Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok I finally got a good camera, now I need a good macro lens and one for shooting farther stuff, ie birds and basking turtles. any recommendations on a good close lens and far lens? prices and if possible pics shot with the lens would be great. look forward to lots of q's been into photoing herps a while now I want to step up my quality.

wayne

Well, for a macro lens, I recommend a dedicated macro in the in the 90mm to 105mm range. Nikon make a good 105mm macro, but it is a bit pricey.

The offerings from Tamron (90mm macro), Sigma (70mm and 105mm macros) and Tokina (105mm macro) are all on par with the Nikon quality, but cost significantly less. In general, macro lenses are the sharpest lenses out there and all reputable companies make good ones. Do a little online review comparison. You will find that although some Nikon owners say their Nikkor macro is superior, most objective comparisons find the difference to be trivial, except in price where the Nikkor costs 50% more.

As for longer lenses for birds and turtles and stuff, I would recommend you get yourself something like a 100-300mm zoom lens. Most 100-300 zooms are good lenses (better than the 70/80-300s on the market). They will get you pretty close to distant large birds and turtles and you can crop yourself closer.

Most people who do specialize in bird photography use lenses like a 500 f/4.5 or similar. Big glass like that is EXPENSIVE ($4000-$8000 depending on system). And then they usually put a 1.4x converter on there as well.

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

cool thanks for the info now to save my pennies........again. and look forward to lots of q's over the summer

wayne