Recommend me a macro lens lens

Will be used mostly handheld.

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Discovering the joys of photography with Pentax

It depends on your budget really.

I have one of these.

link



But if I could afford one I'd get a new Pentax 100mm Macro.

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Pentax Photo Gallery
Photography blog

100ish mm is a good (and pretty standard) focal length for a true macro lens. It's long enough to be able to keep a bit of distance from skittish subjects like insects, and still short enough to be perfectly usable handheld (especially with SR).

Assuming you are looking for a new lens the Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Macro is an excellent option. It's a bit cheaper than the alternatives but will still set you back a bob or two at £339 on SRS

If expense is no object, go for the Pentax smc DFA 100mm F2.8 WR Macro. It'll cost you about £140 more than the Tamron at £479 on SRS, but it has superior build quality and is weather sealed.

If your budget is a bit lower and you don't mind going second hand you might consider looking for a Samsung D-XENON 100mm F2.8 Macro. It's the same as the Pentax model which preceded the weather sealed version above, but tends to go for a bit less because of the Samsung Branding. It's still likely to cost you at least £250+ though. (The one I linked to is overpriced but the only example I could find on eBay at the moment. They do crop up on a regular basis however.)

If you must have autofocus capability you won't easily find much cheaper than the Samsung unless you are lucky enough to stumble across one of these, the Cosina 100mm F3.5 MC Macro. It's not quite on the same optical level as any of the above and its build quality might provoke open mocking laughter, but it can be picked up for £80-£120 and is hard to beat at that price point - IF you can actually find one. Be aware that there is also a manual focus version which is very similar in appearance, so don't confuse them.

If you can live without autofocus then ALL kinds of options (such as the one Charlotte posted above) open up. Far too many to go into. Image quality is not so much of a limiting factor with (true) Macro lenses because the general standard for such lenses tends to be very high. However that's not to say you should buy just anything without looking into it first!

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My Flickr • Pentax K-5 • K-5 II • Sigma 8-16mm F/4.5-5.6 DC HSM • Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL • SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F/2.8 ED [IF] SDM • SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F/4-5.8 ED • SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR • Vivitar 100mm F/3.5 Macro AF • Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2

I am looking for AF.

I know everyone says macro should be done with MF, but having tried load of combinations, I am rubbish at it.

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Discovering the joys of photography with Pentax

That may be because you're working handheld, rather than MF. Hand held macro is possible but only in really good light (generally with flash).
Bear in mind that 'Catch in focus' can effectively turn a MF lens into AF - hold down the shutter release & sway gently backwards & forwards through the focus, and the camera should take it when it's focused.
DOF is minimal so camera movements of less than 1mm are usually critical...

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Mike
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Pentax:K5ii, K7, K100D, DA18-55, DA10-17, DA55-300, DA50-200, F100-300, F50, DA35 AL, 4* M50, 2* M135, Helicoid extension, Tak 300 f4 (& 6 film bodies)
3rd Party: Bigmos (Sigma 150-500mm OS HSM),2* 28mm, 100mm macro, 28-200 zoom, 35-80 zoom, 80-200 zoom, 80-210 zoom, 300mm M42, 600 mirror, 1000-4000 scope, 50mm M42, enlarger lenses, Sony & micro 4/3 cameras with various PK mounts, Zenit E...
Far to many tele-converters, adapters, project parts & extension tubes etc.

.[size=11:].Flickr• WPF• Panoramio

My son is getting really good results(hand held) with the tamron 60mm macro and he is really fussy with his shots.Then why I ask does he use a Nikon?

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C&C welcome.
Don.

Ok so far narrowed it down to Sigma 70 mm or Pentax 100 mm

Consideration : should be light to allow handheld use and short enough for SR to be effective

Q: how effective is SR at 100 mm?

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Discovering the joys of photography with Pentax

I'm in the same boat as you and the Cosina 100mm F3.5 MC Macro sounds very good to me as it's autofocus so good for portraits too.

What prices are the lenses that you're looking at?

There's a very handy webpage here- CHEAP MACRO -- Buying or exploiting a lens for ultraclose work.

I have a thread in this forum and also here in PentaxForums that has a lot of answers

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Cheers,
Pa
http://www.photoblog.ie where every post have a musical reference as it's title.

I have not set a budget as yet, but I have funds coming from the sale another lens.

I have tried and spent a fair amount trying a cheap solution ( which turns out to be be not that cheap eventually)

So for me I more interested in a good solution to my handheld use.

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Discovering the joys of photography with Pentax

The pentax 100mm macro lenses are excellent, ideal for most subjects and the SR works just fine, offering maybe up to 3 stops advantage.

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Best regards, John

The D-FA 100mm and the later D-FA 100mm WR lenses are much lighter than the older F and FA lenses. D-FA 100mm is 345 grammes, the WR variant is 340, but the F and FA lenses are 590 and 600 grammes respectively. All have a max aperture of f2.8

I can personally recommend the D-FA 100mm macro lens and I think it'll suit your needs perfectly.

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Peter E Smith

My flickr Photostream

does anyone know if this would work for any lenses that'd fit a Pentax?

converting a Canon EF 35-80mm to macro by removing the front element?

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Cheers,
Pa
http://www.photoblog.ie where every post have a musical reference as it's title.

I am gravitating towards the 100mm WR, but also wonder how satisfactory would the Raynox be with the 18-135 WR.

I am very happy with my 18-135 WR despite my initial skepticism and some negative press.

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Discovering the joys of photography with Pentax

In theory SR should allow you to use shutter speeds as low as 1/20 - 1/10 sec. at 100mm, although this will vary depending on how steady your grip is in the first place so it's always worth improving your technique in this respect.

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My Flickr • Pentax K-5 • K-5 II • Sigma 8-16mm F/4.5-5.6 DC HSM • Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL • SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F/2.8 ED [IF] SDM • SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F/4-5.8 ED • SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR • Vivitar 100mm F/3.5 Macro AF • Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2

Although the Raynox is supposed to be among the best of its kind, I've seen numerous test results which always demonstrate the same thing - a normal lens modified with a close up lens or filter simply won't give you anything close to the sharpness of a true macro. I'd think long and hard about how important image sharpness is to you before going down this route - it could turn out to be another 'cheap' solution that works out 'not so cheap' in the long run.

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My Flickr • Pentax K-5 • K-5 II • Sigma 8-16mm F/4.5-5.6 DC HSM • Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL • SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F/2.8 ED [IF] SDM • SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F/4-5.8 ED • SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR • Vivitar 100mm F/3.5 Macro AF • Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2