macro lens

Thanks for the advice on purchasing an SMC F lens for my MZ50. Got a great 80-200 on ebay for an excellent price. I would now like to buy a good all rounder macro lens but haven't a clue what to get. I know Sigma lenses are a lot cheaper and probably as good as Pentax so I might stick with one of those. Going to Dubai soon and thinking of picking up a new one there if the prices are good. Any suggestions to look aout for?

The Tamron 90mm is well reported on, and I've seen great results. You can get these at reasonable second hand prices. www.ffordes.co.uk have one at £175 second hand.

However, I managed to pick up an SMC-F 100mm/f2.8 for a great price second hand, and it's a real beauty Heavy, but so sharp and contrasty.
www.lcegroup.co.uk are selling one for £229.

The Pentax 100mm/f3.5 I believe was made by Cosina It's cheap, Ffordes have one at £129.

Hope that helps,
Matt

For Macro, you want maximum sharpness, and you don't generally need AF or even exposure automation.

So, an old M lens is a good buy, and certainly better than a cheap Sigma.

Best focal length is probably 200mm, followed by 100mm and then 50mm. However, 200mm macros are hard to come by, so my advice would be a Pentax-M 1:4 100mm as offering the best quality/price ratio. The "A" version is obviously slightly more convenient.

With macro, you usually want to maximise the very limited depth of field, so good performance at small apertures is usually much more important than having a large max aperture.

Coincidentally, I am selling my A 1:4 100mm (because I also have the FA 1:2.8 100mm), but I would give the same advice even if I wasn't!

The Tamron 90, as Matt said, is also highly regarded.

G