Looking for lens recommendations

[JUNI0R]

I have a Nikon D200 and I am looking for a good macro lens. I currently have a Tamaron Macro but am unhappy with how it's autofocus feature or lack there of and that the minimum distance from the subject is 3 ft, I wold like to be able to shoot closer to the subject. Is there any recommendations of lens I could take a look at that that would allow me to be close to the subject (6-12 inches) and that you have some experiance with.

 

[MJSavage]

I use the Sigma 150 on my Nikon and love it. The working distance is 7.9" auto focus works great and you can grab the focus ring and focus manually any time you want.

Mike

 

[KurtsReef]

If you want the best buy a Nikon.

Get em used from www.keh.com (think thats the link) KEH camera out of Atlanta

 

[Phyl]

I have the Nikon 105. I'm quite happy with it.

 

[maroun.c]

What tamron macro lens do you have?
If it's a good lens you can always try to add extension tubes that will allow you to focus much closer. still you will not be able to focus on things deep in the tank depending on which lens yo uhave and the length of the tubes you use. you can always stack tubes over each other for closer focusing distance.
Still nothing beats a Nikon 105 VR IMHO

 

[JUNI0R]

I have the Tamron 75-300 macro. But the focising while in macro mode is not very good. It has a hard time focusing, I could focus manually but I don't really want to. The nikon 105 looks nice but I am having a hard time justifing the money. I am going to look into the extension tubes. Do you have any experiance with them. I have a couple lenses I can use the extension tubes with.

 

[Phyl]

"They" all recommend manually focusing for the best photos, especially in Macro mode. I always manually focus and use a tripod when I'm looking to get a good shot.

 

[maroun.c]

Junior
In Macro mode, Especially when at higher magnification ratios suche as when you use reversing rings and extension tubes or both combined manual focusing becomes necessary and very hard anyway.
using a single extension tube the camera could manage to autofocus however it will fail to when using longer tubes or multiple ones...
I currently use a 50mm over tubes and sometimes reveresed on the body itself or on tubes and manage to get very high magnification ratios. Still i have to focus manually and deapth of field is extreemly shallow that a very sturdy tripod with a macro focusing railbe came a necessity. keep in mind that with these setups the object cannot be very far from the lens and if using a reversed lens over extension tubes my object is somtimes a couple of cm in front of the lens. I still have to use a Teleconverter with tubes as that should give me some more working distance.
one other aspect to consider is that a prime lense (fixed one not a zoom) is usually much sharper than a zoom and the images are much beter. all prime lenses are usually known to be very sharp and succesfull and usually cheaper lenses 50mm1.8 or 1.4 85mm 1.4...
The zoom on the other side provides more working distance and an easier way to focu by zooming in or out. Buying a set of extension tubes would not be a loss if you are not really satisfied with them with your zoom as you could use them with a macro lens in the future for more magnification.
Here's a thread where you can see some of my pictures with extension tubes. and some usefull info.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1185997

 

[JUNI0R]

I appriecate your input, I didn't know I really needed to manually focus. the extension tubes look like they would work for what I am looking for. I have a nikon 50mm 1.8 I can use with them and overall that is already one of my favorite lens. The pictures from that thread are really nice.
Reversign rings just allow you to mount your lens backwards on the camera body?

 

[maroun.c]

Yes the reversing ring holds on the front of the lens on its thread and has a back side that is just like the back of any lens to attach on a camera body or on an extension tube.