Please suggest Macro equipment for my Kit

[meetshany]

Hi All,

I am an infant in photography. I like Macro photography but I do not have the right equipment to indulge into it.

Please find my kit info in my signature and let me know if Raynox DCR-250 will be suitable add on to my kit? If I attach it to my 70-300 or 50mm lens would the results be good?

If you know of a better Macro converter, please let me know. My budget for it would be around 200$...

Thanks in Advance

My two suggestions

105 2.8f macro... just brilliant macro lens true 1:1.
Extension tubes. Goes great with the 50mm 1.8

~Eric

[wulf]

The Raynox will work well (see my gear below - I've been able to try and test it). It will be excellent with the 50mm lens and give you results that are about 1:2. You will get up to 1:1 ("true macro") using your 70-300mm at around 100mm. You can push in even closer but are likely to find that the depth of field becomes so minimal that it is a real struggle to get decent shots - you won't be handholding much at that range. I suspect you will get vignetting if you try it with your 10-20mm lens (observed at 35mm and under on my 18-55mm lens).

It is a good, cheap choice though. A particular advantage is that you can put it on, take a few shots, and then pull it off to get some context images whereas tubes (another inexpensive option) will require more fiddling around. The weakness of the Raynox is that the plastic clip might break after a while (my first one went after about 6 months of heavy use; I've had my second one for over a year but haven't used it so much since getting my 90mm lens with macro ability).

Wulf

[bigfrank]

Originally Posted by meetshany

Hi All,

I am an infant in photography. I like Macro photography but I do not have the right equipment to indulge into it.

Please find my kit info in my signature and let me know if Raynox DCR-250 will be suitable add on to my kit? If I attach it to my 70-300 or 50mm lens would the results be good?

If you know of a better Macro converter, please let me know. My budget for it would be around 200$...

Thanks in Advance

If you can bump that budget up to say $250ish, you shold be able to get a nice Nikon AF 60mm micro Nikkor that would be excellent on your camera. It would also serve double duty as a nice portrait lens if and when you decide to venture into that. The lens would be used, but you can find a nice one on Ebay for that price.

[daft_biker]

Originally Posted by bigfrank

If you can bump that budget up to say $250ish, you shold be able to get a nice Nikon AF 60mm micro Nikkor that would be excellent on your camera. It would also serve double duty as a nice portrait lens if and when you decide to venture into that. The lens would be used, but you can find a nice one on Ebay for that price.

That would be my suggestion also. It's a cracking macro lens.

I really don't like close up "filters"......I'd leave them for point and shoots.

If looking for a cheap way into SLR macro photography a 50mm and a set of extension tubes can work a treat. With my 50mm and Kenko tubes I can get up to 1.5x lifesize (1.5:1) without introducing any new lens abberations so the quality is much better than using close up filters (especially at the edge of the frame). Add a reversing ring into the equation and you can get even greater magnification - 3x lifesize shouldn't be a problem.