Macro Plus Lens

[photofun]

Hi All, I'm considering my first new lens purchase other than my kit lenses. I love macro shooting but want to be able to use it for other things as well. So this brings me to my first question - is a macro lens any good for other types of photography? I see on some of the descriptions that they say they're good for portrait photography but on the lenses that don't, does that mean their not good for anything else? I feel like that was is a really dumb question.

This website has the 3 lenses that I'm considering and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with any of them or advice on what I should be considering. I was hoping to get something a little faster than my kit but I'd have to sacrifice magnification on the 50mm lens and on the 105mm lens I'm not sure how much use I'd get out of it otherwise since I mostly use my 14-45mm lens.

http://www.four-thirds.org/en/products/macro.html#03

I was looking at:
Olympus 35 mm f3.5
Olympus 50 mm f2.0
Sigma 105 mm f 2.8

Anyway if you have any of these lenses please post some pictures.

Thanks for taking the time and for your advice!

[KodiakStar]

Don't know if you ever got an answer to your question, but I have the 35mm 3.5 and it is a great budget lens. You can look at my photo stream for some examples, but for a wider variety of examples, search flickr for each lens.

There is actually a flickr group JUST for Zuiko Digital Lenses with a way to search through for shots taken with the lens that you want. I was just looking at the 105 a little bit, but if you want to use a lens for portrait work, I would suggest going with the 35 or the 50 if you absolutely want a macro lens.

[Nicole]

And I have the sigma 105mm and love it But then again, if I wanted to use it for a lot of purposes it would be too long. I definitely recommend a flickr tag search for each of your lenses for some comparisons.
Olympus 35mm f/3.5
Olympus 50mm f/2.0
Sigma 105mm f/2.8

One thing to consider with macro lenses for portraits is that they may actually wind up a little too sharp in some cases (e.g. do you really want to see every pore? ). Another thing is how close you want to get to the objects that you want to take macros of. If you're taking shots of bees and other insects, a longer lens may be helpful. If everything would be fairly innocuous then a shorter focal length would probably suit you just fine.

[KodiakStar]

You can get some somewhat soft shots with the 35mm. I used it quite a bit in taking pictures of my friends twin girls. It just takes a bit of practice

And yes, for macro's of bugs, spiders... etc... You do have to be sitting pretty much in their face to get shots with the 35mm, but it has the 1:1 factor. I think the 50mm is .5:1


Reading too much about different lenses tonight.

Not the best shot, but a close portrait with the 35mm

[photofun]

Thanks to both of you. I never considered searching for the lens on Flicker and thanks for the links Nicole. You've given me more to consider and I'll be more apt to be pleased with my choice because I'll know what to expect from it. Thanks again!!