Macro lens for Sony alpha

[dhegdahl]

Hi guys....and girls
I'm looking for a bit of advice again. I'm looking to buy a good macro lens for my Sony
A200 and would like some comments...either good or bad...
Tamron has a 60mm macro on at the moment at $399 after rebate that looks very good
on paper.... Anybody know anything about this lens?

SP AF60mm f/2 DI II LD (IF) 1:1 Macro Lens For Minolta Maxxum & Sony Digital SLR

Thanks in advance.
denny

[OldClicker]

From what I read, the Tamron 60mm is a great lens. One thing to consider is that a 60mm requires you to be much closer than a longer (90-100mm) lens. If this works for what you want to shoot, go for it. - Terry

[Anbesol]

As terry said, the 60mm is fairly wide for a macro sort of range, I personally find 100mm more useful. That said, there is no 100mm macro that is as fast as that 60 f/2, all 100mm's are 2.8. The f/2 aperture makes it a more versatile lens in a sense, great portrait range on APS. If you want fast aperture portrait and macro to both be in one lens, then thats the way to go.

I use a 100mm f/2.8 macro, its a very typical macro lens, I enjoy it, it hunts and has some CA issues, but otherwise produces some extremely sharp images. Macro lens' tend to be the sharpest lens around. I imagine at f/2, the lens will tend to hunt quite a bit in the highly magnified range.

[NoKnees]

Tamron also made a 90mm Macro for the a-mount as well, and that is highly praised...

I too use a 100mm f2.8 Macro, the Minolta RS version with the focus hold button. Fairly sharp wide open, extremely sharp quickly as you stop it down. Not sure current price for these, but I found mine a few years back for somewhere between $200-$300...

Things to keep in mind: Good manual focus controls and tripods are your friend when doing macro. Very narrow depth of field means precision shooting techniques are needed for best results...

[Anbesol]

$200-$300 is a little lower than I would expect, I'd think about $400 would be typical for an old used minolta 100mm f/2.8. You could get the same thing new from sony for $750

[NoKnees]

Yah, it was one of my first "GOOD" lenses I purchased after I picked up the a100... I scored a pretty good deal on it. Didn't realize the price was closer to $400 these days...