Calling all DSLR Macro photographers

[chesterine]

Hello, I need some help and hope that you can help. I want to get a macro lens to primarily capture insect and flower photo's. I have a Sony A100 DSLR and have just started discovering the world of DSLR photography. I have been looking at three lenses but not sure which to go with. If you have any of these lenses I would love your feedback of pros and cons. The ones I have been considering are, Tamron 90mm Macro, Sigma 105mm Macro or Sigma 180mm Macro . I had considered the Sigma 150mm but it's not available in a Sony mount . Thank you for your time in reading this message and for any feedback you can offer is much appreciated.

[cjknight06]

I don't know anything about these lenses, and I'm a Nikon user, but from my experience, if you're just in it for the casual macro-photography, its pretty easy to set up a cheap macro rig. Just get an reverse lens mount, a macro coupling ring, or a set of extension tubes, and use them with your 50mm prime, and you're good to go. Sure saves you quite a lot of money!

[syar]

I am not really a macro photographer but it would be something I would like to get into more. About a month ago I got some macro filters off ebay for my a200, They work fine and it might be a great place to start, If you get alot of use out of them then you could cosider a dedicated lens. The beauty of the filter is that it is easier to take off the lens than it would be to swap lens if you wanted to shoot something else. Trust me something like that can be a huge blessing, you want to avoid changing lens as much as you can.

[Nicole]

chesterine, I have the Sigma 105mm macro. I've heard good things about the Tamron 90mm macro as well. I'd looked at both of them, and really, it wasn't the quality that made me choose one over the other so much as the ability to get the Sigma at a good price. I'd had a set of macro filters, but they didn't get much use because I actually found it more annoying to put the filters on than to change a lens and the quality just wasn't as good. One really good way to check out the various lenses is to do a search on Flickr for images:
Sigma 105mm
Tamron 90mm
Sigma 180mm
Sony 100mm

[zomie]

There is a sigma 50mm macro and a 70mm macro.

I have the 50mm, and have been fairly happy so far...

[chesterine]

Thank you for your replies everyone. The flicker web-site is very useful and is helping me make my decision. At present I am edging towards the 105mm Sigma.