Macro Lens - but a little different

[adsphoto]

I'm wanting to get a macro lens of some description - 1:1 or better

magnification. However I don't need the usual set of requirements. Auto focus is

not necessary, however decent image quality and a reasonably low price is.<br>

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I'm investigating the used lens market, and am considering using adapters for

cheap lenses with different mounts. I don't mind losing infinity focus.<br>

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Basically I'm after a cheap macro lens with good image quality. Everything else

is secondary.<br>

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Can anyone recommend anything? Any advice is greatly appreciated.<br>

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PS - in case it is relevant, my existing kit is:<br>

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Canon 350D<br>

EF 28mm f/2.8<br>

EF 50mm f/1.8<br>

EF 100mm f/2.0<br>

EF-S 18-55mm kit lens<br>

Sigma 10-20mm DC<br>

[rjkdds]

You have a few choices. You could use an extension tube with your 100mm/2.8 which would

you allow you to focus closer to your subject, thus gaining effective magnification.

You could buy a 500d diopter filter which allows the same thing.

Bob

[davyjo]

I found a Sigma 105 f/2.8 that has a broken AF motor. $350 lens for $125 and I have never missed the AF. Just a thought, maybe I just got lucky.

[jcolwell]

The SMC Takumar 50mm f/4 Macro [1:2] is very sharp and compact. I recently sold one as I didn't use it any more after getting the Canon 100/2.8 Macro USM. I expect that the SMC Takumar 100/4 Macro is also very good, as my SMC Tak 85/1.8 and 135/2.5 perform much better on my 20D than some of the other old lenses with an excellent reputation on film bodies (e.g. Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5 is very sharp but has lots of CA). OTOH, as Bob says, a set of extension tubes or a Canon 500D closeup auxiliary lens would do a fine job with your 100mm f/2.

[jimstrutz]

Vivitar/Cosina/Phoenix 100mm f/3.5 is low cost and still has excellent image quality. Includes autofocus, and no lens mount adapters are necessary. It looks and feels cheap, but seems to be reliable from all the comments posted about it. Mine's been working fine for years, and I bought it used for $60. They're about $150 new.

[michael_madio]

A very cost-effective and high-quality way of going to 1:1 and beyond is using an enlarger lens with bellows. You will need a quality 6 element 50mm or 80mm enlarger lens, M39->M42 adapter, M42 bellows, and M42->EOS adapter. Alternatively, you can get a macro reverse ring and use your 50/1.8 in front of your 100/2.

[richard_oleson]

I think Michael has hit on the best approaches for the combination that you specified: greater than 1:1 magnification, good image quality and low cost. That is a very challenging combination of requirements, but enlarging lenses, unlike camera lenses, are typically optimized for near 1:1 magnification, and being very simple and in decreasing demand they are inexpensive. Since your EOS cameras can accept a variety of mounts with adapters, the M42 with a Russian M39/M42 ring is perfect.

 

His other suggestion, using a reversed camera lens as a front-mounted diopter attachment, is also an excellent option if you don't need a wide range of magnifications available. In this arrangement each of the 2 lenses is operating at infinity where it is at its best performance, and if you already have the 50 and 100mm lenses your only cost is the coupling ring (and you can get by without even that).

[chrisjb]

Another cheap way would be to reverse mount the lenses you have 50 & 100, I`m not sure how the calculations work. there are many ways, I use FD auto bellows with now cheaper FD lenses, Olympus ext tubes work well. plenty on e### to chose from.

 

have fun

[brucecyr]

I second Jim's recommendation -- you have to buy them on eBay. But you get max 1:2 out of the box, 1:1 with an included screw-on plus lens, plus infinity focus and autofocus when you use it as a regular lens. A nice, cheap lens in the style of the Canon EF 50mm f1.8.

 

The Canon FD 50mm f3.5 Macro is a good tool -- lens plus an FD-EOS adapter should total less than $100 on eBay. Screw out the optical glass piece in the middle. It will only focus out to 12+" -- good for about 1:4. Max mag without tubes is about 1:1.35. Add a set of 68mm Kenko tubes for 2:1, or two sets for 3:1. Over 1:1, however, you get best results reversing the lens on a $10 52mm EOS reverse mount adapter.

 

About the same price for a Nikon Micro 50mm f3.5 plus adapter -- make sure its the older, sharper f3.5 rather than the newer f2.8. Infinity focus plus you can also use the aforementioned reverse mount adapter.

 

The Canon FD 100mm should also work, but I haven't tried it. Stay away from Tamron SP 90mm f2.5 Macro #52B or #52BB -- their flat-surfaced rear elements don't seem to be coated, at least mine isn't, and at apertures smaller than f8.0 you get nasty flare spot in the center of your image.

 

I've heard suggestions to use other great old macros, like Vivitar 90mm Series 1, but I don't have any experience with them.

 

For extreme magnifications (and virtually non-existant DOF) you can reverse shorter lenses on longer primary lenses. For example, 50mm reversed on 100mm gives 2:1 mag. Basically, the least mag a stacked reversal yields at infinity focus is:

 

primary focal length divided by reversed focal length (2:1 = 100mm/50mm)

 

However, a retrofocus wide-angle will possibly cause vignetting, like 28mm reversed on 100mm or 200mm. Bellows will get even higher, but I don't find a bellows practical for field use -- flowers, bugs, etc. -- although it works OK for studio work on copystand.

 

Attached is a shot I made with the Canon FD 50mm reversed on 68mm tubes with flash this evening when I was supposed to be making supper. Its some kind of small fly on a white lobe of a lobelia my wife had just planted in a pot on the deck this a.m. Its not particularly good, but I think you can see the potential of this combo.<div></div>

[robin_sibson1]

You already have two excellent prime lenses, the 50/1.8 and 100/2, that are well-suited to close-up and macro work with extension tubes, and before you go out and spend money on weird and wonderful bits of gear that may well prove to be highly inconvenient in use, I suggest you get a respectable off-brand set of EF extension tubes (the Kenko tubes are widely recommended) and learn the trade with those. The full set of tubes on the 50mm lens should take you a bit beyond x1, and enable you to understand how tricky macro work in this range can be. Conventional macro lenses don't normally go beyond x1, although you can gain a bit more by adding tubes, but they are more convenient in use and generally give high optical quality - even the off-brand ones. Reversing one lens in front of another, using a simple adapter linking the filter threads, is a well-known technique that you could try out with your existing lenses. The real deal for work at higher magnifications than x1 is the Canon MP-E lens, but that's expensive.

[lester_wareham]

I agree with the above, although you have been better off going for the classic 100mm/f2.8 macro rather than the 100/f2 in retrospect (unless you really needed that extra stop).

 

If you just want to do occasional macro get some tubes as suggested, like the Kenko set. A word of warning about the Kenkos; make sure the lens mounts on them reasonably tightly (they seem variable from part to part in this); I had set that were loose and led to unexpected dismounts. The Canon tubes are much more solid but very much more expensive.

[adsphoto]

Thank you to everyone. This has been really, really informative and useful.

 

Thanks again.

[larry h.]

If you want inexpensive and very sharp, as long as you are willing to use adapters, look into the two macro lenses I use: Nikon AIS 55mm/2.8 Micro and Vivitar Series 1 90mm/2.5 Macro (Nikon or M42 mount). Both go to 1:2 by themselves, but you can buy the PK13 adapter for the Nikon and you should be able to find the Vivitar with its custom adapter (which includes correcting lenses). Neither one should run you more than $150.00 with the adapter. They are both incredibly sharp and much better made than the current Vivitar someone mentioned. Get the appropriate electronic adapter, and you'll have focus confirmation, too.