Looking for a good Macro lens

Hey everyone. I'm looking for a good macro lens for my Canon 20D. I'm an amateur so I'm not looking for a top-of-the-line, expensive lens. I saw an article in outdoor photographer that mentioned two lenses that are TRULY macro. One is a Canon (expensive!!!) and the other is the Tamron AF70-300mm ƒ/4-5.6 LD macro zoom. I checked the price and it's very cheap (which worries me quality-wise) so I'm looking into that lens. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anyone with experience with this lens? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by MAADVP

Hey everyone. I'm looking for a good macro lens for my Canon 20D. I'm an amateur so I'm not looking for a top-of-the-line, expensive lens. I saw an article in outdoor photographer that mentioned two lenses that are TRULY macro. One is a Canon (expensive!!!) and the other is the Tamron AF70-300mm ƒ/4-5.6 LD macro zoom. I checked the price and it's very cheap (which worries me quality-wise) so I'm looking into that lens. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anyone with experience with this lens? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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Are you looking for a macros lens or a zoom with close-up capability? I have a Tamron 90mm macro that is excellent. Image quality equals the Canon but the focus speed is slower. You'll be manually focusing macro anyway.

Macro lenses are nice because they not only get up close but have a larger aperture and a flat field design. Zooms with "macro" can get close up but are slower lenses and have the standard curved field.

I'm looking for an actual macro. I already have a zoom with macro capabilities so now I'm looking for a true dedicated macro. I'll include a link to the article on outdoor photographer website in this post where it mentions the Tamron AF70-300mm ƒ/4-5.6 LD macro zoom as a true macro lens, not just a zoom lens with macro capabilities.

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/c...er_macro.shtml

I'm very happy with the quality of my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens. Very sharp, and not a ton of $ compaired to some of the other lenses out there. ($430 @ B&H after rebate) I have also heard good things about the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Manual Focus Lens. I don't beleive this lens will focus to infinity tho, so it would be a macro only lens. ($830 @ B&H)

A cheaper alternative would be a set of extention tubes to use with the lens you already have. I'm hoping to get into some macro work in the future, and a set of tubes is one of the first things on my list to help give me close up ability that I want.

I may have to go the route of extension tubes for now but that Canon 100mm sounds pretty good for a price that won't require me selling a kidney. As for the Canon MP-E, that was one of the 2 lenses that the outdoor photographer article mentioned as a true macro lens. Sounds good but too pricey for me at the moment.