Best third party macro lens for nikon

[Mefistofeles]

I'm looking forward to get a MACRO lens for my nikon d90.

I was thinking about the 105 micro nikkor, it's super sharp and it has VR, but Focus Breathing and the price really turned me down.

So, third party to the rescue!!! wich one ?

I was thinking, I can use a 100mm lens for micro and portrait... (is this posible?)

So i got a few choices:

The Sigma 105 micro. (I've read that it sucks at autofocus).
Tokina 100mm Macro pro D
Tamron 90mm

I have a 600dlls budget for this.

The question is,... ¿Wich is the best 3rd party macro lens for over 90mm?

[LoveDSLR]

"The Tamron 90mm is the poor man's mid-range macro" Thom Hogan. http://www.bythom.com/105AFSlens.htm

[Mefistofeles]

HAHA! The poor man's mid-range macro... that's kind of cool. Any other options?

[Mefistofeles]

I should add.... Best lens for Macro AND Portrait.

[PrimeTime]

I've read really good things about the sigma 150mm 2.8 macro. You might want to take a look at it and see what you think.

[Mefistofeles]

Originally Posted by PrimeTime

I've read really good things about the sigma 150mm 2.8 macro. You might want to take a look at it and see what you think.

It seems to be a great lens indeed.... But it's above my budget... I'm looking forward something around 100mm under 700k.... 650 bucks tops.

[Mefistofeles]

Anybody else?

[Nicole]

I have and use the 105mm Sigma macro. Does the auto focus suck sometimes. Yeah, a bit, but I've found that as long as I can find something more contrasty to focus on it tends to work. I've never "given up" on a shot due to focus problems.

I've also used the lens for more general stuff too and it works well. Didn't have as many focusing problems then, so I have a feeling that often times when it's struggling with focus on the macro shots it's because there's not enough contrast for it to pick up what it should be focusing on.

That being said, I simply love the lens. It was the right lens for my budget with the right focal length. I'd looked to see if I could find one of the Tamron ones, but I was never able to find one here. Plus many of my Flickr contacts use the Sigma lens quite well, so I figured if they can, I can

[Mefistofeles]

I've read that for macro photography, the best is to go manual.... Is this a fact???


So as far as I've seen, the sigma is a good choice.

What about the others??

[Tukaussey]

Just bought the Tamron 90mm, so far so good. Been using on a D90. Also a $60.00 rebate on it till the end of the year. or sometime in December.

Originally Posted by Mefistofeles

I'm looking forward to get a MACRO lens for my nikon d90.

I was thinking about the 105 micro nikkor, it's super sharp and it has VR, but Focus Breathing and the price really turned me down.

So, third party to the rescue!!! wich one ?

I was thinking, I can use a 100mm lens for micro and portrait... (is this posible?)

So i got a few choices:

The Sigma 105 micro. (I've read that it sucks at autofocus).
Tokina 100mm Macro pro D
Tamron 90mm

I have a 600dlls budget for this.

The question is,... ¿Wich is the best 3rd party macro lens for over 90mm?