DSLR lens options
 

I am looking for a lens for my wife's camera and am looking for suggestions. She wants a lens for close up pictures of flowers and bugs. She has a Canon xti 10.1 mp.

Please try and keep it simple as I do not know much about photography.

whatever the Canon equivalent is to the Nikon 50mm 1.8.

assuming you already have a zoom. if not i suppose a big zoom ($$$$$ to get the right 'look') would be a great addition.

canon is bound to sell a macro lens - won't be cheap -- that is what you want

only buy canon lenses - no other manf.
the lens forms the image - don't waste your quality canon body with a cheap lens

How close? The easiest thing to do would be to use a "Nifty 50" which is the $100 50mm f/1.8 and then crop the photos.

But, if she wants closer, a decent inexpensive half life size macro lens would be the Sigma 70-300 APO DG ED Macro lens
I have this lens. I bought it after a fair amount of research trying to find a decent and inexpensive 300mm telephoto. The macro is a bonus.
$250
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/391074-REG/Sigma_508101_70_300mm_f_4_5_6_APO_DG.html
The info that I found was that the Sigma produces surprisingly good images, especially considering the price. The Canon 55-200 and 75-300 lenses aren't considered as good (and aren't macro lenses).


If you want life-size and have more to spend, there are several options.

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens -- $400

Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens -- $500


This one is serious. It goes to a 5 times life-size.
Canon Macro Photo MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Manual Focus Lens for EOS -- $865


For more info than you can shake a stick at...

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=38

I took these with the Sigma 70-300 APO that I linked to above. Here's a picture that I took of the pollen on the tip of a "double" flower's petal.

http://home.swbell.net/smasraum/newp...s/IMG_2818.jpg

a ginger bloom
http://home.swbell.net/smasraum/news...s/IMG_0395.jpg

a couple more.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222805279.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222805289.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222805385.jpg

Two notes. Most Macro lenses require you to be pretty close to the subject. The Sigma lens has a minimum focusing distance of around 3 feet IIRC. Also, it only works in manual focus mode when it's in macro mode.

Another vote for the Sigma mentioned above. I took this using that lens

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222806680.jpg

Wow, thanks for the info. Those are great pictures. I am going with a cannon 50mm, it fits the budget.

Well, the "Nifty 50" won't really do close up stuff, but it's a really good lens. Anyone that has a Canon should have it.

I took these with the 50mm and then cropped them down. So that shouldn't be a problem for your missus.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222911511.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222911562.jpg

A 50mm is a no-brainer for the price. Sharp, fast (good for low light), and generates a shallow depth of field (for putting the non-subject out of focus), but not too good for macro work.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/661427

If you can handle the extra coin. The 50mm 1.4 is far superior in terms of build quality plus it has USM. I have this lens and love it for portrait work. Keep in mind that the Xti has a 1.6 crop factor. The 50mm is effectively 80mm. The 100mm f2.8 Macro is a very nice lens that I've spent some time with. The MPE lenses are not for beginners or the faint of heart - very difficult to work with, but once you have it down ... Wow.

What is your current lens lineup other than the 18-55mm kit lens? I love primes but a beginner might be better off w/ a zoom. I would also stay away from EF-S mount lenses unless your sure you'll never go to a full frame body.

Currently my wife has a 28-80mm f3.5-5.6 & 75-300mm f4-5.6ld macro 1:3.9, both are tamron and came with the camera in a bundle.

I only paid $750 for everything, so I assume the lenses were not the best.

Sorry it took sop long to respond, I had to find out what lenses she had.

For the budget you want to be in, it looks like you've already got your macro. Maybe get a cheap tripod to get the most out of it. I'd still get that 50mm, as a lens like that is so useful. It has the image quality of lenses costing ten times as much. Here's an example of a 50mm prime (single focal length) at f/2:


http://gromitspapa.smugmug.com/photo...38_YdmJ3-O.jpg

Steve she got a tripod with the camera. I think she will be set for a while with the 50mm lens. Now she just needs to learn how to use them.