alex_lofquist Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 The closest focussing of this lens is 1.5 meters, or about 5 feet. I am considering a 500D lens to shoot at closer than 0.5 meters, but this leaves a wide inaccessable region between. Is there any achromat (2-element) lens of about 1 Diopter which will fit the 77mm lens diameter, or is a 25mm extension tube the only way to get close-ups at this magnification with this lens. (I want to use my 70-200 because of its VR capability, rather than fool around with my other lenses.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juan_parm_nides Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Hi, Alex, why not consider a good Nikkor macro? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_yeatts Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I second Juan's opinion. The VR is of virtually no help with macro or near macro shots, IMHO. Nor is auto focus. If you're looking for a dedicated close-up lens, the manual focus 200/f4 is still hard to beat. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I have gotten great macro results with the Canon 500D diopter on the earlier Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 zooms. Have you looked at the Canon 250D as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Waller Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I agree with E Vener. The 500D works exceptionally well on this lens. I own several Nikon dedicated macro lenses, but if I am travelling light and wish macro capability, throwing the diopter in my vest pocket is an easy way to go. I have never used the 250 D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik_loza Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I have the 80-200mm AF-S and used the Canon 500D a few years back. I couldn't get satisfactory results with it. In the end, I just made space for the 105mm. Maybe the 70-200mm is different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_lofquist Posted January 17, 2007 Author Share Posted January 17, 2007 I have both the 60mm and 105mm Micro Nikkors (non VR) but I was hoping to lessen the weight I was carrying around without sacrificing too much quality. Perhaps I ought to look into what Edmund Scientific has these days, they used to have quite a selection of lenses available, inexpensively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Waller Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Just to clarify my reply above, I am currently using the 500D on the 70-200 and I used to use it on my older 80-200. Got great results with both lenses. No question my 200mm and 105mm macro yield stunning results, but the diopter sure works great in a pinch when I can't (or don't want to) carry the macro lenses. The diopter actually works better with the digital bodies because of the crop factor. The only knock I ever had using the 500D/80-200 on my F5 was that occasionally I saw a bit of softness at the edges. Not so with the D2X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Ingold Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 You can do better with long lenses using extension tubes. There is no noticeable loss of quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoni_perlmutter Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I have gotten excellent results from an older (push-pull) AFD 80-200 and a Canon 500D. I have gotten excellent results from this lens and a TC14 (B,E) and the 500D. I also use the TC's (either the "B" or the "E", as I find AF for close up or macro work not useful) with the AFS 300/4 with the 500D. To get even closer with the 300/4 I have added a 52mm (PN11) tube onto this configuration and this combination gets me nearly-as-good-as-excellent images. I find the 180/2.8 with the PN11, with or without the 500D (you'll need a step-up ring) useful as well. This rig is a bit less good for close up than the 80-200 or 300 but it's very good indeed. Keep in mind though, the more stuff you stick onto your camera before the lens, or after the lens, the less well-balanced and stable the kit is going to be. You will have to rethink your support system as you add doodads to your camera/lens combination. For example, since I do not have a tripod head system capable of handling way out of shape configurations, I often take the rig off the tripod and place it onto something, and then onto my folded up jacket. Sometimes you have to jury-rig a solution. Of course, there are dedicated macro lenses which are even better than the cominations listed above. I can speak of the 105/2.8M which is certainly a fine lens which produces outstanding results. The 60mm (90mm effect) on a DSLR is probably a good bet, but I have no experience with this lens. The 200mm macro (another lens praised by its users) is also likely a fine lens, but again, I have no experience with this optic. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans_waterlander Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I've gotten excellent results with the Nikkor 70-200mm and the Nikon 5T and 6T close-up lenses. I happen to have an extra 5T for sale for $50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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