and its not hugely my thing. Im really frustrated with the focus hunting this lens seems to have. I can be in a well lit room and this thing is all over the place. Are there any tips or trick those of you who have this lens can give me. I'm sure a lot of it is user error lol. It works fine with manual focus but I prefer to use auto focus when possible.

 

[Overread16 4]

A "well lit room" can still be pretty dark for a camera and its a hard term to understand through words alone (how well lit is well lit?).

Also what kind of distance are you focusing on? It should be ok at general distance work, though being a macro I'd expect average performance (it won't be lighting fast) - however once you get into the macro ranges manual focus is the way to go

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Ok so I bought this lens this summer, have used it a few times. Most success I had with it was for flower macro shots and its not hugely my thing. Im really frustrated with the focus hunting this lens seems to have. I can be in a well lit room and this thing is all over the place. Are there any tips or trick those of you who have this lens can give me. I'm sure a lot of it is user error lol. It works fine with manual focus but I prefer to use auto focus when possible.

Are you using one focus indicator, or all of them?
The Canon 100mm f/2.8 like to hunt as well, but it's much better when only using the center focus indicator.

 

[mwcfarms]

Ok so I bought this lens this summer, have used it a few times. Most success I had with it was for flower macro shots and its not hugely my thing. Im really frustrated with the focus hunting this lens seems to have. I can be in a well lit room and this thing is all over the place. Are there any tips or trick those of you who have this lens can give me. I'm sure a lot of it is user error lol. It works fine with manual focus but I prefer to use auto focus when possible.

Are you using one focus indicator, or all of them?
The Canon 100mm f/2.8 like to hunt as well, but it's much better when only using the center focus indicator.

When this lens is on I stick to the center and recompose my shot. Is that right?

 

[Overread16 4]

Careful with focus recompose - remember when you acquire focus its like having a sheet of paper parallel to the front of the lens, which remains parallel. If you recompose the movement of the lens might cause the plane of focus to shift so that what was in focus is now just out of focus. Of course you can get around this by using a smaller aperture (making the "paper" thicker); but that is not always ideal/possible.

I personally find that you'll often need to make minor adjustments manually to the focus if you are using focus recompose as a method - something that is hard with any macro lens at longer distances because the manual focusing wheel is more crude at those distances (ie a small change leads to a big shift in the focus).
It also tends to work (as a method) when you use backbutton AF or single shot AF and also combine it with a HSM/USM lens so that you don't have to flick the AF/MF switch and can just readjust the focus manually all the time.

 

[mwcfarms]

Thanks for the info Overread, I guess this just might be a case where I will be learning more manual focus. Will try your tips and see how it works out. Just frustrated is all.

 

[Ron Evers]

I would never consider auto focus for macro work. Choose where you want the focus to be, hey it's a very small DOF, & do it manually. Only way to go in my opinion.

Edit to add examples:

Here is a focus on the near side of a seed head:

Here is a focus on the perimeter:

What do you expect auto focus would have given you?

 

[joony]

Sigma 105mm it is a good lens with automatic focus, I had a sigma 105mm it's from bad material lens , photos were good, now i have a Tokina 100mm macro. With Tokina for me, photos are even a little bit better, manual focus is very easy to handle, and quality from Tokina100mm is the best quality lens, this is lens from much stronger material, but you need to keep lens out from moisture and rain. Macro photos from Tokina are extremely sharp especially if you use a reflector on the flash. As it is good with autofocus on de 7100 photo camera, it is Also good without autofocus on de 3200, If you are little bit more careful, and you know how to do it, that's all.

 

[table1349]