Will these lenses work for macro

[baloutang]

Hi,

I was lucky enough to get a Nikon D80 for christmas and was wondering after reading some of the posts, if the lenses that I have would be good enough to take the macro pics of some of my corals with the type of depth and close up shots I'm seeing with some of the pics in this forum.
I'm using my old Nikon lenses from my Nikon film camera, one is 70-300mm and the other is 28-80mm. I've noticed people have gone out and purchased "macro" lenses do either of my lenses qualify?
I'm still trying to figure some stuff out on this new camera and just figured out the WB. Any advice as to what's the most critical settings in taking macro photos that would be great.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[louist]

Macro is defined to be photos taken at life size, which is 1:1, or more. This means the the physical size of the subject is the same on on your film/sensor as it is in real life.

Your lenses will not be able to achieve macro, however, they can do "close-ups". You can add accessories to your lens in order to increase their magnification ratio. For practicality (in aquarium photography), extension tubes and diopter lenses are your best bet. There are other options, but many are not suitable for aquarium photography due to various reasons.

Any advice as to what's the most critical settings in taking macro photos that would be great.

There is no one setting for macro or any form of photography really... If this is your first SLR camera, I would urge you to learn the Zone System, composition, techniques etc before you venture deeper into whichever "field" interest you the most.

 

[steve68]

Louis has said it all with that in mind u should buy a macro lens, i have a D80 & i use a sigma 105mm macro lens, i bought it used on ebay.

 

[hans1976]

Steve68,
How do you like that lense? I was thinking of buying it myself.

 

[louist]

Jeff,
Sigma, Tamron and Canon/Nikon all make excellent macro lenses. You really can't go wrong with any of them. There are some differences between them, but all their opticaly qualities are stellar!

In the 90/100/105mm range
Tamron: sharpest of of the line up, but also the least well build
Sigma: Similar to Canon, the Canon 100mm USM is a little better build
Canon: already said

In purchasing 3rd party macro lenses, there is a point of consideration that may be a tie breaker for a potential buyer. If you already own Canon's teleconverter(s), you will be wise to get the Canon macro lens instead. 3rd party macro lenses are not compatible with Canon TC's unless you add an extension tube in between at the cost of infinity focus and loss of light.

 

[steve68]

Jeff overall it's a great macro lense, it takes great macro shots in my opinion it's a great lense but nikon's DG macro lense is better.

 

[Ebn]

Don't forget the Nikon 105mm VR lens. The Tamron is one sharp lens, but the Nikon will match it, unlike the older 105mm micro.

 

[Nuuze]

I'm still a noob camera guy but here goes... I got some lenses for my D80 during the holidays that I would recommend. Definately the 105mm VR from Nikon if you can stand the price. Pics are awesome, reef and around the house, kids, etc. You can see strands of hair on kids when you take pics of them. I also got the 18-200mm as a main lens for all around photos. Before that I had the 18-135mm; comparing the 18-135mm to the 18-200mm again, if you can stand the price. At 135mm shooting words you have to hold the camera pretty steady without a tripod but with the 18-200mm at 200mm with VR on you can see the difference in clarity. By the way all three lenses came with Nikon 5 year warranty so you wouldn't have to buy additional. I ended up returning the 18-135mm since the 18-200mm can do more but the 18-135 is also a good lens. HTH.

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8861248#post8861248 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by louist
If you already own Canon's teleconverter(s), you will be wise to get the Canon macro lens instead. 3rd party macro lenses are not compatible with Canon TC's unless you add an extension tube in between at the cost of infinity focus and loss of light.

Since I have a Canon 100mm and a 1.4X teleconveter, this got me thinking, and I did a little research. Apparently, the 1.4X can connect to the canon 180mm macro, but not the 100mm without a small extension tube.