[davea66]

I recently bought a
Tamron LD A017 Macro zoom lens - 70 mm - 300 mm - F/4.0-5.6
for my K-r and decided to give the macro a go, having not done any macro shots before, as a relative newbie!
Have posted some of the pics here

Tamron LD A017 Macro zoom lens - 70 mm - 300 mm - F/4.0-5.6 Test Shots - a set on Flickr

any observations or advice welcome!

Thanks!

Dave

[Adam]

Hi Dave,

Your technique looks fine based on those photos, and you should be able to get some great close-ups with the lens. If you end up linking it, I'd recommend getting a manual 1:1 macro lens later on, as that's when the fun really starts!

[davea66]

Thanks for the reply Adam
I am hoping to get out in the garden in the summer and use a little patience to try and get insects etc.
Should be a challenge! Especially the patience bit
I used manual focus in those test shots as my K-r seems to focus incorrectly on auto in tungsten light, but I gather this is quite usual for the K-r?

[ChrisTrevino]

I have the old version of that lens but but still works pretty well.

I shot this with it recently Abandoned 1 by *ChrisTrevino on deviantART

It's not a bad lens. I plan to buy the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens when I can afford it though. Right now most of my Macro work is with Extension Tubes and Reversing Rings

Here's a shot of a Male Hooded Merganser with the old Tamron 70-300mm Macro Male Hooded Merganser by *ChrisTrevino on deviantART

It's a pretty good lens. The old one was pretty prone to CA and started to get soft after 250mm. Hopefully they improved it in the version you have.

[geru2000]

I have the old version of that lens but but still works pretty well.

I shot this with it recently Abandoned 1 by *ChrisTrevino on deviantART

It's not a bad lens. I plan to buy the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens when I can afford it though. Right now most of my Macro work is with Extension Tubes and Reversing Rings

Here's a shot of a Male Hooded Merganser with the old Tamron 70-300mm Macro Male Hooded Merganser by *ChrisTrevino on deviantART

It's a pretty good lens. The old one was pretty prone to CA and started to get soft after 250mm. Hopefully they improved it in the version you have.

I picked up the Tamron 90mm F2.8 about two months ago on Amazon.

It was listed under the used lenses but turned was received in a factory sealed box with all the paperwork.

No problems with registration at Tamron so I suspect it was never purchased.

Paid less than $400 including tax and overnight shipping.

You can find a deal if you look hard enough.

I had the Tamron 70-300 and found it useful.

The advantage of a dedicated Micro lens is the the large aperture setting and of course the distance to subject that can be achieved.

I can get so close to a subject that their breath fogs the lens.

[davea66]

Chris, I had a look at your shots and they look stunning.
I think I am going to need a fair amount of practice to get even close!

I heard a lot about CA and espicially purple fringing at full 300mm, but certainly with the test shots I have taken so far it has not been a problem

[ChrisTrevino]

Ya, the fringing is mostly in high contrast areas.

On the Male Hooded Merganser for instance it was present where the edge of the white touched the darker colors of his feathers. I didn't remove it either, just left it cause I'm lazy lol.

[mcrtex]

I have the 70-300 but used the macro very little. Bought the 90 macro and have just started playing with it. Here is test picture of a fingerprint on curved lens (sunglasses) painted with light. This is a problem child from my work.2nd one is a print on a card(typical of work sent to examiner for comparison). Will learn to use to get real close to evidence for the minute marks on it.