Cheap Macro Lens

Hiya guys,

Righty.. i take lots of pictures of insects, ants in particular. However i dont really have a macro lens that can get as close as i need to.. Do you guys have any suggestions that would allow me to take very good macro shots at close range without spending a fortune??
Thanks For the advise in advance

If you have a 50mm 1:1.7 lens or similar, buy a reversing ring and try it. You'll be amazed.

Or,

Stack two lenses together. Something like a 200mm (zoom will do) with a 50mm reversed onto it gives about 4:1 magnification. You'll need a stacking ring. It has two male threads to screw into the two filter threads and you'll need the right size for the lenses you have.

Or,

Buy a Raynox macro adapter.

Or,

Use extension tubes.

Or, use a bellows (adjustable extension tube).

Or a second hand macro lens.
The M 100 f/4 Macro looks pretty good, never used one though.
With macro you don't use autofocus and most of the time your camera is in manual mode so a manual lens wouldn't be a great downgrade compared to the autofocus lenses.

btw what kind of macro do you want to do? bugs, flowers, objects, etc. it's easier to advice you then because for bugs you don't want to come to close so some option Peter said aren't the best for that.

Also a tele converter increase your macro capabilities to an extend and with most lenses that's also enough.

Hi Mannesty i have a 50mm A 1.7 with a 49mm reversing ring.How good would this be for macro work

Sorry steve for robbing your post

With a little practice, it can produce stunning results. Lighting might be your biggest challenge as you'll need to get very close to the subject, but it can be done.

I have a M 100 f/4 Macro. It is all very well, but it only goes as far as 1:2 which I doubt would be enough for ants (by itself), although it is OK for flowers and such.

I have heard that much can be achieved using a combination of a short telephoto (say 135mm or 150mm) together with extension tubes, tele-converter, and/or close-up lenses or all three together.

however, depth of field supposedly becomes a very serious problem with increasing magnification (I find it bad enough at 1:2).

I have experimented with all types of Macro. I have the 100 M f4 which I tend to use only on bellows and gives very good results

I also have The D-FA 100mm, DA LTD 35mm, 50mm EX Sigma, 180mm EX Sigma all cracking good Macro lenses but expensive.

For an in-expensive and lightweight option I also use a reversing ring with a reversed Super Takumar 28mm f3.5, you need to get right in close but the magnification is awesome 4:1 I think ? and you can put an extension tube on it if you want to get in even closer.

The pic below was taken with this setup, and as Banjo points out, DOF is razor thin. But a bit of practice and you can get some great shots.

As Mannesty states, lighting can be tricky, an external flash is a must and preferably off camera on a bracket or even hand held. It doesn't have to be P-TTL, I use a an old Pentax AF 200T with easy to access manual controls with a Lumiquest soft box diffuser attached. A must also to avoid hot spots and even out the light. There are cheaper diffusers available on E-bay,

Not the best example but it gives you an idea of the magnification. This is uncropped and straight out of the camera. The ants were about 5mm in size.
[IMG]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x261/ClarkyinAus/IMGP2222.jpg[/IMG]

But DOF becomes a problem with every macro lens, I don't think there is a way around that.

The best is to turn your macro lens into 1:1, reversing a 50mm lens around but that's also not esy to use.

The ways to get 1:1 with the macro is get a 2x tc it turns your lens into 200mm but you will get 1:1. Or else bellows of extension tubes, I'm not sure but I believe that 50mm of length will be enough.

I also have a D-FA 100mm, haven't done a lot of macro lately but most of the time you are working between f/8 and f/11 or even f/16 when needed. That's just macro photography.

ps. it's easier to turn a wide angle into a macro then longer lenses, if I'm correct you need it's length in extension tubes. so 50mm needs 50mm extension tubes and 150mm, 150mm so you will get a fairly long lens.

The downside is that the resulting combination will be 1.5 to 2 stops slower in aperture, and that's not ideal for macro work. You'd probably need a couple of flood lights to get reasonable exposure coupled with useable DOF.

Yes but you also have that problem with extension tubes.
Another solution is to stack lenses, a 50mm reversed stack on the 100mm macro will also do the job. You probable loose less light this way but your focus distance becomes closer I believe... don't know it it's more then a 1:1 macro