Hi all,

Looking at the canon 400D from jessops with the kit 18-55 a tamron 70-300 and im looking to buy a 50mm canon too.

Will any of these do macro??

Also weighed this up from pixmania for a tad over £700



1 Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 18-55 mm lens
£ 479.90 Inc. VAT

1 Canon EF 50 F1.8 II standard lens
£ 73 Inc. VAT

1 Sigma Lens AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Macro Super II
£ 102 Inc. VAT

2 Pixmania Memory card CompactFlash 80x 2 GB
£78 Inc. VAT


I assume with that I could do macro with the Sigma, but at 70mm wouldnt i need to be a far way from the subject?

And can anyone recommend a good wide angle lense?


Lee

[Valleyman]

The Sigma isn't a true Macro it's a 1:2 macro, which means it'll focus at double the distance of a true macro lense. Therefore the subject will be half the size than true macro.

It's a reasonable place to start though if you're interested in close up. After all decent macros start at around £220 on import.

If I were you i'd upgrade that sigma to the APO version. It goes from being a very very average lens to one that fires well beyond it's price bracket. You can get a 70-300 Sigma on import for about £125. Well worth it. If you don't want to go import, or don't wanna spend the extra cash the Tamron 70-300 LD is superior to the Sigma 70-300 non APO, and can be grabbed for £100 on special offer in a few places.

Everything else looks good!

Edit: For wide angle you'll probably find the Sigma 10-20 very popular on here. An alternative is the Tokina 12-24 which is a nice, solid lens but hard it's hard to find and is often a bit pricier than the Sigma due to it's rarity.

[senu]

Originally Posted by Bales1983

Hi all,

Looking at the canon 400D from jessops with the kit 18-55 a tamron 70-300 and im looking to buy a 50mm canon too.

Will any of these do macro??

Also weighed this up from pixmania for a tad over £700



1 Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 18-55 mm lens
£ 479.90 Inc. VAT

1 Canon EF 50 F1.8 II standard lens
£ 73 Inc. VAT

1 Sigma Lens AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Macro Super II
£ 102 Inc. VAT

2 Pixmania Memory card CompactFlash 80x 2 GB
£78 Inc. VAT


I assume with that I could do macro with the Sigma, but at 70mm wouldnt i need to be a far way from the subject?

And can anyone recommend a good wide angle lense?


Lee

Why not use the kit lens for wide angle a bit before shelling out?
For the APS-C sensors such as 400D 28mm is about 17-18 mm . The "real" wide angle lenses seem rather costly ( £300 upwards) :I'm sure suggestions will come

I replaced the kit lens with the 17-85 mm EF-S USM IS : It cost £400 ( in March) I'm (very) happy with it as an everyday lens as the IS makes up for the f4 max aperture a lot of the time. It doesn't do Macro

The 50mm f1.8 Mk2 is very fast and sharp ( though feels cheap and flimsy) but is very good for the £50-60 it costs: no macro there

Ive just got the Sigma 70-300 DG APO Macro . Im still RTFM but others who have used it ( and the Tamron) have posted great macro images with it . This lens is better than the non APO or Tamron though ( and costs a bit more) but YMMV. It has max of f4- 5.6 and for its cost no IS so tripod/ shelf / steady hands are a must
Just do a search on these forums and see user opinions/ Images. There are a few. It only does macro at the 200-300mm range. It does a 1:2 macro but you might not find that a problem

I got the last 2 lenses from Here the prices seem keen and although I picked them up in person I would recommend them

PS Just read Valleymans post ( we were posting simultaneously) The Sigma 10- 20 is justifiably well liked and for £260- 300) may remain with you for long especially if you do more of photography that benefits from wide angle

[jomike]

A couple of macros done with my Nikon D50 and Sigma 70-300 DG APO Macro. The flies were hand held, mosquito and spider on a tripod.

Regards, Mike

[beachy]

got the sigma 70-300mm apo last week, a couple of test macro shot's with it, just cropped and sharpened a tad, great lens for the price but still yet to have a proper play with it.

that's how much money i had left after paying for it

[senu]

Originally Posted by jomike

A couple of macros done with my Nikon D50 and Sigma 70-300 DG APO Macro. The flies were hand held, mosquito and spider on a tripod.

Regards, Mike

Mike, do you have a little insect collection in your garden??
Nice shots BTW

[senu]

Originally Posted by beachy

got the sigma 70-300mm apo last week, a couple of test macro shot's with it, just cropped and sharpened a tad, great lens for the price but still yet to have a proper play with it.

that's how much money i had left after paying for it

No.. did you have to walk home then??

... that just about buys half a litre of petrol and is less than minimum bus fare in here London

The current atrocious weather is thwarting all attempts to put mine to any use just yet!

[jomike]

Originally Posted by senu

Mike, do you have a little insect collection in your garden??
Nice shots BTW

Not just my garden! The (dead) mosquito was on the windowsill and the spider on the lounge ceiling.

Regards, Mike