monty_montgomery

<p>Hello, catching up after a few days away...<br /><br />> "Monty, How small is "Small" ??"<br /><br />Depends. My use case is vague and variable. I make many things,<br />though 'between one and ten breadboxes total size' is usually about<br />right. Many of the things I make are very small, some aren't, but<br />either way I have a perhaps tired fascination with photographs set<br />inside the machine, and I often partially disassemble what I'm<br />working on to momentarily sneak a camera in.<br /><br />Most of my photographs are dead dull and any ol' lens will do. I'm<br />thinking of that 1% of photographs I'd like to make (and often failed<br />at making in the past) that are challenging or weird. I used to use<br />my wife's old Olympus C5050 (great if annoying camera!) until the sensor died<br />for the third time, and I'm also trying to recapture some of what that<br />little bugger could do, but with somewhat higher quality equipment.<br /><br />>"i think we can see where this is going: if you want wide+close, you<br />> don't really have a lot of options."<br /><br />Yes, I was afraid of that.<br /><br />>"What about the 14mm f2.8? Maybe the 14-24/2.8 (I have not checked<br />> the specs)."<br /><br />This lens would work... beginning to get into somewhat more serious<br />[and fragile] equipment that I was hoping to avoid. The big bulb<br />lenses scare me as I am, frankly, a clumsy fool, and working around<br />sharp pokey bits of metal.<br /><br />>"Macro is one field where compacts with their smaller sensors are<br />> ahead of DSLRs."<br /><br />I'm coming to realize that. I hate the small sensors though. I've<br />spent far too much of my life writing denoising filters to ever want<br />to rely on one as indispensible again :-P<br /><br />> "Still not clear for me wether "Makro"is the goal, or extreme<br />> perspective close-up"<br /><br />Yes, sorry not to answer that question sooner. I'm definitely after<br />extreme perspective close-up and not macro. Macro is comparatively<br />straightforward.<br /><br />Thank you all for your comments. I'm happy you've taken so much<br />time for a confused amateur indulging in naive photographic cliches :-)</p>

<p>Having looked at reviews of the Sigma close-focus primes (the 20 and 24mm f/1.8), the consensus seems to be that they're also soft at the edges and not really all that much 'more lens' than the Sigma macro zooms. Aside from the subjective reviews, the MTF data seems to support that conclusion. Is this conclusion correct (in the humble but correct opinions of the forum's esteemed members :-)</p>

<p>Thanks All.</p>

<p>Fisheyes are not what I'm looking for; I want to keep my lines straight.</p>

<p>I had assumed (and you all seem to be confirming) that there's simply no wide zoom that does what I want, at least not any better than the Sigma I'm trying to better. I'd also looked at extension tubes and front diopters and decided neither were practical at wide angle. Am I correct there?</p>

<p>Hello Breogan (wow, that's a fast response!)</p>

<p>That does look like a nice choice, and fits the bill.</p>

<p>Let's assume for a moment I want to go wider, so let's keep going... what else is there?</p>

<p>I've been searching forums (including this one) and Google for a few weeks looking for good recommendations, forgive me if this was a recent thread and I missed it...</p>

<p>I'm looking for wide-angle close up glass for Nikon DX (I have a D90). I've been using a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC EX Macro which does everything, though not really anything extremely well. It's a second generation version with .2m focus distance, and I've become very addicted to this capability though the results are rather soft.</p>

<p>I'd like to upgrade. Sadly... I can't find much that allows similar 'focus right up to the glass' capability. At 18mm, I could focus the Sigma to under 2" away from the front of the lens.</p>

<p>I'm not looking for macro ability on a longer focal lens, I'm hoping to find a wide angle at extreme close-up for the associated depth and perspective tricks. I'm not wedded to any specific approach (though convenience is nice, I'm no pro). I'm simply at the end of what a very nice but limited all-purpose zoom lens can give me.</p>

<p>[intended subject matter: photographing small/intricate machinery as diorama, in effect as if it were large architecture. I want perspective and depth that implies being more part of the scene rather than looking at it at a distance from outside]</p>

<p>Thank you all!</p>