Nikon macro lens

meddyliol

meddyliol

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Brian
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Could anyone recommend a good, cheap (around £100) macro lens for my D90?. I want to take close up photographs of various objects. Either that or a wide angle lens. Cannot afford both.

Cheers

Brian
 
That is a very tight budget for a macro lens.

Maybe better think about close up filters for your 50mm lens or perhaps a lens reversing ring that will permit your 50mm lens to mount on the body by it's filter thread (you'll need to focus manually and adjust aperture manually, but that is no big deal with macro).

Reversing ring is cheap, less convenient, butwill not introduce degredation to image quality due to inferior glass because no new glass is involved.
 
I have the Nikon Nikkor Micro 40mm DX lens and a Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro. The cheapest is the Nikon which costs around £180 new, probably less if prepared to accept a grey market import. They do turn up secondhand but maybe not very often, not that I have especially looked. It is a very good lens, sharp and lightweight but has two limitations. For maximum magnification, the lens front element has to be very close, almost touching, the subject item. Anything that is live tends to be frightened away by the approaching lens/body/hands, not an issue for static subjects. The second issue is related, the closeness may mask the light on the subject or at least make proper lighting a challenge. The Tamron doesn't need to be as close and is both FX and DX compatible. I got mine new in Curry's (damaged box) for £150, but normally they are around the £200 mark second hand. It could be a struggle to find a true 1:1 macro lens for £100, I can't see the classifieds yet so don't know if one is available here. This leaves older Nikon lens like the 55mm AIS lens, I don't know if the D90 supports AIS lenses Or such as the older Tamron 90mm F2.5 lens which needs an additional converter to achieve 1:1 ratio. Even these are no longer cheap as many old macro lenses have probably been snapped up for use on mirrorless cameras via an adapter. So I think you could find a suitable macro lens, but might have to be patient to source one within your budget.
 
How about extension tubes ?
 
Some extension tubes have contacts so the camera can communicate with the lens ( for circa £50), some are dumb tubes and much cheaper. The OP already has a 50mm AF-D lens, so the aperture could be set on the lens, focus manually and use dumb tubes, provided the D90 will meter in these circumstances. I know my D7000 would meter but my D3200 would not. Perhaps a D90 expert could advise on the D90 metering capabilities, for such an arrangement.
 
After trawling the web, it rather looks like the D90 and my D7000 will not meter unless it can communicate with the lens.
 
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i got a set of the cheapo clever tubes works on my D610 and D7000 so should think D90 would work too...clever means the ones with metal contacts to pass through the lens information. Note the lens will hunt for AF but it will get there or you can manual focus. metering is not a problem
 
Sigma 50mm EX DG MACRO.


New about £280 so a used one might come in only just over budget.
 
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