www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi I'm using the Sony Alpha system and I am looking at telephoto lenses for photographing butterflies - my camera has an APS-C size sensor so there is cropping. The 210mm has a minimum focusing distance of 110cm while the 300mm is 150cm. I realise that the 300mm will have advantages in other areas but for the specific activity of getting close to butterflies it seems there is little difference between the two. Or am I wrong? Any advice from anyone with experience in this area would be welcome

The 210 should be enough for most butterflies. The 300 could a bit too long for the large ones. I think you will need an extension tube regardless which lens you choose - not for all shots, but for close-ups of smaller ones.

I agree with JKT that a extension tube would probably be handy. I'm not aware of a Sigma lens that is 210mm, and is the 300mm a prime or a zoom. Could you put up a link to the two lenses that you are considering. I once owned the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro personally I found it useless for butterflies.



Regards Gruditch

I already have this 70-210mm lens:

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Minolta-AF- ... ens49.html

I am considering selling it and getting a 100-300mm one like this:

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Minolta-AF- ... ens61.html

I feel in many circumstances I could do with the greater magnification (birds for instance) - but I don't want to end up with one that is less useful for photographing butterflies.

A_T
Looking at the spec of these two lenses I see they have virtually identical magnification - 1:3.9 and 1:4.
Thus there is no advantage in changing lenses just to try and get a bigger image.
Cheap zooms to 300mm tend to be pretty poor (see Gary's comment above).
I think you are trying to get one tool to do too many jobs.
There really is no lens that is great for butterflies AND birds.
The nearest to it is the 70-400 zoom, but that is a massive bit of kit to lug around, and expensive (£1300) and still needs an extension tube to get close enough for full frame blues.
I don't think Sigma do the excellent 150 macro in Sony fit, but Sony do a nice 100 Macro that is worth looking at.

As the Irish gent at a crossroads told me when I asked for directions-
"Ah now - I don't think you want to be starting from here now!"

I don't know why I thought you said Sigma.

Anyway, there are a few lenses out there that are handy for both general wildlife, and adapt quite well for butterfly work. But they are nearly always going to be a very expensive bits of kit. Like Roger says, it doesn't look like a worth while swap, I also think you may be better of getting a specialist macro lens for the butterflies. The Sigma 105, and the Tamron macros come in a Sony fit, the Sigma 105 is very competitive on price.

Regards Gruditch

Oh dear, zooms. I should have thought of that possibility, but - not knowing Sony system - didn't. As others have mentioned, the zooms (at least budget ones) tend to be at their worst at long focal lengths where you'd need to use them. Furthermore, most zooms loose sharpness and add aberrations in close focus and adding extension tube will magnify the problem. Don't bother!

On second thought I don't know how they would behave with close-up lenses. At least a good quality close-up shouldn't add that much aberrations and the focus could be at infinity. That MIGHT work somewhat better.

A T,

I do agree with JKT, I don't like zoom lenses either.
I have a Sigma 300mm APO/MACRO lens f/4.0 - minimal focusing distance 1m, and I am happy with it. I use it for a lot of wildlife and I love it for reptiles and dragonflies. It is a very versatile lens and the focusing distance allows me to get close enough without frightening the subject away.
For birds it is also suitable but that depends on how close you can get. For pictures of birds, I normally couple it with a T/C Sigma 2:0 (teleconverter) which turns my 300mm into a 600mm, the drawback is that I loose 2 stops of light so I need to work with faster film. Nevertheless, the results are very acceptable.
For Butterflies, the 300mm is great for big butterflies and I get excellent results. For smaller butterflies, I couple it with a T/C Sigma 1:4 which turns my 300mm into a 420mm or with the TC 2:0 when the light is good. Again with a TC 1:4 I loose 1 stop of light but results are still good.

It all depends what you want to use your lens for and how much money you can invest and how much you can carry. Fixed lenses are a lot heavier and more expensive than zoom lenses.
Sylvie

Thanks for all your help