Sony Macro lens

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munkie

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George
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Im looking at buying a Sony Macro lens but to be honest I anit got a clue with lenses.

The 2 im looking at are:

Sony 50mm f2.8 D Macro AF Lens

and

Sony 100mm f2.8 D Macro Lens.

I dont know if this matter's but I have a

Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5-5.6 D Lens

and

Sony 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 DT Lens.

any help or advice would be great
 
I don't know much about those particular lenses but 50mm doesn't give you much working distance. What sort od macro are you interested in? Have you considered 3rd party lenses? The Sigma 105mm is very highly regarded (especially by me. :D).
 
well to be honest I have no idea how them work, but im guessing since I have an 18-70 the focal range wont matter or am I wrong?
 
Well the 18-70 won't be much use for macro so it really doesn't have any relevance. The focal length makes a lot of difference in a macro lens as it will define how close you need to get to the subject. If you are photographing insects for example, it can be difficult to get close so a longer focal length would be an advantage. The Sigma 180mm Macro is very popular for this.
 
The greater the focal length, the further you can be from the subject to achieve 1:1 magnification. So to get the subject to fill the same amount of the frame, you'll have to be much closer with a 50mm macro lens that you would with a 100mm macro lens. I use a 100mm, and I'm usually around 30cm from the subject. I'm not sure if it's linear, but I'd assume with a 50mm lens you'd be about 15cm from your subject, which is pretty close if it can bite or sting!

I'm not sure if it's the same with Sony, but the Canon 50mm macro isn't a true macro lens....it'll focus closely, but you won't get full 1:1 magnification.

Chris
 
munkie said:
ah, now I understand.

time to look for new lenses

Thanks
Click to expand...

The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 is very highly regarded! (I chose the Canon 100mm over it though, but I dont' know how the Sony compares). Or if you don't want to splash out on a new lens, you could use extension tubes (£10 for manual ones - can't control the aperture, £100 for auto-focus enabled ones). Or a Raynox adaptor (£60) can work wonders as well!

Chris
 
I have the raynox adapter and its a great bit of kit, I was just hoping that a macro lens would give much better results etc
 
Ah right! What in particular are you finding is the limiting factor with the Raynox at the moment?
 
sometimes its harder to focus with or the image isnt how I wanted it to be, but does give great results, plus im trying to do more macro shots so thought I may as well spend the money on one
 
will that fit straight on a sony alpha?

I notice the filter thread is 58mm, is that the only differenace?
 
Yep, if it says 'Sony/Minolta Fit', it'll just connect straight to the body, no adaptors required!

Chris
 
the Sigma 105mm Macro is another Sigma lens known to have had AF gear failure on Sony Alphas.

the 2 Sonys are excellent but tbh I don't think that there is a really bad current macro lens from any of the normal players - even the Cosina 100mm "plastic fantastic" is very creditable apart from it's lighter build quality (but of course it's a lot cheaper because of this).
 
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