I need a good, somewhat cheap macro lens

[dmcantrell]

Originally Posted by hue-e

ok, that makes perfect sense.

for some dumb reason, I've been obsessed with shooting at the lowest fstop possible. with some of the shots I've taken, like I said, they look kinda cool (almost like a watercolor painting), but just need to be a little crisper in the parts I want in focus.

I'll try your suggestion... thanks!

When using extension tubes, all of the physics of the light waves are changed. While the minimum focus distance is drastically reduced, so is the depth of field. At the maximum aperture (f/1.4), the DOF may be significantly less than 1mm. When I use my 50mm/1.8 for macro work, I typically have the aperture up in the f/22 range.

[hue-e]

heh... well, that explains why I was having such a hard time keeping my subject in focus. I was just shooting hand held and bent over trying to shoot this succulent in my back yard... holding my breath and trying to keep from slightly swaying would take me out of focus.

[ngoduyviet]

Get some kenko tubes, they can be had used for around 125 bucks.

[hue-e]

I already have a set of promaster ones. it's what I've been experimenting with.

[dmcantrell]

Originally Posted by hue-e

heh... well, that explains why I was having such a hard time keeping my subject in focus. I was just shooting hand held and bent over trying to shoot this succulent in my back yard... holding my breath and trying to keep from slightly swaying would take me out of focus.

Oh man, yeah you'd definitely need a tripod in that situation. The only way I can really get away with hand-holding a lens with an extension tubes is to use the thinnest tube (12mm?) and a 70-300mm lens.

[brewercm]

Do the promasters allow auto focus etc. or are you strictly in manual everything (not a bad thing in macro work unless you can't adjust your aperture on the lens). I think the Kenko's he's talking about have the pass through electronics built into them so all the functions are available to you.

Any macro work I'd recommend using at minimum a monopod. Don't even get great results with my Nikon 105mm VR hand held, besides I'd prefer to turn off VR for macro use.

[hue-e]

yeah, the promasters support af and have passthrough electronics.

[dmcantrell]

Originally Posted by brewercm

Do the promasters allow auto focus etc. or are you strictly in manual everything (not a bad thing in macro work unless you can't adjust your aperture on the lens). I think the Kenko's he's talking about have the pass through electronics built into them so all the functions are available to you.

It's my understanding that the Promaster and the Kenko extension tubes are the same original design licensed to two different after-market companies. From what I can tell the products are identical except for the logo printed on them.

[brewercm]

Ahhh. I've never seen the Promaster although I had a Promaster 100mm macro (well, macro with the adapter). Really wasn't terrible other than it felt like it was made by Fisher Price.

[hue-e]

yeah, I'll say these tubes feel kinda cheap, as long as I don't drop them, I don't see them really needing to be that well built.

when I pulled them out of the box, the first thing I thought was they sounded like a rattle :\

[hue-e]

finally scooped up that tamron 90mm yesterday off ebay. ended up getting it for a pretty good price.

[hue-e]

my lens should show up at my house shortly after I get home from work. YaY!

[princer7]

I have a focus rail you can use if you need one. Helps a lot when you need to fine adjust your shot when using a tripod with a macro lens.

[hue-e]

hmm... I don't even know what that is, lol.

I've got a lot of experimenting to do... If I need something like that, I'll hit you up.

thanks

[princer7]

The one I have looks kinda like this...

This allows for smaller adjustments to the camera position without the frustration from having to reset the tripod each time.