Macro

I posted a photo on the Gallery today of a spider using one of those slip on macro lenses. Could someone please suggest what decent macro lens I should use to get really close. As in getting the eyes of insects.Thanks, Ken

First question, what lenses have you already got.

Have a search on the site for previous threads as there will be lots of threads similar to this.

AF is more expensive but you will probably need to MF so don't worry about autofocus.


1. Extension tubes on a decent prime lens. For example get an A or M 50mm f1.7 and stick it on extension tubes. Cost £20ish

2. Raynox adapters, buy and stick on the front of a longer lens, prime or zoom. £50+

3. reverse a lens. Get a reversing adapter and
3.a. reverse the lens on the body of the camera.
3.b. reverse a lens on the end of another lens.
cost depends on the lenses you already have and the adapters.

4. Macro lenses. MF £50 to £100
Manual focus are cheaper the easiest are the ones with an A setting on the aperture ring. Allowing you to set the aperture in the camera.

Cheap and cheerful are the likes of the Vivtar/Cosina/Pentax 100mm F3.5 plastic fantastic Look out as this also has a 1:1 life size adapter which is not always included.

Old lenses like the Vivitar 55mm macro, 90mm macro. Use in manual mode. Manual focus and manual aperture. Set the aperture on the lens, press the green button on the camera to set the shutter and snap away.

5. The AF macro lenses. Sigma 105mm, Tamron 90mm, Pentax 100mm. All AF and all decent but from £200 to £350 or so. All come up on here regularly. ALl do a decent job.

In my experience and it is said elsewhere, there are no bad prime macro lenses.

6. 1:2 all the above are kind of geared to going to 1:1 and above , if you are happy less than this and cropping then the 70-300mm Sigma and Tamron lenses are AF, cheap and you can crop the image.

Thanks Dougf8, you have certainly given me food for thought. I have a few Macros, but being on a learning curve, I was not sure how to get the really close ups I have seen on this forum. Shall have a go with what I have and see what results are like. Ken

Ken,

List what lenses you have and I'm sure you'll get some help as to what might be best.

Just because a lens says macro on it doesn't mean it is "macro".

I think the accepted definition is 1:1 replication so the subject is replicated on the sensor at life size.

( take a look at Nass' stuff https://www.pentaxuser.com/user/nass-9403 )

Doug,I did say I was only learning. Well spotted. The lenses I thought were
macro have the word on the barrel not the lens as such. I have Pressman 1:4 75-150mm,Pentax 1:3.5-4.5 28-80mm,Chinon 1:1.7 50mm, Vivitar 1:2.8 28mm. Kit lens. So looks like I shall have to splash the cash. Ken

Don't splash the cash yet.....

The Chinon will reverse mount onto the camera body.
It is a sharp lens so you should get decent results.
http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/chinon-auto-mc-50mm-f-1-7.html
The adapter will be a few quid on ebay. "pentax reverse macro adapter"

You could try and get some cheap PK mount extension tubes. Put it reversed on that, There are some cheap newer ones and older ones which are made much better but they cost more.

The other way is to reverse it on the Pressman, I don't know how good the Pressman is. You'd need an adapter to link the pressman to the Chinon threads. Again probably a few quid on ebay. Something like a "52mm to 49mm reverse adapter".

I was going to suggest getting a 100mm/135mm lens to reverse the chinon 50mm onto but the cost of that is a substantial part of the price of a 1:1 macro lens. However if you could find a reasonable long prime lens for a few quid you might have some fun.

Homework :::
http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/miscellaneous-lenses-for-pentax-primes-c...

Alternatively, buy the WR 100mm Pentax Macro

Cheers

If you are new to macro I suggest first getting a set of extension tubes and use your Chinon 50mm on those. This is cheap and will get you into the same magnification range as a 'proper' dedicate macro lens at much less cost but still preserve decent quality.

If you find that provides enough magnification and you are taking lots of macro shots and have the cash then go out and buy a dedicated macro lens like Doug describes above. You won't have wasted anything on the extension tubes as you can also use this with the dedicated macro lens to get even closer.

If you want even more magnification than the tubes provide, to get insect eyes and suchlike, you are going to go beyond 'normal' macro use and require specialist equipment. This isn't necessarily expensive but will mean you are into inconvenience and fiddling - some say this is the joy of macro. As suggested above first get the extremely cheap reversing rings for your 50mm and, for even more magnification, your 28mm. If that isn't enough combine these with your extension tubes. If even that isn't enough you start combining lenses or buying microscopes and adapters and suchlike but by then you'll know enough to know what you need

Good luck ...

I've taken lots of macros of lots of spiders but never seen one doing that

My advice, get a set of tubes with contacts, a 50mm lens with an aperture ring and a decent hotshoe flash with manual settings preferably with a swivelling hotshoe mount so you can change the angle. The secret to great macro photography is light.

This is the gear of one of the most prominent macro photographers in the world, Thomas Shahan. Take a look around his site for some inspiration.

If you're happy to work on a table (in case it falls off) then you could always try reversing the chinon using black sticky tape. See what you can do with a table lamp for light and just tape the 50mm backwards on the long lens.

Or try the 28 reversed on the 50mm.

That's taking cheapskate too far! A reversing ring on ebay is less than two quid with free postage!

Not really, lots of examples on Internet .
It can be done Now! While one researches, bid lose, bid higher lose, BIN, wait for delivery, work out stop down manual metering, research, scrape off the paint, try again etc etc.... Time is money.

You can get some really expensive black tape if you look for it.

WoW, what a response. I knew you guys would not let me down. Given me loads to think about. Splashing the cash wont be too painful, but ,lets see. Thanks again Guys. Ken

Do some reading on focus stacking also. The 50mm Prime and macro tube approach can deliver an incredibly narrow focus point, which depending on what you're looking to photograph may be too small for you.

Focus stacking allows you to 'walk' the focus point along an object as you take several shots, and then grab all the 'in focus' parts from those shots to make one final picture with the whole object in focus. It's easier than my lame attempt to explain it here

this sort of thing...

It might also be worth a look at nass, one of the members here and follow the link to his website. Macro is his speciality!