It is a simple task one may think but not for me... I have the idea or I should say I want to buy a macro lens and the Sony 90mm f2.8 is the default option but with Tamron, Sigma, Canon now available since i've got the MC-11 I can't make my mind up. The more youTube I watch the harder it gets. So... anyone with personal experience on any macro at 90mm - 100mm or 105mm f/2.8 will help me.
I'd say buy the Sony 90mm, it has an excellent reputation. The other lenses will be good as well, but with third-party lenses and an adapter from another third party you can run into compatibility problems like AF hunting, non-functional Eye-AF etc. Read up on dpreview and see how many posts there are about suboptimal AF performance with the MC-11 or Metabones adapters and various lenses.
OSS Internal focus Direct Drive SSM silent Motor Nano AR coating Push/Pull quick switching from auto to manual focus Did I say sharp?
Enlighten me. I listed 6 lines in my reply. You said "you wont need most of those", so which are they?
All good to have, in fact, none really needed for macro. Enlightment: Never saw non-sharp (-Did I say sharp?), proper macro lens. OSS always OFF (-oss). Always on manual (-"Internal focus, Direct Drive SSM silent Motor, Push/Pull quick switching from auto to manual focus"). You shoot in well difused light or your images are gonna be bad whatever you coating is (-Nano AR coating).
So JMM, Sony is your pick ? Or maybe one of the other lenses. Sigma should be compatible with mc11...
For field macro? I would get Sigma 180mm / 150mm via MC-11 (need to check compatibility tho) or Minolta 200 via LA-EA. If you want shorter lens for some reasons (price?) Sony is great, but why pay premium price for 90mm if you can get 180mm? Cause in macro, what you really want is not USM/HSM/OSS/ISIS/CIA/FBI but working distance
I have the FE90 f2.8, it's an excellent lens, good for macro and as an all round 90mm telephoto lens. I've not tried any other macro lens with the Sony bodies. The only thing I've found with it is you can't seem to do focus stacking when using it as a macro lens, because as you adjust the focus the image size changes slightly so it can't be merged.
All internal focus lenses change focal length ( shorter focal length as you focus closer ) as you focus so this is why moving the camera with a focusing rail will allow focus stacking. The 90mm F2.8 Macro has internal focusing.
In macro work, you will find yourself wanting 50mm, 90-100mm and 150-200mm eventually. I know, i have 50, 100, 150, 180 and 200mm in A-Mount and 90 in E-Mount and i can find a use for each of them I can adapt the A-Mount to E-Mount using LA-EA3 to 4 but losing some of the features ( eye AF etc) i would not use anyways in Macro work. I also use Minolta Bellows with Bellows, Micro and enlarging lenses None of the above lets you work fast. Patience and good set-up is normally the recipe for successful macro shots !
That's not always practical though. The Oly 60mm Macro m43 lens allowed focus stacking when shooting macro, the EM5 MK2 had a focus stacking feature that enables it and the zoom creep was minimal, don't know how they achieved it though.
The 90mm macro is a stella lens, on DXo tests it was one of the few lenses that achieved the full 42Mp resolution on the A7R2. I've used it for macro and as a general telephoto lens and I'm very impressed with the IQ. It gets 4.5 -5 star reviews from most review sites.
Well im using 50mm only on bellows in studio and couldnt imagine using anything shorter than 100mm in the field. But definately, the workhorse is the longest lens that you own and can carry. How is doing something in professional way, is not practical? Get results vs nothing sounds very practical to me. 60mm is short working distance = doesnt have to change focal lenght a lot. But, you can scare off your subject. Unless you're into stamp photography. About DxO, they test lenses at infinity. I assume, that we're interested in 1:1 area. And since there, diffraction is already taking it's toll, F4 for APS-C and F5,6 for FF is in sweet-spot, and all proper macro lenses are outstanding in this area.
Watched a clip about sigma 105mm and the photographer says that shooting f14 and above image quality degrades.
Well... thats called diffraction, EVERY lens have this. Thats why you do focus stacks on f4 or shoot partial focus with some IQ degradation at F8-11 , instead of shooting F32.
Well, that guy compare medium format apertures to full frame macro lenses, that he shoots at F22. If i did that, i would be unemployed now.
