ryan_fryar1

Hi all. I am a painter and I have a few questions about documenting

my work with 35mm slides. I have been taking slides of my work for a

while now, so I do know at least the basics. I shoot tungsten light

and film, bracket, etc. and usually get at least good results. But

the lenses I have used aren�t particularly sharp. I discovered this

when I rented a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Micro AF-D and the slides turned

out much sharper than my usual efforts.

I am about to finish graduate school and make a massive round of

applications for university art teaching jobs. In my section of

academics, that means 20 slides of my work go to each place I apply

(and I�ll send out at least 30 applications). In order to get this

done, I am likely to get copies made of originals. So, though I want

to keep my spending reasonable, I am willing to put some money into

lenses that will contribute to the sharpest originals possible.

I have a Nikon FE2 body (I am very happy with it for now), cable

release and a good Bogen tripod. Lenses I have now are a 50mm 1.8

series E, and a Sigma 75-300 zoom (the 50 optics quality seem OK but

the zoom is barely marginal). I have done some research, and so have

questions about buying lenses for those with experience.

The lenses I am looking at are:

1. Nikon 105 2.8 Micro AF-D, same model I rented and liked- but will

the �working room� become hard to accommodate given my studio space

limitations?.

2. Nikon 60 2.8 Micro AF-D, $200 cheaper than the 105 but is it as

good for what I need?

3. Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro, are the optics as good as the Nikons, and

will it work as well with the FE2?

4. Nikon 35-70mm 2.8 zoom AF-D, the 1:4 �macro� function may zoom

in close enough for detail shots- if the lens is as sharp as the

other options.

Most of the work I shoot is ranges from about 9 inches square to 3

feet square. I am limited by the size of my studio to about 15 feet

of distance that I can get between the camera and my art work when

taking slides. To make the problem worse, my work does get large

occasionally (as in 9 feet high) and I seem to be doing even more of

that kind of big stuff lately (though I usually shoot those size

works in a gallery where I can back up farther away to take the

slides).

The main consideration is sharpness here. Speed is not important, I

can lock the mirror to avoid vibration and open the shutter for as

long as I need to. So my questions:

1. Are there other lenses that will work just as well as the ones I

listed (since they don�t need to be fast) for less money? That is,

lenses that are just as sharp at lower f stops but slower.

2. Can anyone recommend a good combo of a lens for taking shots of

small works, and another lens for larger works (say a 105 or 60 micro

and a 28 prime or 20-50 zoom or something)?

3. My FE2 is manual focus anyway, are there older non-AF lenses I

have not listed that will work just as well? (Though I may want a

lens that I can use on an AF Nikon if I buy one in another 5 years or

so).

4. Are there any questions I am not considering that I should be,

and/or does anyone have hints for getting sharper slides in general?

(For my work at least, slight shifts in color are a lot less

important to me than sharpness).

I have cruised through the archives for info on this subject, but I

can�t find quite what I need. Sorry that this has gotten rather

large, and I appreciate the chance at expert advice tremendously.