new to macro photography

[tigerlily]

I'm new to macro photography. I haven't done much experimenting yet, but do I need a macro lens, or can I get good results with my standard 18-55 zoom with my DSLR on the macro setting? If so, what would a macro lens do for me?

[Darren Rowse]

a macro lens will help you to focus a lot closer for a start. True macro will let you get a 1:1 ration which means the size of what you're photographing will be the size of how it appears on your image sensor. Your 18-55mm lens won't let you get that sort of shot.

Another cheap option is close up filters - but for true and quality macro shots you'll need a proper macro lens in the end. Depends how serious you want to get.

[henryscat]

another option is a lens reverser adapter, which lets you mount your lenses in reverse. The quality is not as good as a true macro lens however.
I own a 50mm sigma macro lens and althought the results are good, I wish I had gone for the 105mm version instead. The 50mm forces you to get far to close to the subject for my liking.
If you can afford it - buy a Nikon or Canon lens for the best quality.

[butchyau]

Have recently bought a Canon Powershot S3 mainly for trsavelling but read it gives good macro shots- haven't used it much yet; anyone got any comments about the quality of macro shots I can expect ?? thanks, butchyau

[NaturesPixel]

I recently got my macro lens.. last Monday...lol

i got it second hand from KEH,com... it was listed as "EX" in their rating.. but the optics look brand new as does the casing... and all i paid for it was 115.00 US.. not bad...

[henryscat]

wow good price. I paid £110 for mine on Ebay about 2 years ago.
Good price at the time.

[binny]

I'm still new to photography. But macro photography is something I have always found interesting.

So I'm trying to build up my kit. I considered buying a macro lens. While thats great for Macro it's not much good for general photo taking or for my wallet. So I went for a telephoto lens with some macro ability.

It can't manage a 1:1 ratio, but it can do 1:2 which is close enough for me to play with until I can afford a true macro lens.

The results aren't bad.

Water Set on Flickr

Please be gentle on me. This is the first time I have put any of my attempts on the net for others to look at

Andrew

[wulf]

There are some fantastic pictures in there - I've marked and commented on my personal favourite.

Wulf

[NaturesPixel]

Originally Posted by binny

So I'm trying to build up my kit. I considered buying a macro lens. While thats great for Macro it's not much good for general photo taking or for my wallet. So I went for a telephoto lens with some macro ability.



Andrew

which is why i got my first sigma since it was good enough for my birds.. plus had 1:2 ratio macro also

but i havnt taken my macro off since it arrived... i find that 50mm f2.8 is nice for my everyday shooting and family shots...... and its great since i always find something small to take a photo off which is why i wanted a 1:1


I decided on only getting a 50mm for now.. cause my 70-300mm lens is good enough for dragonflies and what not..

[binny]

I took my macro shots with my Sigma 70-300 APO lens.

But I'd be interested to here what people thought was a good Macro lens to get.