damzel in distress

[hennaly]

I am pretty new to photography and dont know any technical terms for anything much yet but i do know i want a lens for my camera that will give me much closer macro shots, i want proper close ups of insects and flowers inerds etc, i have a canon EOS 400D and it has a couple of lenses with it but not any close enough ones what can i get.

[T06]

Type in macro lens or a similar search topic. It will bring up a multitude of advice, another ishttp://www.dpreview.com or http://www.fredmiranda.com, try those two sites, they have some great info on lenses. Have a look on these sites & also the more you read the more common you will become with the terms & the meanings of things. Don't be afraid to ask here as there are no silly questions only silly people who won't ask.;) Oh yeah forgot, hello & welcome.:D

[ILoveTifa]

Welcome to the Forum!

hennaly, I suggest you do your search on photozone.de too. And while on the topic of macro photography, may I suggest a 100mm f/2.8 macro? It will have a FOV fo 160mm on your 400D, quite long enough IMO :).

[coldrain]

What lenses do you have now?
And what budget for a new lens do you have?

A dedicated macro lens should get you quite close... There are macro lenses with short focal lengths, and lenses with longer focal lengths. The longer the focal length, the more distance to the subject you can keep... handy with insects that fly away.

The cheapest, optically very good, macro lens is the Sigma 50mm f2.8 DG Macro. It costs around $250.
Next up is the Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 USM macro. Also a nice lens, and can double well as portrait lens, with this focal length. Between $350-400, will focus quite fast for a macro lens, and silent.
The Sigma 70mm f2.8 DG macro is a very good lens, also can double as portrait lens.

Then there is the "100mm" group.
Very good, with very good colour and contrast, is the Tamron 90mm f2.8 Di macro. Very nice manual focus-ring feel, very precise.
The Canon 100mm f2.8 USM Macro. Also a very good lens, fast silent AF, and it does not extend (the others do extend while focussing close). Good manual focus feel.
The Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG. Also sharp and good.
The Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro. Again, a good macro lens...

Then there is the longer macro lens group.
Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro. Very good lens... at around $600?
The Sigma 180mm f3.5mm macro. The least attractive 180mm macro lens.
The Tamon 180mm f3.5mm macro. Very sharp and good contrast/colour.
The Canon 180mm f3.5 L USM macro. Very sharp, good contrast and colour, silent and faster AF.

So, those are your options. My personal favorites from all these good macro lenses:
If budget is very tight: Sigma 50mm
For macro + portrait: Canon 60mm and Sigma 70mm
The 100mm class: Tamron 90mm and Canon 100mm
The longer class: Sigma 150mm, Tamron 180mm, Canon 180mm.

So... all these lenses all allow for about the same magnification: 1:1. That means that you can get a subject of about 2.2 cm or just under 1 inch to fill the photo. If you want to get closer, the best and easiest way to accomplish this without specialized macro rail and such is to do as I do, put a Soligor 1.7x teleconvertor between camera and macro lens. This will give an 1.6:1 magnification from the same distance of the subject.

[hennaly]

yep you have now lost me, when i said i am new to all this i meant it, i can point a camera and take a pic but as for the rest of it just tell me what to buy and i will buy it.
Oh and if there is anybody out the that lives on my side of the world i am happy to pay for private lessons.:)

[T06]

Everyone needs to stop feeling self important here. It's a real question from a person of minimal knowledge. The question is if you missed it is 'HELP'. Have a look at what Bella is doing & where she is going, to me that is oh so good to see someone that wanted with a passion & became,at least give hennaly the same respect. Hey, maybe I'm jumping the gun here & getting uppity:eek:

[coldrain]

yep you have now lost me, when i said i am new to all this i meant it, i can point a camera and take a pic but as for the rest of it just tell me what to buy and i will buy it.
Oh and if there is anybody out the that lives on my side of the world i am happy to pay for private lessons.:)
What is your budget? And what lenses do you have (there is nothing techincal in being able to tell that?).

IF you do not have a macro lens (lens that allows you to get close, so you can photograph something small), then you need one.

3 classes of macro lenses.
Small, they can also be used as portrait lens (makes nice flattering photos of faces): Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 USM macro, Sigma 70mm f2.8 macro

Long big lenses, they allow a bigger distance to subjects like insects, that will otherwide fly away:
Sigma 150mm f2.8 (cheapest), Tamron 180mm f3.5 (longer but more expensive), Canon 180mm f3.5 L USM macro (over $1000, but silent when focussing).

The inbetween class (100mm), so not as heavy and big, yet allow a bit more distance than the "50-70mm" class above:
Canon 100mm f2.8. Tamron 90mm f2.8.

Make a choice yourself on what class of macro lens you want (and according to your budget). Then either of above lenses is a good buy, you can not go wrong.

[T06]

,,,, being nice now are we, . Nah I have admired your knowledge for sometime now but kudo's for trying to help instead of having another weather map!!! That last passage is void of all Nikon relevant of coarse.;) Have a nice day & I hope I do too!:D

[Honest Gaza]

yep you have now lost me, when i said i am new to all this i meant it, i can point a camera and take a pic but as for the rest of it just tell me what to buy and i will buy it.
Oh and if there is anybody out the that lives on my side of the world i am happy to pay for private lessons.:)

Hennaly,

Coldrain is widely regarded on this forum as a "macro" specialist and many seek his advice on this subject.

As such, he has answered your question pretty well in relation to suitable lenses that would serve your purpose. You raised the topic of "macro" so the assumption is that you already know the type of lenses you are after.

As for the technical aspects of the lenses, just let Coldrain know where you are lost and I'm sure he will offer further help.

You are in good hands here :)

[hennaly]

ok here goes, on the lens that is on the camera now it says EFS 18-55mm then it has the pic of a flower (macro she says smugly) with 0.28m/0.9ft on it.
I dont really have a budget but a few hundred pound is ok more if i needed.
I love taking pictures and do a few for other people of their pets but i would like to know what im doing .

[Honest Gaza]

ok here goes, on the lens that is on the camera now it says EFS 18-55mm then it has the pic of a flower (macro she says smugly) with 0.28m/0.9ft on it.
I dont really have a budget but a few hundred pound is ok more if i needed.
I love taking pictures and do a few for other people of their pets but i would like to know what im doing .

I think you will find that this info on the lens is telling you what is the minimum distance from your subject that you can be, for the lens to focus.

That is, if you are trying to get your lens closer than 28cm to the subject (eg Flower), then it will not be able to focus. (The first example lens that Coldrain gave, Sigma 50mm f/2.8 has a minimum focus distance of 18.9cm).

A true "macro" lens (one which allows real close-up photography), will allow you to get much closer to the subject.

These are the lenses that Coldrain was referring to :)

"Close-ups" of people is more referred to as Portrait photography.

[coldrain]

Macro lenses are specialized in allowing you close to the subject than the lens you have now. Closer will mean that the subject (flower/bug/other thing) will appear bigger in the photo.

So.. for you go easily get bigger flowers/bugs in photos, you will have to get a macro lens. Other options will get much more complicated.

A long focal length of a lens will bring a subject "closer". Long lenses are called "tele lenses", you will notice on the 18-55mm that if you put it on 18mm, things will appear further away than when you set it on 55mm.

So... longer focal length (the mm thing) will mean: subject appears to be closer.

There are 3 classes of macro lens, as I wrote above.

The most affordable class:
50mm to 70mm. They have a nice "length" to make really nice portrait photos, too.
Cheapest, yet good, option:
Sigma 50mm f2.8 DG macro. It is up to you to find how much it costs in your country...
Other options: Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 USm and Sigma 70mm f2.8 GD.

The best options in a bit longer macro lens class (allow a bit more distance, since the focal length is longer, it will bring the subject closer):
Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM and Tamron 90mm f2.8 Di SP. Again, up to you to find out the prices.

The even longer lenses will no doubt be too expensive. So... look at what the mentioned lenses will cost in your country, and decide what fits your budget and needs best. All mentioned willnot disappoint you.

If you have other questions, do ask.

[hennaly]

thanks guys all help is much appreciated, its really the bugs and inside of flowers i like, not to keen on people and the lens i lenses i have already are ok for animal portraits, i think i will go take a look in a camera shop and try them out.