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animal168
08-06-2008, 08:18
Hello
"her indoors" treated me to a canon 450d yesterday :love:
anyways along with the efs 18-55 lens that came with it she added a tamron 70-300mm big thing.
i have panny fz8 so i know nothing about lenses so advice would be helpful
i have a budget of £500 to spend on some extra lenses. my interests are small beasties (closer the better) and wildlife at zoo's etc.
any suggestions
thanks in advance
PD_BARBS
08-06-2008, 08:29
If macro is your thing, you would be best getting a dedicated macro lens, the canon 100mm, sigma 105, sigma 150 or Tamron 90mm would be good.

These can all be got from around 250-300.

Try OneStop-Digital as they seem to be very competitive with respect to prices.
butterfly.shel
08-06-2008, 08:35
you like me had the FZ8 which is great and has a great lens. I got my 400D yesterday with the lens kit and would love to know the same thing, I would love to have the 70-300 you have but funds are tight! hope you get what you want :D

shel
Canon Bob
08-06-2008, 08:45
Pricewise, you're very close to an MP-E65 but it's probably not one to cut your teeth on.
An EF100 macro or Sigma 105 should both do the job very nicely and add a set of extension tubes....this will fall well below your budget and get you to about 2.2x magnification.

Bob
animal168
08-06-2008, 08:52
hello bob
can you explain "extension tubes" to a thickie :)
Canon Bob
08-06-2008, 09:12
hello bob
can you explain "extension tubes" to a thickie :)

Yep....

Most macro lenses have a maximum magnification of 1:1 (or lifesize) at their minimum focus distance. Adding an extension tube (or tubes) between the camera body and the lens will reduce the minimum focus distance (the ammount varies and is related to the focal length of the lens). As the minimum focus distance gets shorter then the magnification will increase. There is some loss of light inherent in the setup but it is not too restrictive.
I would say that most serious macro togs have and use tubes for this effect.

Bob
animal168
08-06-2008, 09:41
thanks for that i will investigate
i think i will plump for the sigma 105 for now......where's she hid me wallet?
PD_BARBS
08-06-2008, 18:08
thanks for that i will investigate
i think i will plump for the sigma 105 for now......where's she hid me wallet?

Hello Animal

This site may help, it gives a good overview of the various options for macro work.

http://homepages.tig.com.au/~parsog/photo/macro.html