The NIKON Thread (Talk About Nikon Stuff here)

[Arainach]

Actually, 60mm for macro isn't much at all. For reference, with the 60mm macro, at closest focus the front of the lens is about 2" from the subject. Not much working room at all, and will scare away anything living. A 105mm or 150mm macro will give you the ability to work from considerably farther back, which is invaluable.

[Towert7]

Originally Posted by mightyacorn

Getting close is the whole point of micro lenses. At a 1.5x crop, that 60mm lens is a 90mm lens (film) which is pretty powerful for macro photography.

Right, it's not bad, but for me it's not ideal for some situations.
And of course extension tubes can be used.

[Towert7]

Originally Posted by flashnolan

Thanks for the advice! I am sure that is a great lens.

Can you recommend one for me in the say $100ish range, or is there no such thing as a good lens at that price? I can't justify spending $480 on a lens considering that is what I paid for my D40 + 2 lens' to begin with.

Sadly, almost no DSLR lenses are 100$ new, much less 300$. Almost any lens will be more expensive than the D40.

Having said that though, the 18-55mm Nikon kit lens does very good for close up photography, though it is not a true macro lens. With it you get near macro functionality. For 100$, that's the best you can hope for from a new lens. Starting off with the kit 18-55mm lens, you can then fool around with things like front lens diopters or extension tubes.
Examples:
B+W | 52mm Close-up NL +4 Glass Lens | 65015357 | B&H Photo Video
Kenko | Auto Extension Tube Set DG for Nikon Lens | AEXTUBEDGN

Which will take a basic 55mm and push it to the macro end of things.

That'll be a much more 'tidy' way of doing macro on a budget without the need for reversing lenses.

[Samgotit]

Flash, as Towert suggested, you are a prime candidate for extension tubes given your budget.

I bought mine from Hong Kong off Ebay:

Kenko Auto (Macro) Extension Tube Set DG for Nikon New - eBay (item 170248616072 end time Aug-15-08 04:28:55 PDT)

You can use them with either of the lenses you have now. If and when you want to upgrade to a true macro lens, they don't become obsolete. There's no actual optics in them, so they won't degrade lens performance.

[J.D.N]

Does anyone have any hands on experience with the 10.5mm fish eye? Id really like to experiment with it, not just for landscapes but for 'arty' closer up shots with really bent lines etc. The only problem i can see is i would have to manually focus it all the time as i have a D40x.

Not sure whether it would be a wise purchase, considering the re-sale value might be a big loss.

[bigshot]

Focus isn't a problem with fisheyes. They have a tremendous depth of field. A lot of them are fixed focus anyway. Resale value isn't a problem either. Nikon fisheyes usually sell for almost as much used as new.

The problem with a fisheye is the distortion... The reason pros use fisheyes is mostly to get a 180 degree view for processing into a Quicktime VR panorama. They can be used for "arty" shots like you say, but the distortion is a pretty specific effect. The novelty wears off soon.

I considered getting a fisheye myself, but instead, I decided to get the Tokina 11-16 2.8. It has a tremendous field of view, but with extremely straight lines. It's much more versatile than a true fisheye and it's razor sharp.

Ken Rockwell just posted a great article on how to shoot with ultra wides. Great tips on how to get the most out of them. Check it out. How to Use Ultra-Wide Lenses

See ya
Steve

[Poohblah]

lenses tend to have high resale values, so i wouldn't worry about it.
focusing isn't a problem, so long as there is plenty of light you can use a small aperture and simply zone focus.


concerning extension tubes: they won't work with the kit lens (18-55) or any other G mount lens for the lack of an aperture ring.

[Towert7]

Originally Posted by Poohblah

concerning extension tubes: they won't work with the kit lens (18-55) or any other G mount lens for the lack of an aperture ring.

Glad you pointed that out. Thanks poohblah.

[Poohblah]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Ken Rockwell just posted a great article on how to shoot with ultra wides. Great tips on how to get the most out of them. Check it out. How to Use Ultra-Wide Lenses

See ya
Steve

Ken Rockwell, my foot. i've never seen a less reliable source of accurate information.

[bigshot]

Ken Rockwell is a lightning rod for anger from armchair shutterbugs who would rather shoot test charts than real subjects. People who actually shoot pictures can get lots of great info from his site. The article I linked to has some great examples of better ways to compose shots using an ultra wide. If you plan on shooting pictures with one, you might want to read it.

He has a good article on the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye and using a sunex circular fisheye to create QT VR panoramas too.

See ya
Steve