I'll be joining the ranks soon! Sigma 105mm ordered!

[Kinetic]

Hi everyone,

I've been a huge photography enthusiast for a couple years now, still new and not that active in the hobby now that I've gotten into reef tanks. The second biggest reason other than to house a beautiful reef and some neat pets, is to photograph these amazing creatures.

I use a Nikon D70 for most of my photography, and utilize the lens that came with the outfit (awesome for everything except macro). I never needed a wide angle lens etc, but when I started trying to take macro pictures, I realized I was definately limited.

So, I took a plunge and went for the Sigma 105mm F2.8 for Nikon mount.

It cost about $347 shipped, UPS ground.

I've learned a lot, but hope to learn more about macro, and more specifically aquarium photography. I'm planning to use a whitecard attached to a plant tong for my whitebalance, and then we'll go from there.

My current tank is a curved bowfront 32g m-tank, but my next tank will be flat. The bowfront really gives a strange look to it all if not taking straight on. We'll see how it goes!

Here are some of my "wannabe" macro shots:

not macro enough, but close as I can. white balance is off, i know.

super blurry:

Lots of hot spots. will a polarizer filter help here? kind of grainy too, what would help the grainy feel? my whitebalance is off again. I was just using auto white balance

One of my better shots of a yuma, still far from macro

 

[maroun.c]

Hi,
am in the same boat you are in and the 105 nikor is way too expensive for me. however i'm still not decided between the sigma 105 and the Tamron 90 did you search on the 2 lenses and then chose the sigma? if yes can you please tell me what was the deciding factor?
Till now i was continuously told that tamron 90 mm macro lense glass is better than the sigma 105 however external built of the Sigma 105 is better and also it gives you a 15 mm push.
Good luck with the new lense and make sure to post some pics

 

[Kinetic]

Hi maroun.c,
I did a lot of research on the 105mm nikkor, sigma 105mm, and tamron 90mm. It looked like the sigma's body was more cheaply made, but more people recommended the sigma over the tamron. I saw a bigger group of sigma users than tamron users, especially for aquarium pictures, which told me something. Plus the 105mm isn't too shabby! Also, plastic is darn strong, so as long as the picture quality is good, I'm alright with it.

I saw a bunch of pictures of some people using sigmas, and I compared them to pictures taken by 105mm nikkors. That's what sold me. Just the lack of more tamron compared to sigma users, and the large array of sigma pictures I could look at. I'm not sure if I just found a biased group, but it was enough for me to make my decision. Otherwise I really couldn't decide.

I believe it comes down to the 15mm, your experiences with sigma and tamron products, and whether or not you like the outside body of the lens! Otherwise these two products are awesome, as far as I know and have researched.

There isn't any solid factors why one is better than the other, at least after a couple months of research that's what I concluded. So in short, the popularity of the sigmas swayed me towards the purchase.

Hope that helps!

 

[louist]

Firstly, congrats on the new purchase, macro lens are potentially the lens with which you can have the most fun, why? Simple, you can grab good macro photos just around the house! The possibilities are unlimited!

Lots of hot spots. will a polarizer filter help here?

Polarisers remove reflections from non-metallic surfaces, but will also depend on the direction of light. Keep in mind that polarisers at their max setting usually cuts 2-stops of light, which equates to 4x slower shutter speed (1/25s vs 1/100s).

kind of grainy too, what would help the grainy feel?

Shoot with lower ISO speed, I usually shoot ISO400 for tank shots. I do this because it's a good sacrifice betwee speed and digital noise, since I don't wish to shoot wide open on my 180 macro, and wish to minimise vibration and movment. Always use a tripod.

my whitebalance is off again. I was just using auto white balance

You are shooting a D70, shoot in RAW, correct later. If you are using a RAW program like C1P Pro, you can do color correction on a single photo, then apply that color setting to all the other photos you took during that same session, since they will all have very similar color settings.

Anyhow, good luck, lots of practice makes perfect. This is especially true with macro, but the fun is in the chase.

 

[Kinetic]

Thanks for the comments Louis!

I have my ISO set at the lowest setting, but I'll double check that. It usually happens when I have a lot of light coming off my white sand. may just be a sympton of overexposing.

I'll experiment with a polarizer. Faster shutterspeeds would be best since these animals love to move and sway in the current. I have 35x turnover in my tank =X.

Thanks for the tips! I should be getting the lens in next week.

 

[louist]

I have my ISO set at the lowest setting, but I'll double check that. It usually happens when I have a lot of light coming off my white sand. may just be a sympton of overexposing.

Grainy photo is usually a symptom of underexposure, not over.

Turn the powerheads and pump off during photo sessions to make your life easier. The inhabitants won't mind.

 

[Kinetic]

i'll definately experiment with this.

any filters you've found work good under aquarium lighting? Or filterless?

 

[Kinetic]

Finally got it:

Sigma 105mm F2.8 for my Nikon D70. Enjoy:

 

[Kinetic]

my DOF needs improvement. I need a better tripod. I can't focus! OI.

 

[louist]

any filters you've found work good under aquarium lighting? Or filterless?

Sorry for not getting back to your earlier regarding this Q, it's been a bit crazy at work recently.

I only use UV filters on my lens, and this is because when I am out in the field, I wipe my lens using my shirt, and this makes it more convenient. Some people argue "why put a $50 filter over a $1600 lens?!", well people who take real photographs are too busy to be thinking about such issues.

I guess a ciruclar polariser would be useful in certain occassions, but I haven't found the use for one yet. They are rather expensive for a 72mm one, and cuts approx 2stops of light.

By the way, it looks like you are off to a great start. Watch your compositions and most importantly, the background. Why I say this? I see you are cropping a quite a bit on some photos, the golden ratio of 3:2 or 3:2 still gives the best results.

I personally rarely crop, it takes up too much time in post-processing to add cropping. Move backwards or fowards to change your composition, or change viewing angle (not always possible with aquariums due to distortion) within reason.

 

[Kinetic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6799068#post6799068 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by louist
Sorry for not getting back to your earlier regarding this Q, it's been a bit crazy at work recently.

I only use UV filters on my lens, and this is because when I am out in the field, I wipe my lens using my shirt, and this makes it more convenient. Some people argue "why put a $50 filter over a $1600 lens?!", well people who take real photographs are too busy to be thinking about such issues.

I guess a ciruclar polariser would be useful in certain occassions, but I haven't found the use for one yet. They are rather expensive for a 72mm one, and cuts approx 2stops of light.

By the way, it looks like you are off to a great start. Watch your compositions and most importantly, the background. Why I say this? I see you are cropping a quite a bit on some photos, the golden ratio of 3:2 or 3:2 still gives the best results.

I personally rarely crop, it takes up too much time in post-processing to add cropping. Move backwards or fowards to change your composition, or change viewing angle (not always possible with aquariums due to distortion) within reason.

wow no cropping! you're definately a hardcore photographer. I don't think I'm at the level of being able to take shots perfectly without needing some post processing to crop / adjust horizons (I'm always tilted, *sigh*). I will definately practice more.

These photos were cropped a lot because I didn't do a good job with my DOF. My aperture was really small, and shutter really fast. I guess the waving of the water (even with pumps off) made me feel like using the fastest shutter possible. So my next goal is to improve DOF so I don't need to crop so closely. If I didn't crop those pix, there would've been a ton of blurry stuff, and a tiny bit of focused coral.

Also another problem is I dont have a good tripod, so it's shakey, and with a longer shutter speed, it will become even worse. I'll need to go get a solid tripod.


I need some tips on focusing. Somehow I'm having a really hard time getting things to focus. I'm using manual. It seems SO sensative when I focus, like a tiny move will throw someting totally out of focus. I found that slowly moving the camera around rather than actually focusing using the focus ring works better. But again, at 1:1 it was really hard. Is it because my aperture is too small? If I open the hole up a bit, would it improve the focus?


I've noticed that macro is a LOT harder than other photography that I've done. It's great practice, and will probably improve my other photos as well.

Thanks!!!!

 

[louist]

I don't think I'm at the level of being able to take shots perfectly without needing some post processing to crop / adjust horizons (I'm always tilted, *sigh*).

Plenty of practice and an ample dose of laziness when it comes to post-processing will fix you up in no time

If I didn't crop those pix, there would've been a ton of blurry stuff, and a tiny bit of focused coral.

Actually, this is what macro often looks like! It's often about finding the right balance between aperture, DoF, motion blur, keeping distracting bg out of focus and proper exposure.

I need some tips on focusing. Somehow I'm having a really hard time getting things to focus.

You are doing the right thing. Set a magnification and focus by leaning fowards and backwards is the bet way to go about it (as you are already). Normally, the lens is wide open, so your intended aperture has no effect until the moment the mirror flips up after you hit the shutter. Focus is difficult in macro for people who just started using it. Again, practice is the key here.

 

[Kinetic]

Well, here's day two of playing with the lens. I've learned a couple things, and tried using a bigger aperture for more DOF.

this is just to capture the DOF and texture, looks pretty good?

 

[Kinetic]

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