Macro lens for Soany A100?

[Giovanni]

I have just purchased a Sony Alpha 100. I am looking for a good macro lens. It came with a promaster 28-200 and the guy at the photo store (not best buy or one of those department store) was trying to sell me some close up lenses to put on the end of the 28-200. The Minolta and pentax digitals use the same lenses. Any suggestions

I took an old commercial video lens and cannibalized it to put on the end of it. But the depth of field is almost non-existent and my focal distance is in the range of 4-6 inches min and max.

I got this photo with it.

 

[maroun.c]

This is the first time i hear of someone buying a promaster lens. I bought one a few months ago when I broke my 18-200 and had to wait for few months to have it shipped to Japan to have it fixed. I bought the 28-105 promaster for around 80 usd and to be honest it is too soft and I wouldn't use it when my lens comes back. The 28-200 is usually harder to creat sharp than a shorter length so I presume it is also really soft. to add another lens over it will limit working distance as well as only provide a shallow deapth of field. so whatever solution you have over your lens would lead to very soft images. therefore I would go with the cheapest solution while waiting to get a decent lens and then a macro lens after that. that would be closeup filters. you will not be as limited in working distance or in deapth of field but still will not have the flexibility of a macro lens. why did you go with the promaster in the first place and can you please share if you don't mind how much it costs and if it is soft or not? some pics with it without any lenses added to it would be appreciated.

 

[Giovanni]

maroun.c


Thanks for your reply. It came with the camera as a special. It works great for the photos most people would be taking. You know the ones you take of the kids and such. I got the camer with the lens for about the retail price of the body only. I was planning of buying something like a used 50mm macro for the reef photos. Do you think I would be better off with the 18-70 sony lens even for the family photo stuff? I could as to return the promaster for it and see what they say?

Here is an example of what I am talking about. The quality is degraded as I just reduced the file size from over 3MB to 100K.

 

[Giovanni]

BTW Here is the exact lens I got.

Promaster Lens AF28-200mm f3.8-56

 

[Radnor]

I've read that the Sigma 105mm f2.8 macro lens is really nice. Try looking over the different lenses and reviews at dyxum, as well as reading the Sony SLR forums at dpreview.

I have a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 that takes some pretty good pictures, but I don't think it's considered a true macro lens. You can see all my A100 tank photos at this link.

 

[Giovanni]

What is the name of that setup that attaches to your tank for macro shots?

 

[Giovanni]

Here is the best I have been able to do too date with the promaster lens.

a. samonesis photo

I posted a link becuase it is about a 1 MB file. I had to cut the file size due to posting limits also.

 

[Radnor]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9201268#post9201268 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Giovanni
What is the name of that setup that attaches to your tank for macro shots?

I don't have any special setup - I'm just taking pictures standing in front of the tank.

 

[Giovanni]

I am not saying you have one, just that there is one and I wondered what it was called. LOL

 

[swjim]

Nice shots Radnor!

 

[Giovanni]

Radnor,

Did you get the 17-80mm with the a100? If so how do you like it? I may take the promaster 28-200 back and exchange it.

 

[Giovanni]

Radnor,

I agree nice work.

Did you get the 17-80mm with the a100? If so how do you like it? I may take the promaster 28-200 back and exchange it.

 

[Giovanni]

I found what I was looking for.

Ogles Mesoscope

 

[maroun.c]

Nice pictures,
I'm a bit Nikon biased so I would rather get a nikon camera (D50 or 70s) that comes with the 18-70 at a similar price and then instead of a Sigma macro lens get the nikon 105 (the non VR would be just a bit more expensive than that sigma and endup shooting with a kit lens that is known to be very sharp and a very good macro lens.
also if you can live with a 60 mm macro lens the 60 mm macro from Nikon is razor sharp and doubles as a great protrait lens and it sells for about the same as the sigma 105, with better built quality and sharpness... Anyway you're already in Sony wo it's too late for this.
Concerning your promaster lens, the image you're posting here is good, it seems a bit sharper than what my 28-105 produces.
I was used to shooting with my 18-200 VR (mostly family shots of my son) and was used to a certain image quality, then I broke it and have been waiting since Nov for it to return from repair as it had to be sent to Japan, that's why I bought a cheap lens to use meanwhile, and unfortunately it's a lot softer than what i was used to, eventhough the 18-200 Vr is not the sharpest lens, still it was much sharper and focused a lot faster than the promaster.
I also heard that promaster lenses were mostly made from parts (Sigma or Tamron) that did not pass QC. Don't know for sure about this but I'm willing to believe it considering what I'm geting. Still it could be that I have a bad copy or whatever. Bottom line I guess you should use a couple of other lenses that you can switch to and decide from there.

 

[Giovanni]

Thanks for the PM and the input. I am learning more every day about the sony and how to make better photos with it. I am considering just returning the promaster for the kit lens, but it is not a CZ either. They reserve those for the very expensive. Nice thig about the Sony Alpha, it will use minolta and pentax lenses. Thanks again for the help. I will be visiting this forum often.

 

[maroun.c]

At least just try the kit lens and see which one yo ulike better before returning it.
Also please try to post the same picture taken at similar settings with both lenses jsut to see the difference.