NEW, MACRO for 350d help please.

^^^^ Agreed, but birds are never close enough, so a long prime may be better. And you'll want a zoom too for other things (I like the Canon 70-300 IS), plus a macro lens for the bugs and flowers.....

..... Oh, and a macro ring-light is a good idea too. :D
 
Boon said:
i think i will have to ponder a while on this, not sure what i REALLY want, i have also been thinking about a 70-300 zoom too, for birds etc, so i am going to give myself some time out, and get it right.
and thanks for all the help everyone.

Don't take this the wrong way mate but I really think you need to do some reading around to get a proper understanding of what all those numbers actually mean. Arkady posted (ages ago) a whole list of links to short articles that explained these concepts in the Links forum.

:)
 
cheers sammy..
 
Or you could always opt for the SIGMA 70-300mm with macro facility ;) Just to confuse you even more....
 
It all depends on how much quality you require really.

I had that lens until I sold it to someone from TPF ad replaced it with my current 70-300.

My own personal preference is to have a dedicated macro lens for macro work and use my zoom for what it was intended. The sigma is a great budget lens, don't get me wrong - but you will most certainly notice the difference in quality between a better (imo) zoom lens and a dedicated macro lens.

Edit: Also the 95cm closest focussing distance on the sigma is huge and I found it difficult to work with. As an example, I believe the canon 100mm macro has a working distance of 31cm - a third of the distance.
 
Yeah, to be honest, calling the Sigma 70-300 a macro lens is a bit cheeky of Sigma. :)
 
Braeden said:
Edit: Also the 95cm closest focussing distance on the sigma is huge and I found it difficult to work with. As an example, I believe the canon 100mm macro has a working distance of 31cm - a third of the distance.

A longer working distance is more actually desirable. What matters more is the magnification factor i.e. 1:1 life size.
The Canon 100mm and 180mm L Macro lenses both have 1:1 macro magnification but the 180mm offers it at a much further working distance.

These Sigma 'Macro' zooms are not true macro lenses and so can't really be compared with proper ones :)
 
The Tamron 90mm macro scores well against the Canon 100mm and is a bit cheaper. I got one about a month ago and it really opens up a whole new world as well as being a decent portrait lens.

The Sigma macro zooms aren't that bad but nowhere near what you'd get from a true 1:1 lens.

As for 300mm zoom I quite like using mine to get shots of my kids when they're playing. It's pretty impossible to get natural shots when you're in their faces and plus I can sit on a deckchair and have a bit of peace some distance away :)
 
Back
Top