well; I'm interested in every kind of macro shooting
but I will have the chance to shoot at "home" more often; because I live somewhere very cold and winter lasts very long here; and I will have to stay at home for a long and whole winter... but I like to shoot "flowers" even at home or at outside... and my aim is to have a chance to get macros of the flowers and some flies; butterflies and some bugs on them... and I do not want to fire these shots close to the flowers; more far the distance is, more enjoyable the macro shooting is for me... (and I'm seeking the way to stay more away from the subject -for example like the "95 mm minimum focus distance" with sigma 70-300 APO macro- and still get bigger magnification ratios -like my tamron 90 mm 1:1 macro- ... in other words; what I am looking for is something likely a "mixture" of these 2 lenses which will allow to get magnification ratios bigger than 1:1 from closer distances; and can still focus afar and gives the tamron's "1:1" magnification ratio from far away...

(my tamron's "magnification ratio" is "1:1" and you can reach this ratio from the "minimum focal distance" of "29 cms"
my sigma 70-300 APO macro's max. magnification ratio is "1:2" at 300mm and you can reach this ratio from the minimum focal distance of 95 cms...
I want "still" to get focus from both 29cms and 95 cms; and get magnification ratios bigger than 1:1 and 1:2 )

(as a footnot; I've ordered a "raynox dcr 250" yesterday and waiting for it now... I don't know how my expectations and pleasure with macro shooting will change with it, but I will share the results of raynox as soon as possible) (but maybe you would prefer me to "shush" )

hey; here is just the place I need to be in
in fact, I read a lot about the tele converters and I used one with my ex Zenit; but the picture went pale when I used it... so I will buy one, but I don't expect a satisfying image quality with it...

Mannesty; you seem to work with a "RAYNOX DCR 250"; what about it; is it possible to get focus to infinity with it; and is it possible to get a higher magnification ratio when you try to shot from the lense's own "minimum focus distance"??

(sorry abaout my english again; my english is under average; if you roughly understand what I mean; please forget the rest )

thank you guys both; I guess I must find another way to get a magnification ratio bigger than 1:1 (extension tubes seem to be a solution at first; but if you use it with a fix focal length (for example my tamron 90mm); it means that you can only focus objects nearly from 2-3 cms.. even if you try to shot from 5 cms; it is impossible to focus)

by the way; you're wellcome hefty1

I have tamron 90mm f:2.8 macro; and the reason for to buy was that the nearest focal lenght was 105 mm (sigma); but tamron was sharper than sigma... if I knew the sigma 180mm is available for my k20d; I would have tried to find one...
anyway; this is not the subject of this topic; I will start a topic soon; but let me ask here first; in macro shooting it is important to stay away from the subject; but get bigger magnification ratios (so 180 mm sigma is more attractive for me than a 90 mm)... "canon" has a great macro lens called "mp-e65" which has a 5x magnification ratio. However it allows this magnification ratio from "close" distances, I want to have a chance to use it with my pentax camera... is it possible to find such adapters that allows to use "canon" lenses on pentax bodies??

nice kit...
but I want to ask a different question; it is written "sigma 180mm macro" in your equipment list; is 180 mm available for pentax?? (I thought that sigma macros which have 105 or shorter focal lengths are available for pentax; am I wrong??)
(sorry about my english )