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[OM] Re: Which Macro lens to own?

Subject: [OM] Re: Which Macro lens to own?
From: "Olympus List" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 18:46:59 -0800
Tamron has a decent one, and I think it gots to 1:1. I have a Tokina 90mm/f2.5Macro. It's my favorite lens. It's razor sharp, and it's a 2:1, but has a 1:1 adapter... It's a great portrait lens also.. From everything I have seen, I don't think there's that many bad 90mm Macro's out there. I've seen shots from the 90mm from Zuiko, Vivitar, Tamron, and my Tokina, and they are all sharp as tacks..

dreammoose writes:
Well, I've already read lots of replies to this with a lot of good advice/information. I have a couple of further bits to toss in. The 50/3.5 is a first class lens. I have 2 of them and use them for copystand work on flat material, (along with a Tamron SP 90/2.5). I don't think it's a particularly good 'bug' lens. You have to get too close and it's a bit slow. The comments about the third party 90-135mm macro/close focus lenses leave out one factor. Most of them only go to 1:2 (i.e., the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the objet being photographed). this sounds great until tiny things are encountered; then frustration sets in. There are several solutions, as others mentioned, extension tubes, the 65-116 variable extension tube, closeup lenses,etc. I didn't notice anybody mention telextenders, but they do work by doubling the effective focal length without changing the close focus. The Tamron SP extenders work well with the SP 90/2.5s, with the 2x making the lens into a 180/5.0 that focuses to 1:1. Unlike another poster, I like the handling of this lens and the working distance at 180mm is really nice. On the other hand, a few of these lenses go to 1:1 without any help. The Kiron 105/2.8 is excellent, and I believe both Tamron and Vivitar made 90/2.8s that focus to 1:1. Jugling with extension tubes is a pain and one of these would be my choice for first macro lens. All other things being equal (which they never are!), I expect a lens designed to work down to 1:1 to perform better at that ratio than a lens designed to work at higher ratios using some kind of adapter. Another interesting solution is the Macro Focusing Teleconverter. They were marketed by Vivitar, Soligor, Tamron and others. Most of them look identical and probably are. A list member has suggested that the Tamron may be different. In any case, they convert a lens to twice it's focal length at 2 stops less speed like regular converters, but they add an additional helical focusing mechanism for focusing closer. A standard 50mm lens that focuses to about 18in. becomes a 100mm (f1.4=>f2.8, f1.8=>f3.6) lens that focuses to 1:1. They are small, light and easy to use. I've only had mine a little while, but ahve been impressed with the center sharpness. At really close distances, there is so little DOF that I've yet to shoot something where the edges were in focus, so I don't know how edge sharpness is. I shoot rocks, bugs, lichen, flowers, etc., not flat things with this setup. I plan to try the 80/2.0 with one soon for the longer working distance. Moose Paul Kraig wrote:
If I were to purchase 1 macro lens, which should it be? I have never done any macro-photography, but think I would like to try. I would mainly be using it to photograph insects that frequent my fly fishing haunts. Thanks in advance. Regards, Paul
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