whats a good Macro lens

dearlybeloved · Jan 31, 2010

im thinking of getting the TAMRON SP 90MM, 2.8, AF, MACRO 1:1 LENS because someone is selling it for $279. is this is a good macro lens or should i keep searching for something better. i dont really have to much money to spend so im hoping this is ok.

Overread · Jan 31, 2010

If the lens is in good condition (check it out if you can before purchasing) then yes that is a very good and popular macro lens to have. 90mm is certainly long enough to work with insects whilst it is also just as sharp as offerings from canon and nikon (eg canon 100mm macro and nikon 105mm macro).

RyanLilly · Jan 31, 2010

I just bought one myself, I have only had it about a week, but so far I pretty happy. AF could be better, but it does have a limiter switch which helps, and the build is alright but not real tough. All in all I'm pretty happy with it. It gets excellent reviews, and I don't think there is much real difference from the newer "DI" version. I picked mine up for the killer price of $200, but considering new its $460-500, $279 is still a very good price. Its also a very nice portrait lens. So, go for it. You will be happy that you did.

Derrel · Jan 31, 2010

Yes, it's a good performing macro lens. I have one in Nikon mount in the AF-SP version, so it must be nearly ten years old now--it's the model with the grey-colored plastic barrel. You want to make sure the manual focusing clutch works,and that the manual focusing is not "slipping" or "sloppy"; this is an area where this lens sometimes fails, due to the way the mechanism is connected to the focusing ring on the outside; it is possible that if the lens has been used quite heavily, and if it is a 10-12 year old sample, that the manual focusing action will have some slippage. Coneversely, many macro lenses have not been used much, and it could be a seldom-used, older, near-mint or mint condition example.

Don't be confused by the lightweight space-age polymer outer barrel (aka plastic barrel)--this lens has good bokeh at wider apertures like f/2.8, f/3.4, f4.5, f/4.8 and can be used at smaller macro apertures like f/8 to f/13 with super optical quality; the optics are really quite,quite good!