This article contains my thoughts on how to choose a lens for close-up and macro work in nature. This is not a simple task, as there are many different choices. The most obvious one would be to buy a dedicated macro lens like the Canon EF 2.8/100 Macro or the Nikon 2.8/105 Micro VR. But a Macro lens is not the only solution. If you are only starting to get into macro photography, you may not want to buy a macro lens immediately, but use your existing lens. If you have a zoom lens like a 28-105mm or a 17-85mm (or similar), the chances are good that those lenses allow you to do some macro work. Many of those lenses give you a magnification ratio of up to 1:4. This is enough for a lot of subjects like many flowers, mushrooms, leaves and even big insects like dragonflies. If you want more than a 1:4 ratio is not enough, you can get even closer with extension tubes. Other options are diopter lenses, bellows and more.

In this article I want to focus on close-up lenses and describe the various options you have. For serious macro photography I think a dedicated macro lens is your best choice. They normally give a a magnification ratio up to 1:1 and are designed to perfom optically superb at close distance.

Close-up or macro lenses normally come in three different ranges. The first group has a focal length of about 50mm (some have 60mm). The second group has a focal lens of 100mm (some have 90mm, Nikon and Sigma offer lenses with 105mm). The third group usually has 180mm (Canon, Sigma, Tamron) or 200mm (for example Nikon). In the following sections, I used the focal length from the lenses Canon offers as a headline. Please replace it with the ones your manufacturer offers while reading.
After describing the different macro lenses, I also describe how a wide angle, a telephoto zoom or even a super telephoto lens can make a good makro lens.

EOS 10D, EF 2.8/100 Macro

50mm macro lens

Those lenses are the smallest of the macro lenses. That makes them very easy to carry in the field due to their low weight. But even despite this advantage I do not recommend a 50mm or 60mm macro lens.
For insects, you often have to get very close for a frame filling picture. And even if you have a camera with a crop factor (for example using Nikons 60mm Micro with a Nikon D300 will give you a 90mm lens), you will have a hard time to get close to many insects without disturbing or scaring them, which would them cause to fly off and leave you behind without a picture. The other huge disadvantage is, that a 50mm lens makes it much more difficult to get a calm background, due to its wider angle of view. A calm background is crucial for many macro photographs and it is much harder to achive this with a 50mm lens than with a longer lens.

100mm macro lens

A 100mm lens (Nikon and Sigma offer 105mm, Tamron 90mm) is very popular among many nature photographers. Many books recommend this as your first lens. In comparison with a 50mm lens, it allows you to work at a greater working distance (especiall important for insects) and also makes it easier to get a calmer backbround due to it’s narrower angle of view.
Imagine photographing a beautiful red flower against a green background with a 50mm lens. Behind the red flower are many white flowers. Including an unsharp white flower in the image would normally distract the viewer from the red flower. Sometimes, you can get rid of the white flower by changing the position of the camera. But this is not always possible and you might just add another white flower somewhere else in the picture.

If you now change your lens to a 100mm lens you have a much narrower angle of view than with the 50mm lens. That makes it a lot easier to get rid of the white flowers in the background.
A 100mm macro lens is also quite light and small (compared to a 180mm) and easily fits into your bag or backpack.

EOS 10D, EF 3.5/180L Macro

180mm macro lens

As just explained under the last paragraph about the 100mm lens, the longer the lens, the easier it is to get a calm background. This is the reason why my favorite macro lens is my Canon EF 3.5/180L Macro. With the 180mm lens mounted on a tripod head (I recommend the Manfrotto 410 head) it is pure joy to compose an image of a flower or any other subject. The very narrow angle of view allows you to set the subject apart from the background. The longer focal length is also great for insects.
If 180mm is still not enough, you can add a 1.4x extender (or even a 2x) to get even more focal length. This disadvantage of the 180mm (or 200mm) lenses are the higher price and the bigger weight. They all come with a tripod collar as they are too heavy for mounting the camera on the tripod.
But if you are doing a lot of close-ups, especially if want to photograph insects, you definitely should consider buying such a lens. If the Canon and Nikon lenses are too expensive for you, check out the Sigma and Tamron 180mm lenses. They are very popular, very sharp and they got great reviews.

Wide Angle Lens

Wide angle lenses can offer interesting possibilites for close-ups. For example, you can get pretty close to a flower and also show it’s habitat. This is normally not possible with a telephoto lens like a 180mm macro lens. A wide angle lens is not very well suited for high magnificationa like 1:1 as you would have to get very close to the subject. Still, it is worth putting a wide angle lens in your camera bag when going out for close-ups. After you’ve taken a shot from a subject like a flower with a macro lens, also try to see if also works well when shot with a wide-angle lens. Which wide-angle lens you choose depends on your camera. If you are using a full frame camera like Nikon’s D3, D700 or Canon’s 5D and 1K Mark III, you will probably own a “normal” wide-angle zoom like a 16-35 or similar. If you are using a camera with a smaller sensor like Nikons D300 or Canon’s 40D you may want to get a wide-angle lens especially designed for those cameras. Nikon offers a 4/12-24, Canon a 3.5-4.5/10-22 to give you real wide-angle with such cameras.

EOS 40D, EF 4/70-200L IS

70-200 lens

Canon offers a wonderful 4/70-200 zoom lenses. It comes in two versions, one with IS, one without IS. I have the version with IS and absolutely love it. The lens is extremely sharp and IS works very well. Also, the lens is very light (much lighter than a 2.8/70-200). That lens also makes an interesting close-up lens, as a zoom is often more flexible than a prime like a 180mm macro lens. The lens
offers a magnification rate of about 1:4,8 according to Canon. I like using that lens for flowers and mushrooms when I don’t have to get too close. I also like using it with a Canon EF 25mm II extension tube. It is not a replacement for a real macro lens, but when you already own that lens, try using it with an extension tube.
Nikon does currently not offer a 4/70-200 lens, only a 2.8/70-200 (with VR). It does not offer a very small close focusing distance, but with extension tubes it should work fine. But as I already wrote, a 2.8/70-200 is much heavier than a 4/70-200. Hopefully Nikon will offer such a lens in the future and hopefuly with a better close focusing distance.
Getting a new 70-200 just for close-ups might be “overkill”, but if you already have one, try using it.
Nikon also offered a 70-180 macro zoom, but as far a I know, that lens is no longer available. You may want to check if you can get a used one. This lens was designed for macro work and has a much smaller close focusing distance than Canon’s 4/70-200L.

100-400mm lens / 200-400mm lens

Canon offers a 4.5-5.6/100-400 and Nikon and Sigma offers a similar 80-400mm lens (all with image stabilization). The Canon has a mignication rate of about 1:5 at 400mm. This is interesting for flowers and also for many dragonflies. I prefer the 4/300L from Canon as it is lighter and also sharper. The 100-400mm is a great lens, though. And for a zoom it is very sharp. I made some very sharp close-ups with that lens. When photographing subjects that are moving but you can’t change your position, the zoom can be a great advantage.
A really amazing lens is the 4/200-400 VR from Nikon. That lens is especially popular with bird and wildlife photographers as it offers a very interesting zoom range and superb image quality. The lens is as sharp as a prime. It also has a very interesting close focusing distance of 2 meters. This is much better than most 400mm prime lenses. The magnification rate is about 1:3.7. which is normally enough for many big insects and flowers. The Nikon 4/200-400 VR is unfortunately a very expensive and also quite heavy lens (much heavier than the 4.5-5.6/80-400 VR from Nikon). But if you can afford it, it might be a very interesting addition to your Nikon lens collection. If you are shooting Canon (like I do), you are out of luck. Currently Canon does not offer such a lens. I hope that this will change soon. I am sure many photographers would be very interested in a Canon EF 4/200-400L IS.
The Nikon 4/200-400VR also delivers great results with the 1.4x extender.

EOS 40D, EF 4/300L IS

300mm lens

I recently bought a Canon EF 4/300L IS for my EOS 40D. It is great for flowers, mushrooms and large insects. About the size of a my EF 3.5/180L Macro, it is not too heavy to carry over long distances and is also easy to hand hold (when necessary - I prefer to use a tripod whenever possible). It gives a magnification rate of about 1:4 (the Nikon 4/300 gives you even 1:3.7) and when used with a 1.4x extender or an extension tube it allows you to get even closer. You can also combine the extender and the extension tube.
The 4/300 has a much narrower angle of view than a 180mm lens and therefore will help you to get calmer backgrounds. I highly recommend a 4/300 for any photographer seriously interested in close-up photography of flowers, large insects or similar subjects.
A 2.8/300 can also be used, but due to it’s much higher weight is not well suited for close-ups.
Also the 2.8/300 lenses often do not focus as closely as the 4/300 lenses.

Super Telephoto Lens

At first it may seem strange to use a super telephoto lens like a 4/500 for close-ups. The magnification ratio of my Canon EF 4/500L IS is only 1:8, which does not make this lens very suitable for close-ups. But when you do not want to get too close that lens can offer some interesting possibilites. Also keep in mind that you can add an extension tube and an extender to the lens which increases the magnification ratio.
The 4/500L can be interesting for very shy insects like some dragonfly species.
Also you cannot always got as close to a flower as you want to. There maybe be an obstacle
between you and the flower (like a deep creek). Or imagine you are walking on a trail and see a flower several meters away from the trail. You don’t want to leave the trail because you do not want to trample down other flowers to get the shot (The well being of other flowers should always be more important than a good photograph). In some areas (like some national parks) it may also be forbidden to leave the trails.
In those cases a 4/500 may save the day. Due to it’s very narrow angle of view, a super telephoto lens also makes it very easy to isolate a subject against a calm background.
I do not suggest you should spend thousands of Euros or Dollars for a big lens just to photograph flowers. That would be overkill, but if you already have such a lens (maybe because you are shooting birds), think about using it from time to time for flowers and insects.

Summary

So what to do? It depends all on your needs (and on how much money you want to spend).
I use almost all the options above (except the 100-400 which I also used, but have sold now) and this works very well for me.
If you get only one lens I suggest to invest in a 180mm (or 200mm) macro lens (Sigma also offers a 150mm lens which is quite interesting). If you want to buy more lenses an interesting combination would be a 100mm macro and a 4/300 telephoto lens. Consider adding an extension tube and 1.4x extender (Click here to see how to use a Canon EF 2.8/100 Macro with a 1.4 extender.

In the end you must decide on your own what is best for you. I hope that article could give you some
interesting information about the various options and you can now make a more informed choice.

Recommended macro lenses from amazon.com:
(the Tamron 180mm is here listed for both Nikon and Canon)

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Tamron has announced the development of a new 15x zoom lens. The full name of the lens is:

AF 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro

The new lens will work on Nikon and Canon cameras with APS size sensors like the Canon EOS 450D, EOS 40D, Nikon D80, Nikon D300 and others. It does not work with full frame cameras.

The new lens has the advantage of a huge zoom range which would be enough for most situations a photographer encounters during his daily work. It’s small and light and easy to carry, even on airplanes.

The disadvantage of the lens is, that it will probably not reach the optical quality of more expensive lenses with a smaller zoom range like the Canon EF 4/70-200L IS. The larger the zoom range, the harder it is to get a high quality lens. Also, the maximum aperture of 6.3 at the longest focal lenght may not be enough in all situations.

Should you get one?
It depends on your needs. If you want a small, lightweight lens suitable for many situations, you might find the new Tamron lens very interesting. If you want the best image quality, I suggest you invest in several other zoom lenses. For example, if you shoot with Canon, a 4/17-40L and a 4/70-200L IS will probably give a much better results, but you won’t have all the focal length of the Tamron, the lenses will be much heavier to carry around and that combination is much more expensive.

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The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM is a wonderful macro lens that gives you a magnificationn ratio up to 1:1. It’s a wonderful lens for all types of macro work.
But sometimes you might want to have an even higher magnication ratio or a little more focal length for photographing shy insects. If you own a Canon EF 1.4x extender you might think about adding it to the lens to get more focal lenght or a higher magnification ratio.
Unfurtunately this won’t work as the lens does not work with the 1.4x extender. At least not without a little trick.
You have to add an extension tube like the Canon EF 25mm II between the extender and the lens. AF won’t work with that combination which is not a serious problem because with such a high magnification ratio, manuall focus is the better solution.

Here is a picture of that combination:

EOS 40D with EF 2.8100 Macro USM, 25mm extension tube and EF 1.4x extender

As you can see, it’s mounted on a focusing rail (from Novoflex). I highly recommend using a focusing rail with that combination as this allows for very precise focusing without the need to move the tripod.

The following three picutures give you a comparison of the highest magnificaton ratio with the lens alone, with the 25mm extension tube and with the 25mm extension tube and the 1.4x extender.

EOS 40D, EF 2.8100 Macro USM

EOS 40D, EF 2.8100 Macro USM, 25mm extension tube

EOS 40D, EF 2.8100 Macro USM, 25mm extension tube, 1.4x extender

As you can see, adding the 1.4x extender and the extension tube gives you a much higher magnificaton ratio than the EF 2.8/100 Macro alone. If you are shooting a lot of macro and want to go beyond 1:1, this is a very interesting combination.
Keep in mind that with the extender and the extension tube, the lens won’t focus to infinity. That combination is only useful for closeups.

If you want even more, I recommend the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Photo lens, which is a lens designed only for macro work. It gives you a magnification ration between 1:1 and 5:1.

If you have the EF 3.5/180L Macro, you don’t need an extension tube to use the 1.4x extender, as that lens will work just fine with the 1.4x extender. Of course, adding an extension tube will increase the highest possible magnifcation ratio.

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I just came across this amazing list of 19 tutorials on portrait photography over at digital photography school.

If you want to improve your portrait shots, I highly recommend reading this list.

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When you buy a new DSLR today, the changes are high that the offer comes with a kit lens. This seems like a great
bargain to get a great camera with lens for an affordable price.
Unfortunately many of the kit lenses are not the best lenses out there. They are not really bad but the high
resolutions of modern DSLRs (for example the Canon EOS 450D has over 12 megapixels) demand high quality lenses to get the best results the sensor can produce.

Good lenses are often more expensive than the kit lenses. For example the kit lens for the EOS 450D, the EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS is not as good a lens as the Canon EF 4/17-40L. The 17-40L is sharper and more robust.

If you want the best image quality, you have to buy the best lenses.

Unfurtunately that means that you will have to pay a higher price.
It’s better to get a cheaper camera and a good lens than a more expensive camera and a bad lens.
For example, if you are shooting Nikon it might be better to get a D700 with a Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED than the more expensive D3 with a Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G AF-S.

What should you do?
It depends on your budget. But I suggest to spend some money on good lenses. If you are thinking about buying the EOS 450D (Rebel XSi), and you can afford it, I suggest you get the EF 4/17-40L instead of the kit lens. Combine this with the 4/70-200L IS instead of the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS and you have a wonderful combination that will get you much sharper and better results.

The best solution would be to get the best camera with the best lens. If that is not possible I suggest you get the best lens with a cheaper camera. This is much better than getting the best camera with just mediocre lenses.

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Today I have collected some reviews of the Canon EOS 450D (knows as Rebel XSi in North America)

• Imaging Resource review.
• dpreview review.
• Bob Atkins’ Review
• Bob Atkins’ comparison of the Canon Rebel XSi, XTi (400D) and EOS 40D.
• User reviews at fredmiranda.com

This camera was introduced in January 2008 and is placed below the EOS 40D in the Canon product line, although it does offer a higher resolution (12.2 megapixels compared to 10.1 in the EOS 40D).
The reviews mentioned above are very positive and Canon seems to have produced a great entry level DSLR for a good price.
I personally think the EOS 450D is a great camera for people just starting with DSLR photography and want an affordable camera which still has lot’s of features and a great sensor which delivers excellent image quality.
If you are shooting lot of action scenes like sports or birds in flight, I suggest you get the more expensive EOS 40D which can shoot about 6.5 frames per second compared to only 3.5 frames per second of the EOS 450D.

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Scott Kelby, famous for his books on Photoshop, Lightroom and other topics has also written 2 very successful books on digital photography itself. The first one, The Digital Photography Book is one of the most successful books ever published on digital photography.
In this post, I want to review The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2, which was published in 2008 and which builds on the first volume, though you don’t have to read the first volume, to benefit from this book. It can also be read stand alone (actually, I’ve never read the first volume).

The book has nine chapters:

• Using Flash Like a Pro
• Building a Studio from Scratch
• Shooting Portraits Like a Pro
• Shooting Landscapes Like a Pro
• Shooting Weddings Like a Pro
• Shooting Travel Like a Pro
• Shooting Macro Like a Pro
• Pro Tips for Getting Better Photos
• More Photo Recipes to Help you Get “The Shot”

As you can see, Scott covers many different topics. He does not cover nature photography, except landscape photography and some macro photography. But covering nature photography would probably require a whole book of it’s own.

In each chapter you find a lot of useful tips on how to improve your shots. For example, Scott explains why you should avoid the pop-up flash of your camera and how to use a dedicated flash unit to get much better results, for example through getting the flash off your camera.
Chapter 2 shows you how you can build a professional studio without spending all your money.
In the chapter on portraits, Scott explains how to use light that shines through a window, how to photograph groups of people and much more.
Another great tip I found in the book is in the chapter on landscape photography: “Find the Great Light First” is about finding great light first and then finding a subject to photograph. Many photographers always search for great subjects and then photograph them in mediocre light.

Other useful tips are what book to read next, how to shoot at night, how to choose a macro lens and much more.

I found the writing in the book very easy to follow, full of information and often very funny, too.

Who should buy this book?
If you are a full time pro, you may already know all the stuff in the book.
But if you are just starting with digital photography or already have been photographing for some time but want to learn how the “Pros” do it, then this would be a wonderful book to purchase.

Summary: For most beginning and immediate photographers, I highly recommend Scott Kelby’s book.

Buy if from amazon

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Tokina has announced two new lenses:

• Tokina ATX 11-16mm F2.8 PRO DX
• Tokina ATX 35mm F2.8 Macro PRO DX

Both are available for Canon and Nikon and designed for APS-C sized sensors like the EOS 40D, EOS 450D, Nikon D300 or Nikon D80. They are not suitable for full frame cameras like the EOS 5D, EOS 1Ds Mark III, Nikon D3 and Nikon D700.
The wide-angle zoom is for those who want a really wide zoom lens on a camera with a 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon) crop factor. The large and constant aperture of 2.8 of the 11-16mm might be of interest to people often shooting in low light.
There are now many super wide angle lenses availabe, either from Canon and Nikon themselves or from third party manufacturars like Sigma, Tamron and Tokina. I suggest to go to a camera store and put differenct lenses on your camera and then compare the results and get the lens you like most.
The macro lens is similar to a 55mm macro lens on a full frame camera and might be useful for flowers and macro photography in the studio. If you are shooting insects or other small and shy animals, I suggest to get a longer macro lens with 100 or 180 (200 with Nikon) mm focal length.

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When you are photographing wild animals, patience and a “never give up” attitude help a lot. Let’s take for example the Eurasian Bittern, an endangered species of heron that lives in wetlands in Europa and Asia.

EOS 40D, EF 4/500L IS, 1.4x, from car, about 60% crop

It’s a very secretive species that is active mostly at night and during dusk and dawn.
Last April, I spent one week at the Neusiedler See national park in Austria. This year was a particularly good year for bitterns there, as it had rained more than usually during the winter and many places were very wet - a perfect situation for bitterns.
But that does mean that they were easy to photograph. We got a tip for a god location from the owner of the hotel where we stayed. But the first morning we tried to see and hopefully photograph them we didn’t see a single bittern. The same on the second and third day. We heard them every day and even during the night from our room in the hotel. But we never saw them.
After three days of fruitless searching, we decided to give it another try on our last day. This time we were very lucky and saw not a single but four different bitterns, two even in flight.
The one above was very cooperative. It came out of the reed for almost an hour and closer and closer to our car from which the picture was taken.

The lessen from this story is: Be patient and never give up. Many photographers spend many hours over many days to get the perfect shot of an animal. Perseverance is the key to success in nature photography. This is much more important than the latest camera or the highest number of megapixels.
So the next time you plan to photograph a bird or another animal, be prepared to try over and over again. In the end you will be rewarded with a great shot.
The same is true for landscape and flowers. I know of photographers who camped several nights next to a large tree just to get the perfect shot of the tree in perfect light.
Again: Never give up!

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Over at Luminous landscape, there is a new review of a production Nikon D700. It’s a very good read and should be of interest to anyone interested in Nikon’s new full frame camera.

Click here for the review:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/d700.shtml

Order Nikon D700 from amazon.com:

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