Recommendations for macro lens

[Seajay]

Been missing doing some macro shots since moving from Canon to Sony and I am now ready to invest in a new macro lens .

I have the Sony 24-105 as a walk about but not good for macro. Looking at 105 mm F2.8 DG DN Macro Art against Sony 90mm
Hoping to hear from anyone who does Macro and has used either of these. Or is there something better ?

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[nandbytes]

If you need/want AF and 1:1 macro those two are the best options on Sony

If you are willing consider MF lenses there is voigtlander 110mm f2.5 and laowa 90mm f2.8 which gives up 2x magnification.
There is also laowa 85mm f5.6 which is a small macro lens but only really useful for macro and landscapes.

And lastly now there's a Sony 70-200mm f4 macro lens too. Gives 0.5x throughout the range.
You get 0.7x magnification with 1.4x TC and 1x i.e. 1:1 with 2x TC.
I'm personally happy with this lens as I rarely shoot at 1:1. Mainly shoot flowers and larger insects (dragonflies, butterflies etc) for which the 200-280mm really helps plus don't need 1:1 generally.

 

[Constable]

The Sigma 70 is also worth a look.

 

[nandbytes]

The sigma 70mm is a DSLR design lens. The mirrorless version is just the DSLR version with hollow extender to make up for the flange distance. As good as the lens may be this makes it larger than it needs to be.

 

[Adamcski]

Although for L mount, I have the sigma 105 DG DN Art and it's great. I also have the 100mm Laowa and it's brilliant, although can be trickier to use at 2x magnification and doesn't have any auto focus, it's 100% manual

 

[nandbytes]

Laowa 100mm f2.8 is another DSLR design lens I believe. Replaced by thier 90mm f2.8 I mentioned above for mirrorless

 

[Adamcski]

It's manual only lens anyway, so not sure what if any difference it being DSLR / mirrorless would make, my 100m is fab.

 

[nandbytes]

It's manual only lens anyway, so not sure what if any difference it being DSLR / mirrorless would make, my 100m is fab.

The main difference will be to the size of the lens and the balance of the setup as it will be front heavy

Also the laowa 100mm has a incredibly small focus throw especially for a lens that can focus to 2:1. For a MF only macro lens this is really poor.
The mirrorless version improves on this

 

[Seajay]

If you need/want AF and 1:1 macro those two are the best options on Sony

If you are willing consider MF lenses there is voigtlander 110mm f2.5 and laowa 90mm f2.8 which gives up 2x magnification.
There is also laowa 85mm f5.6 which is a small macro lens but only really useful for macro and landscapes.

Thank you I will have a look at the other lenses before deciding