Macro beginner

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Dean
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Hi i am thinking of starting macro Photography i already do wildlife photography so i have a 7d mk ii and hopefully a full frame to add to that but i no nothing about macro could anyone recommend a good starter macro lens to use please nothing to expensive maybe £200 max if possible . thanks
 
Sigma 105 f2.8 os macro is a great lens, can be picked up for around your budget
 
Try one of the Raynox snap on lens brands. to have a go at Macro. They screw to your lens front, I don't know what lenses you have ,so don't know which Raynox to suggest (maybe others might tell you)
 
Try one of the Raynox snap on lens brands. to have a go at Macro. They screw to your lens front, I don't know what lenses you have ,so don't know which Raynox to suggest (maybe others might tell you)

That depends on the size of the scenes to be photographed and on the camera lens to be used. Telezooms work well with achromats like the Raynox 150 and 250. I used those two and a Canon 500D close-up lens on a 55-250 STM on a 70D for a couple of years; see here for some insects etc mostly with the Raynox 150 and 250, and here for some flowers etc with the 500D or the bare 55-250.

If you are considering going down this route a good first move may be to spend £15 or so on a close-up filter set like this of an appropriate size for the lens(es) you want to try them with. The image quality will not be very good because these are made of single pieces of glass (unlike achromats like the Raynoxes which are made of two or more pieces of glass). However, you will be able to tell how much magnification you get with different powers of close-up lens and that will help you narrow down what achromat(s) would be suitable for you. You will also see what working distances you get. And it will let you have a go at some close-up/macro to see if you enjoy it. You will then be in a better position to work out what might work best for you: close-up lenses or a macro lens. Another relatively inexpensive option would be to use extension tubes like these, or less expensive tubes which don't support autofocus, which you may not want to use for close-up/macro anyway. (Most people don't. As it happens I do but that is unusual). Extension tubes work best with shorter focal length lenses, and may work better with prime lenses than zoom lenses (not sure about that).

As far as achromats are concerned, there are several brands currently in production - Raynox, Marumi and Canon, and lots of others that are no longer in production but are available second hand, as of course are the Raynox, Marumi and Canon close-up lenses, extension tubes and lots of macro lenses both modern and legacy.
 
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