70-200 2.8 for macro?

evilonion

evilonion

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Dave Peacock
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With the lenses i have at the moment i am limited to 50mm focal range.
Most of my work has been up close to people etc but i would like to extend this range.
I borrowed a friends 70-200 nikon when i went to a zoo and had so much fun with the extra range i would like to extend past 50mm... so, the sigma 70-200 2.8 looks my best option.

I would however really like to start experimenting with macro photography as well. The downside is it has a working distance of 1m but is this really an issue?
I was thinking that at 1m with a 2x tc that would give me a focal length of 400mm which should be good enough?

The sort of shots i would like to start with are things like the smoke, splogs, close up bubbles, oil in water, macro shots of food segments... and possibly bugs, flys, spiders etc if the above lens is a good enough option for those...

Advice as always is appreciated.
 
Extension tubes with the 50mm will do most of what you're after.

Putting a 'doubler' on a 70-200 may also increase the minimum focus distance as well as reducing the max. aperture to an unworkable degree for macro use.
 
With macro work you are obviously making things appear on the sensor at 1:1 ratio (to be truley macro), using a 70/200 can be done especially with extension tubes, however this lens being so physically large also increases the chance of camera shake and at big magnifications will be 'exagerated' unless you bolt everything to a tripod. Consequently I'd recommend the tubes or Raynox on the 50mm lens, or you may be able to 'reverse' mount the 50mm onto your body (I'm a Canon user so cant advise for Nikon). In addition depth of field at close quarters is almost non existant unless you stop down (but not too far or you'll induce abberations - or whatever its called) and you get less (apparent) dof the longer the lens focal length you use so once again the 50mm would be the better choice in my view. Having said that I have used my 70/200 with tubes and was really pleased with the results as it allowed me to get far away enough from the subject matter not to frighten it off.
AF at close rnge with tubes doesnt really work either so I generally lock it into a focus distance and then move closer or further away to get the subject in focus.

All good fun though (when the wind stops blowing!!)

Matt
 
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