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Which Tamron macro?


DrBen

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There are two F-mount Tamron lenses that I am considering:

  • Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro no image stabilization B&H and Adorama new $499

  • Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 macro VC (vibration control) B&H and Adorama new $649

Is $150 for the VC model worth the extra money? Often I will be using a tripod but sometimes handheld, usually in fairly high light situations, at 1:1.

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Is $150 for the VC model worth the extra money? Often I will be using a tripod but sometimes handheld, usually in fairly high light situations, at 1:1.

What type of subjects do you have in mind? Since this is the nature forum, I assume you maybe talking about flowers or insects .... However, potentially you could be shooting flowers inside a studio, and some people may consider that nature photography as long as there is no artificial subjects in the background.

 

If you are considering shooting insects at near 1:1 outdoors hand held, it can be very challenging. Due to the magnification, image stabilization, while it probably won't hurt, might not be very effective.

 

The Tamron 90mm macro has a good reputation. If you don't need stabilization, in the F mount, the Nikon 105mm/f2.8 AF or AF-D is quite good also, but it probably is only available used now.

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First, the caveat: I’m new to macro, so I may not know what I’m talking about.

 

That being said, here’s my experience. I got a 60mm non-image-stabilized macro lens for my Canon 80D (APS-C crop sensor), and I love it. My only regret—and it’s a big one—is that I didn’t get a macro lens with image stabilization. If I were shooting mostly on a tripod or mostly with flash, it wouldn’t be an issue. But a lot of my macro shots are hand-held of slowly-moving subjects (either due to wind or locomotion) in low-light environments, and that means that I can’t reliably focus-stack to make full use of my f/2.8; I’m usually wanting to stop way down to get more focus depth, and I often don’t have an off-camera flash with me. I got a set of extension tubes to use with my image-stabilized non-macro lenses, and I find that I do a lot of my pre-meditated macros with that set-up if I’m not using a tripod. However, the nice thing about the 60mm macro lens is that it’s a convenient focal length for non-macro photography as well, so I can take it for walks in places that I’m not comfortable taking off a lens to add an extension tube (sand dunes, beaches, drippy fog) and still have an option for macro if something interesting shows up, which it usually does. But I then need to carry an off-camera flash if I don’t want that bug-in-the-headlights look, or suffer through a lot of motion-blurred and out-of-focus shots on cloudy days, which they usually are.

The game-changer may have showed up several days ago on a photonet thread [here]—I made a diffusor for the camera's built-in flash, and I’ve been impressed by the quality of light that gives me. It looks like this is going to make it a lot easier for me to use the non-stabilized macro lens for hand-held shooting.

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What type of subjects do you have in mind? Since this is the nature forum, I assume you maybe talking about flowers or insects .... However, potentially you could be shooting flowers inside a studio, and some people may consider that nature photography as long as there is no artificial subjects in the background....

 

Most of my interest is in plant parts--flowers, leaves, seeds, seed pods, etc., sometimes outside, sometimes inside. If an insect happens to be in the field of view, I'll shoot it too, but insects are not a priority.

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If you are really interested in stable, relatively non-moving things (other than wind which image stabilization wont help you with) like plants I would skip the VC model and make sure you have a good tripod, head and possibly a rail.

 

How much magnification do you need? If more than 1:1 you will likely want extension tubes to go on the back and/or diopters to go on the front since the lenses you mention don't go beyond 1:1 by themselves, I think.

 

Consider a good flash and diffuser or macro flash - ring etc.

 

Finally what do you want to do with the images - documentation, web, art, sale, etc? I ask because I've gotten perfectly adequate images hand held, but braced, with a point and shoot with macro capabilities beyond 1:1. A couple sample images follow.

 

The first was taken inside, the second was on a mountaintop.

 

1400516894_2016-05-0208-00-15(C)Flower1000WEB.thumb.jpg.3aca575c2e4a394aaaa581efdd80e056.jpg

 

 

157997576_CottongrassseedonsundewWEB.jpg.975c806475dd62f884773dfbee656b55.jpg

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I own the non stabilized Tamron and usually don't use a tripod.

I have to bin a number of photos that are not sharp because of my movement.

If you are not using a tripod go for the stabilized version, especially if you have the money for it and remember to turn the stabilization off when used on tripod.

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wind

IS helps stabilize you, not your subject

I suspect on rereading my post that I didn’t explain what I meant clearly enough. I’m not wishing for IS in order to compensate for movement of the subject—in fact, it’s quite the opposite. If a subject isn’t moving and I'm without tripod and a flash, then I can open up the lens, crank up the shutter speed, go into burst mode, and do a slow-lean focus stack to get whatever DOF I need. But if the subject is moving (or being moved by light wind), I can’t focus stack. Instead, to increase the DOF I have to stop down the lens, and that means I have to slow down the shutter. For 1:1, I can reliably hand-hold my macro at 1/200s, and I can hand-hold 1/125s about half the time (assumptions: only 1 cup of coffee and no mosquitoes). If I had the luxury of 3 extra stops of stabilization, I’d be able to just about triple my DOF for hand-held, non-stacked, natural-light shots. But then again, I'm using macro under conditions that aren't optimal, so this might not be an important consideration for a lot of people.

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Being able to handhold at 1/25 sec won't help you if the subject is moving. That's why I am puzzled by your post. With no movement you can do handheld focus stacking (something I've done plenty of times myself). But if there is any movement you can't do that. The only thing that will freeze movement is either a fast shutter speed or a flash--period. The only time IS will help you is if you're trying to photograph something that is completely still in low light.
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if the subject is moving

The trick is that they're not moving fast. I spent some time this morning shooting macro of a snail, which was--naturally--moving at a snail's pace. Too fast for stacking, but I could have stopped it at 1/60 with no problem (though not at 1/25). With light wind, there's a point at the end of a sway where you can stop the motion at a relatively low speed (or shoot a burst at that speed to give yourself multiple opportunities to hit that point), or you can wait for a lull in the breeze, but you can't hit it at the same place twice.

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The image stabilization is surely worth something, but whether it is worth the specific amount more is something you have to answer for yourself.

I have the older version in Canon mount and have found it to be a fine lens; and I really don't miss the VR feature. YMMD

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  • 2 weeks later...

NPhoto magazine does very good lens comparisons and they rated the sigma 105mm ($570 now) as THE best macro. I find it fantastic! micro or portraits or...

the tamron is very good, too, but not much less money.

you didn't say if you use a dx or fx body. i find 100 to be too long for most close up work on a dx without a tripod.

the stabilization is not going to buy you as much close up. instead of 4 stops, expect 1. one reason is that you'll typically be stopped way down. it also depends on the type of IS/VR/OS. vibration for micro is different than for longer distances.

check out some from my sigma (these albums are not just with this lens, so click the pics to check):

Flowers

Insects

35523230584_7cbe3bfc7c_b.jpg_170803_180930_EUR7685 by BG Day, on Flickr

29735980573_35905a30c5_b.jpgpopup flash in command mode -.7, Nikon 910 hand held -.3 by BG Day, on Flickr

Edited by beegeedee

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NPhoto magazine does very good lens comparisons and they rated the sigma 105mm ($570 now) as THE best macro. I find it fantastic! micro or portraits or...

the tamron is very good, too, but not much less money.

 

I like your praying mantis photos. You handle the DOF very well in the head-in-foreground shots.

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