www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi,
I have been following the "which macro lens" discussion with great interest as I have recently purchased a Canon 400D (from Tesco Direct believe it or not - £350 after £50 cash back from Canon!) and would like to buy a good macro lens now.

Advice seems to be a "true" macro lens is always better than a zoom with macro ability, which makes sense but which one - I have seen good reports on Sigma 105 and Tamron 90 but have also been advised that the Canon 100mm is the best quality. Also looked at the Canon 60 which leads me to a question - how easy is it to use a macro lens in the field with butterflies which will be quite flighty? Or are macro lenses used for ova etc which do not move!

I hate wasting money and while I know that no-one can tell me which lens to buy a concensus of opinion would be great!! Reading the posts it appears that opinion is split between Canon and Sigma.

Help!!

Hi George,

Macro lenses can be used in the field no problem - even without a tripod

If quality is all that matters, then I'd have to say purchase a Canon 100mm. It seems to just beat the Sigma 105mm in most reviews. But only just. I personally have a Sigma.

But my Sigma was nearly £150 cheaper than the Canon. The miniscule different in "apparent" quality didn't convince me and I'm perfectly happy with my Sigma.

I guess I'm of the opinion that there are too many other factors that make or break a shot, and the tiny difference in lens quality isn't that significant.

Cheers,

- Pete

I concur with Pete that the difference in image quality is small between the 3 lenses you've mentioned.

I have the Tamron 90mm macro and have no complaints with regards image quality. I chose it after reading a head to head test in a magazine a year ago (sorry, the name of the mag escapes me). The only thing that I 'dislike' about it, it's the noisy focusing. When I can next afford to change lens, I'd consider the Sigma 150mm with HSM (not sure whether this is in the 100mm, Pete?), or the Nikon AF-S 100mm VR. In case you don't know already, AF-S & HSM = USM in Canon.

I have a photo of a dragonfly that Tamron will be using in their upcoming nationwide, magazine ad. It's taken with the 90mm macro.

desong,

I also use the Tamron SP 90mm Di macro, and love it. As you said though the auto focus is quite noisy, and the other downside is the lens extends a lot at 1.1. I believe the Canon 100mm , and the sigma 105mm don't extend at all.

It's very sharp though, and I'm very pleased with it.

Tamron 90, Sigma 105 and Tokina 100 all extend. Canon 100 does not. Of the 150 ... 180 mm macros none extends.

JKT wrote:Tamron 90, Sigma 105 and Tokina 100 all extend. Canon 100 does not. Of the 150 ... 180 mm macros none extends.

Thanks for putting me straight on that JKT.

I've used a range of macro lenses over the years, but I currently use an SP90 Tamron for butterflies and a Nikon Micro 60mm for some other purposes.
I would say the Nikon is sharper when used at 0.2x to 0.5x, but less sharp at 1x.
The Tamron has very high colour contrast and wonderful out-of-focus images, whereas the Nikon produces slightly odd looking out of focus highlights, said to be because of the small number of blades in the iris diaphragm.
However, in tests I've carried out (at work) using Nikon, Canon and Tamron lenses, I would say that the differences between any of the above are almost impossible to see on real subjects - they are dwarfed by the camera performance differences.

Well I finally decided on the Canon 100mm macro lens - here are the first results. Thanks for all the help and advice.

PS should I be worried that my High Brown ova are still ova?! I was expecting them to have hatched by now.

Nice shots George!

I must admit, I would have expected the larvae to have emerged a few weeks ago. Are they being kept outside or indoors? They can dry out indoors. Also - the emergence may depend on location. If you're in the Shetlands that may explain it

Cheers,

- Pete

High Brown ova are outdoors now on potted violets although during the winter they were in my garage (which gets light and is cool/cold). They arrived from WWB in February.

Not in the Shetlands! I am in Derbyshire - this is my first attempt at an overwintering ova so maybe I haven't got it right this time!

Cheers
George

Or the eggs could be infertile. Although your shot does seem to show a fully-grown larva inside!

I'd contact WWB to see what they say!

Cheers,

- Pete

The thing I would do is put the eggs in warm and spray once with a a sprinkle of water and see what happens.

Thanks for that - have contacted WWB and also given them (the ova!) a spray of water!

well this is a bit OT as I'm fairly sure there isn't a horsefly forum anywhere, but here you go anyway..
I got my 25mm EF2 canon extender today to increase the macro capability of my 17-85mm zoom , ( via HK and £40 cheaper than jessops ) and the only convenient target was a tatty horsefly taking refuge from the weather on the outside of some old double glazing ( the excuse for the dirty glass )



1/100 sec @f5.6 ISO 400 fl of 70mm in macro mode , mildly out of focus due to 2 panes of glass in the way

regards
Martin
( http://www.mgnastro.org/wildlife.html )

ps. still saving for my sigma 150mm macro