The new Tamrom Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 is now available for preorder for both Nikon and Canon digital SLRs.

I think this new lens will be a great travel lens (if it has a similar quality like the older Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3).
The new Lens is light and small which makes it perfect for carrying around or putting in a (large) pocket or bag.
It’s not a perfect lens for low light photography because of the maximum aperture being only f6.3 at the long end. But for most shots this should be enough.

If you want maximum image quality you need more expensive lenses and also several instead of just one. For example, the Canon EF 4/70-200L IS is a very sharp and high quality lens but larger, heavier and more expensive than the new Tamron. And it has a much smaller zoom range which means that you would at least also need something like the Canon EF 4/17-40L and you still wouldn’t have all the zoom range of the Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3.

A lens like this is always a compromise. You get a small, light and reasonably cheap lens at acceptable but not outstandig optical performance.

For many situations like travel photography or taking pictures of your family and friends, this new Tamron may be a very solid tool worth adding to your gear.

Caution: This lens is desigend for DSLR cameras with a 1.6 (Canon) or 1.5 (Nikon) crop factor. It won’t work with full frame cameras like the EOS 5D or Nikon D700 and other full frame DSLRs.

Michael H. Reichmann, primary author of the wonderful The Luminous Landscape website, has just published his review of the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS USM.

If you want a long lens for wildlife or sport photography and if you have a tree that grows money, this might be a very intersting lens for just $ 12.000.

Recently I did a lot of close-up photography with my Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x extender and a 25mm extension tube from Canon.
That’s not the most usual combination for close-up photography, but has several advantages:

1. Long working distance:
Due to the long focal length (420mm) I can work at a longer distance from your subject than with a macro lens like my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro or my Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro. This is very useful when working with shy insects or when working from a trail and I don’t want to leave the trail when photographing subjects that are a short distance away from the trail (I might want to do this in order not to destroy any flowers that are between me and the subject or because in some national parks and other protected areas it may be forbidden to leave the trail).

2. It’s easier to get a calm background:
Due to the narrower angle of view of the long focal length, it’s easier to isolate the subject against a calm background. Distracting subjects in the background (like other flowers, stems of plants or human made subjects) can often ruin an otherwise very good shot. See my articel Choosing a macro lens for a more detailed explanation of why a longer focal length is helpful when you want a clean and calm background.

Here is an image taken with the Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x extender and a 25mm extension tube:

EOS 40D, EF 4/300L IS, 1.4x, extension tube

The image was taken before sunset. The butterfly was still a little active and about 1.5 meters away from the trail. This was the perfect situation for the 4/300 + 1.4x + extension tube. I didn’t want to move closer to the butterfly in order not to disturb it and also not to trample down the vegetation that was close to the butterfly. There where a lot of stems behind the butterfly which could have ruined the background, but the narrow angle of view helped me to isolate the butterfly against a clean background. The background is still not perfect here, but had I taken the shot with a 2.8/100, it would have been much worse.

How to best use this combation?
If you put the extension tube between the extender and the lens, you can get a little closer than with the extension tube on the camera and the extender between the extension tube and the lens. The difference is not much but noticeable.
On my Canon EOS 40D, autofocus does not work with that combination. But when I switch autofocus off and focus manually, the red light around the focus point where the subject is sharp appears. That is, the cameras confirms my manual focusing, but is not able to find the focus itself when in AF mode.

I highly recommend using a tripod with this combination and to use mirror lock-up and a cable release if you are using a long shutter speed.

Get it from amazon.com

When you are new to photography and are looking for information about lenses, you might come across descriptions for lenses like this one:

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM

This is the official name of my 500mm telephoto lens. The name contains a lot of terms that may sound strange at first. So lets break it down into small pieces and explain everything in detail (including some terms that do not occur in the description of the lens above):

Canon: Well, that’s pretty obvious. It’s the manufacturers name.

EF: EF means “electro-focus” and means that this is an autofocus lens. With a few exceptions (see below), all Canon lenses for EOS cameras contain the “EF” term.

500mm: The focal length.

f4: The largest possible f-stop.

L: L means “luxury”. This is Canon’s way of saying that this is a professional and especially good lens. L lenses contain the best glass, are normally weather proof and are built much more robust than other lenses. That does not mean that non L lenses are always bad. For example, the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM is not a L lens but is still a very good and very sharp lens. I use that lens very often.

IS: IS indicates image stabilization. Many of the new Canon lenses introduced during the last 10 years feature this technology. With IS you can hand hold a lens at longer shutter speeds and still get sharp pictures than without it. IS also works well on a tripod with most IS lenses.

USM: USM means “ultrasonic motor” and indicates a very fast and silent autofocus motor. Canon has integrated USM technology in most of it’s L lenses and also many others.

Macro: This indicates that the lens is a special macro lens, especially designed for working at close distances, often reaching a magnification ratio up to 1:1. This lenses also work as a normal lens and focus to infinity (except the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Photo which only works for magnification ratios between 1:1 and 5:1).

EF-S: These are lenses designed only for EOS cameras with an APS-sized sensor like the EOS 40D or EOS 450D. They are not intended to work with full frame cameras like the EOS 1Ds Mark III.

MP-E: This is used only for one lens, the already mentioned Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Photo which is a special macro lens designed for extreme close-up work between a magnification ratio of 1:1 and 5:1. If you want to shoot portraits of insects, this is your lens. Nikon and other companies currently don’t offer something similar. It’s not an L lens but the image quality is of the highest standard nonetheless.

TS-E: Those lenses are called tilt-and-shift lenses. They are very popular among architecture photographers. Some photographers also use it for landscape work. They don’t have EF in there name as they don’t support autofocus.

DO: DO means “diffractive optics”. Those lenses are smaller and more compact than non DO lenses. Currently Canon offers only two DO lenses, including the EF 400mm f/4 DO IS USM. This lens is very small for a f4/400mm lens but also quite expensive. Currently it does not seem like Canon will introduce many more DO lenses, but in the future this may change. It would be great to hava a 4/500 or 4/600 with 30% less weight than the current models.

Zoom lenses are often described like this:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM

This means that it’s an 70-200mm lens with a fixed maximum aperture of f4 over the whole focal length range.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

This means that the lens has a variable maximum aperture from f4.5 at 100mm to f5.6 at 400mm.

Now you should have an idea how to read a Canon lens description. The terms are not always written in the same order. So you may also find “EF 4/500L IS” or something similar.

If you own a long lens like a 2.8/400, 4/500 or 4/600, it’s very important to get a very good tripod with a sturdy and flexible tripod head. Today I want to focus on the tripod head and specifically on the Wimberley Head II and why I think this is the best tripod head if you own such a large lens.
The Wimberley Head is perfect for a long lens and when I bought my Canon EF 4/500L IS last year, I also ordered a Wimberley Head II to support that huge lens (as a tripod I use a Gitzo 3540LS).

Here is a picture of the Wimberley Head II with my 4/500.

Wimberley Head II with my the Canon EF 4/500L IS

The great thing about the Wimberley Head is that you can balance the lens perfectly on it and once this is done, you can move the lens in any position and it will stay in that position without the need to lock the head with the two knobs on it. This enables you to quickly follow birds and other moving subjects like cars or football players. This makes it perfect for action shots.
With a ballhead, you always have to lock the head. Otherwise, the lens will tilt over to one side and in the worst case something can get damaged.

With the Wimberley Head moving the lens is almost as flexible as hand holding it. This makes it very popular among bird photographers who use it to photograph birds in flight with long lenses.

The Wimberley Head is very sturdy and built especially for large telephoto lenses.
I recommend it for the lenses like 2.8/400, 4/500, 4/600 or Canon’s new 5.6/800.

If you spent thousands of Dollars or Euros on a large telephoto lens, you should invest in the best tripod head. In my opinion, this is the Wimberley Head II.

For more information, see the official website of the manufacturer.

You can also buy the Wimberley Head at the Birds as Arts Store or at the Naturescapes.Net store

I am not associated with any of the companies mentioned here. I recommend the Wimberley Head II because I really think it is the best head for a large telephoto lens.

One last note: The Wimberley is only for large telephoto lenses. It’s not made for mounting the camera with a small lens on it. Or for macro photography (unless you try to photograph shy insects with your large lens).
In one of the upcoming posts I will explain which head I think is best for macro and landscape photography. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: There is a new version of this article which has been expanded and covers more lenses.
See here for the new version:
Choose a lens for bird photography

Bird photography is fascinating. You work with some of the most amazing creatures on our planet. In order to get good pictures, you need a good telephoto lens, often with a long focal lenght like 400 or 600mm. Sometimes a smaller lens like a 70-200 is enough.

The following list describes the various options you have when choosing a lens for bird photography.

70-200mm

This is a popular zoom range. Nikon offers a 2.8/70-200 VR. Canon offers a 2.8/70-200 IS, a 4/70-200 without IS and a 4/70-200 with IS (which I use). VR stands for “vibration reduction” and IS for “image stabilization” and describes a technique to reduce the vibration of the lens when hand holding it or even when on a tripod (some older lenses don’t support IS on a tripod). The 70-200 lenses are too short for most bird pictures, but can be handy if you want to photograph a landscape with birds in it. In same places, for example in some bird colonies at the coast or in parks, birds can be quite tame and then a 70-200mm zoom lens may just be perfect.

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

300mm

A 2.8/300mm lens is used by many photographers. Both the Nikon and Canon lenses are extremely sharp and have very fast AF (Autofocus). But 300mm is still to short for most situations. That’s why you will see most photographers who use a 2.8/300 using 1.4x or 2x extender with the lens. The 2.8/300 lenses are not cheap and cost several thousand Euros or Dollars. A cheaper choice is a 4/300 like the Canon 4/300 IS (which I use). Those lenses are also very sharp but much lighter and cheaper. The downside is that you will lose AF with some cameras. My Canon EOS 40D will not autofocus with the 4/300 and a 2x extender. With Canon, only the cameras from the 1D series provide AF with f8, for the other cameras, AF is turned off at f8. Nikon does not switch off the AF at f8 for their cameras. At the time of this writing, Nikon’s 4/300 does not yet offer VR (the Nikon 2.8/300 does have VR).

400mm

Canon and Nikon both offer a 2.8/400 with VR/IS. That’s a heavy beast (the Canon weighs more than 5kg ) and very expensive. I do not recommend that lens for bird photography. It’s too heavy, in my opinion and 400mm is still not very much when it comes to birds. But keep in mind that many photographers use that lens successfully, especially with good 1.4x and 2x extenders.
Canon also offers a 4/400 IS which is very light. That would make a great lens for flight photography and many photographers use it successfully. Some claim that it’s not as sharp as Canon’s 4/500 and 4/600. If you think about getting the 4/400 from Canon, try it out first on your camera and see if you like the results. Canon also offers a very light and small 5.6/400 (without IS) which is very popular for birds in flight as it can be handhold for a long time. The 5.6/400 is a very sharp lens and hopefully, a version with IS will follow soon. Nikon does not offer a 5.6/400 at the time of this writing.

200-400mm

Currently only Nikon offers a 4/200-400 lens. Canon does not although many Canon photographers (including me) would love to see such a lens. The Nikon lens is a dream of a lens. Very sharp and fast AF. Together with Nikon’s great D300 and it’s 1.5 crop factor, that lens would be like a 4/300-600 – a dream for bird and wildlife photographers. The downside of the lens is the high price. If you are a Nikon shooter, you should definitely consider trying that lens and see if the 400mm are long enough for your type of shooting. If that’s the case, the zoom advantage of the 4/200-400 can save you many pictures that you wouldn’t get with prime lenses, because sometimes you have to change focal length so fast, that changing a lens is not an options. Zooms win here by far.

100-400mm

Canon offers a very good 4.5-5.6/100-400 IS and Nikon a 4.5-5.6/80-400 VR. They are much cheaper than the 4/200-400 from Nikon and also much lighter. The sharpness is good, although not as good as with the 4/200-400 or 2.8/300. AF is slower due to the smaller f-stop. Nikon’s 4.5-5.6/80-400 is particularly slow, especially when used with an entry level DSLR from Nikon. When you have that lens and want good AF, use A D300, D700 or D3.

500mm

Canon and Nikon both offer a 4/500. Canon already introduced IS many years ago for this lens. Nikon recently (finally!!) came up with a new version of it’s 4/500 with VR. For me the 4/500 is the perfect bird lens. I love my Canon 4/500L IS. Those lenses are very sharp, f4 is still good, and they deliver amazing quality with a 1.4x extender and even with a 2x. I can handhold it for a while and have used it successfully for birds in flight like Black-headed Gulls, Griffon Vultures and Cinereous Vultures. It will still fit in a backpack that you can take with you on a plane. It’s cheaper than the 4/600 and although heavy (the Canon around 3.9kg). it’s still much lighter than the 4/600. That are the reasons why I chose the 4/500 over the 4/600. I use it a lot with a 1.4x extender on my Canon EOS 40D. That’s a dream combination for bird photography, as is Nikon’s 4/500VR together with the D300.

Black-tailed Godwit, EOS 40D, EF 4/500L IS, 1.4x

600mm

The 4/600 lenses from Canon and Nikon (recently also with VR) give you a longer reach than the 4/500. That’s the only advantage of the 4/600 over the 4/500, but a significant one. If you are shooting a lot of shy birds and don’t have to travel by plane a lot, the 4/600 might be a better choice than the 4/500.
The best would be to own both, the 4/500 and the 4/600 but that’s quite an expensive option. I do not own the 4/600.

800mm

Recently Canon introduced a new 5.6/800 IS. It’s lighter than the 4/600 but more expensive. I would prefer the 4/600 + 1.4x as this is a more flexible solution but I am sure some bird photographers will be very happy with Canon’s new 5.6/800. At the moment, Nikon does not offer a 800mm lens.

300-800mm

Sigma offers a 5.6/300-800mm lens for both Nikon and Canon. It’s very sharp and the zoom range is perfect for bird and wildlife photography. It’s expensive, heavy and long and it does not have IS/VR. But for some it’s a dream lens because of the zoom advantage. It would be great if Sigma would update the lens with image stabilization or Canon and Nikon would produce one themselves.
If you want a large super telephoto zoom lens, then the Sigmonster (as it’s sometimes called) may be what you want.

200-500mm

That lens does not yet exist from Canon or Nikon. But what’s needed is a 4/200-500 with IS/VR from Canon or Nikon with a weight not over 3.5kg and the optical quality of Nikon’s 4/200-400. That would be the killer lens for bird photography. The zoom advantage would be great and allow for a much better composition of an image without the need the change your position of the lens (which is often not possible). I really hope that Canon or Nikon will come up with such a lens in the future.

Sigma offers a 2.8/200-500 but that is a real monster. The lens has a weight of over 15 kg (and a price over 20.000 dollars) which makes in completely unusable for almost all bird and wildlife photography. If Sigma would offer a 4/200-500 with image stabilization I think they could sell many of them but currently they offer only the 2.8/200-500 which looks impressive but as I said I think it is useless for nature photographers.
If you want to learn a little more about that lens click here.

What do I use?

Currently, I use the following Canon lenses for bird photography:

• EF 4/70-200L IS
• EF 4/300L IS
• EF 4/500L IS
• EF 1.4x extender

For over 90% of my pictures, I use the 4/500L as the longer focal length is simply necessary for most bird species. The 4/300L is great for tame birds in a park or for flight shots of gulls, gannets and other large birds that fly close to me. The 4/70-200L is only used for very tame birds like some Artice Terns I photographed recently (see image above). They flew just 2 meters above.
For me, the 4/500L is the best option. Lighter, smaller and cheaper than the 4/600L. It’s optical quality is superb, even with a 1.4x extender and also with a 2x extender.
If you use Canon and can afford it, I highly recommend that lens. But be sure to also check out the 4/600L. In the end, it depends on your specific situation what’s best for you.

Be sure to also read my post about Choosing a camera for bird photography.

Recommended books for bird photographers:

UPDATE: There is a new version of this article available:
Choose a lens for macro and close-up photography.
The new version contains updated material and covers more lenses like the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro.

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.

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 Canon and Nikon macro lenses from amazon.com:

e

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.

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.

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.