Hi!
Thanks for your thorough reply. Here is my response.
How close up do you plan to get?
Definitely 1:1, but not closer for now.
I think a macro lens is the best way to go overall for magnifications up to 1:1 (image size on the film/sensor is the same as in real life.) A 100mm macro is probably the sweet spot between price and working distance. 200mm's are probably the best all round macro option - but a whole order of magnitude more in price. For me, 50mm macros are too short to be useful, though I do use one for snow crystals.
I am thinking about FA 100/3.5 plus attachment solution. Proper 100/2.8 is out of my budget reach. So far I found that prices of 3rd party 90-105/2.8 macro lenses are almost as high as that of FA 100/2.8 macro anyway.
I don't think AF is that important with macro work - you really have to think through were to put the plane of focus to maximize the very little DOF you have at high magnifications. Of course, if AF lets you use the macro for other purposes, that could be handy.
Since my usual primes end at 50 mm, I think I should like the AF for longer macro lens. I don't count 85 soft or Takumar 135/2.5 as "usual" prime lenses... By the way, Takumar does show some chromatic aberrations on *istD, at least for me...
For going beyond 1:1 with a macro lens, or to just improve close focusing with a conventional lens, I lean towards extension tubes. I've always figured that not adding more glass elements minimizes the distortion.
That would be my reasoning too. I guess this weekend I am up to some interesting experiments...
In regards to teleconverters - my experience has also been that teleconverters and lenses can come together in unpredictable ways - so until you try a particular TC with a particular lens, you won't know how well they will work. You are basically combining two sets of optics to form a single lens, and hoping that the combined lens will work. Sometimes it does, other times not. I've had some TC's that worked very well with some lenses, but not others.
I agree with you once more... Though my macro TC combined with FA 50/1.7 seems to have produced decent results...
http://boris.isra-shop.com/macro-photos.htm
Closeup diopters / close up filters / close up lenses, are another option. The image quality with single element close up lenses is not great, but the two element lenses can be excellent. I use a Canon 500D with my 6x7 and the quality is great.
I'll keep my eyes open.
You can also get rings that allow you to reverse mount one lens on another, also known as using 'stacked lenses'. With this technique the reverse mounted lens acts as a close-up diopter on the main lens. The magnification is the same as the main lens's focal length divided by the reverse mounted lens's focal length. So, if you reverse mount a 50mm lens on a 200mm, you are at 4x lifesized (200/50). It's a good way to get to high magnifications, but not handy for more typical close up work.
I think this is hardly usable in the field. But then again I am going to be doing some macro at home too...
Like I said - for general close up work, I'd lean towards a good 100mm-ish macro lens. If you want to same some money, and already have a good 100 or so prime lens on hand, getting a set of extension tubes or a good close up lens would be the second choice. Actually, the close up lens could be used on a zoom as well - so if you have a good zoom, that might be an approach to consider.
More questions for this lad...
HTH -
Immensely.
Boris
