Macro lens for Canon Eos 450d

[boogieman84]

Hi,

I have been getting more and more into wildlife photography and would really like to get a macro lens for a Canon Eos 450d camera. I'm on a budget but would like to get something fairly decent in the first place rather than the cheapest availible. Maybe around the £200 mark if this is possible?? I know they are expensive. It only has to be sufficient enough to take good photos of bees/butterflies/beetles etc I don't need to take mug shots of midges

Thanks in advance

[squishy]

What lenses do you have now? Within your budget it might be better to add extension tubes or a diopter lens to one of your current lenses.

Otherwise, you could probably get a used tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro within your budget.

[Kayleigh]

I know someone who is selling one but I dont know how much they want for it..
If you pm me I will forward their details..

[wizzo]

Have a look at the Tamron SP90. Fantastic macro/portrait lens for the money. Highly rated by most photo magazines and I think around £290. You may be able to pick up a second hand example? Wizzo

[Geoff F]

You might get away with 100 mm approx for butterflies or flowers but for bees or beetles I would recommend 150 mm which will definitely mean secondhand, if you can find one.

But as Squishy said, more information about your current lenses may help.

[boogieman84]

Hi,

Firstly thank you for the replies. I currently have a efs 18-55mm and a efs 55-250mm so if i'm able to get some kind of add on that will be cheaper then it would be ideal. Please let me know.

Many thanks

[Geoff F]

What is the closest focusing distance with the 55-250? Offhand I don't know.

If you can get to somewhere around 3 or 4 ft at 200 mm an extension tube could well be the answer. I would recommend a 25 mm tube which should reduce that closest distance by nearly 1 ft.

A genuine Canon tube isn't cheap (probably around £100 now) but beware of any very cheap copies which may lose autofocus.

The downside of a tube is that you may have some reduction in light level, but increasing the ISO slightly should overcome this, or use flash. And you really need a tripod. But I would recommend this for your lens anyway.

The other possible problem is that you won't be able to focus at infinity. But that doesn't really matter when you are macro shooting.

[JaySteel]

I would definitely recommend buying a secondhand Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens. I replaced this lens with the far more expensive 'L' version with IS and there is almost no improvement in image quality. And the IS really isn't much use either for most shots because if you're moving about enough to need image stabilisation then you're probably moving in and out of focus too with the very shallow DOF that you get with macro photography.

Best regards,
Jason

[Hobjob]

If your budget is tight, I'd recommend buying screw on the front diopter lens which are very cheap and easy - then save up and buy what you want in time.

The screw on macro lenses get a bad press - you may get a bit of aberration but for me that seldom matters in a macro shot - and modern software can remove most of it.

[DOXHOPE]

Not into macro much, so when I want a close up I just use my 300mm..they come out quite good, (Nikon user by the way)