[photolady95]

There is also the Sigma 105 Macro lens that's gotten cheaper over the years compared the the Sigma 180 I mentioned earlier. And one Aslyfox left out.

[BrianR]

What sort of things are you looking to photograph and how small are they? What other lenses or tele-converters do you have?

Lighting & camera support can be very important for macro work. Do you have tripod(s), flash(es), reflectors, or other accessories?

What kind of budget are you looking at? While I agree some of the cheap options can give excellent results (reversing lenses, tubes, etc), if you can swing one of the older, used, dedicated macros people have mentioned, it can make macro work much less frustrating. If you have an appropriate lens to stick one of the Raynox close-up adaptors on, that would be my second choice (with the bonus that if you later pick up a dedicated macro, you can stick the raynox on it for more magnification).

[AlwaysAl]

Perhaps you might check out a bellows attachment instead of the extension tubes. From time-to-time- these things show up in the used equipment sections real cheap and they allow you to use your existing lens collection (as long as they have aperture ring unfortunately). As a word of caution, mine worked on every camera up to and including the K-5sii but the prism housing on the K-1 interferes and doesn't allow the connection. Additionally, these are great for table top macro stuff but not so convenient to travel. .

[WPRESTO]

I will +10 or more for investing in a Raynox close-up unit. If you have a lens that will accept 52 t0 62mm filters, the Raynox IS BY FAR the least expensive, simplest, and most satisfactory way to start close-up and macro photography. A good quality prime lens is best, but the Raynox will give amazing results with many zoom lenses. I did extensive testing of the Raynox against some really good macro lenses (Tokina 90mm f2.5, Pentax SMCA ED 200mm f4, Pentax 50mm f2.8 A) and to my surprise, the Raynox provided IQ that was seriously competitive. Go to the Raynox images thread, or look at some of the macros posted by noelcmn. RAYNOX IS BY FAR THE BEST WAY TO START MACRO, AND YOU MAY NEVER WANT NOR FIND ANYTHING BETTER OR MORE CONVENIENT.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Do not be tempted by the widely available 3 lens close filter sets. They are no where near as good as the achromatic Raynox units. Canon and Marumi offer achromatic close-up filters in numerous thread sizes, and the quality is very good but no better than the Raynox, generally more expensive, and not as convenient as the Raynox multi-thread size pinch-and-mount adapter. I have been doing Macro since purchasing Spiratone extension tubes for my Asahi Pentax S back about 1959, and using dedicated macro lenses since my Takumar 50mm f4 pre-set purchased in the early 1960's, and in my experienced opinion, the Raynox units are just plain amazing for something so inexpensive and easy to use.

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Last edited by WPRESTO; 04-07-2019 at 06:42 AM.

[Derek]

photolady I stand corrected!
The proper term that I was trying to recall is a "49mm Macro Coupler" ($7.95 at B&H).
Cheers!

[aslyfox]

. . . And one Aslyfox left out.

it wasn't me, blame the articles I quoted from

the lens mentioned by Photolady is worth checking out

[photolady95]

photolady I stand corrected!
The proper term that I was trying to recall is a "49mm Macro Coupler" ($7.95 at B&H).
Cheers!

No worries. At least after Sandy Hancock's post I knew I wasn't losing my mind. LOL And when you get to be my age, that's a good thing!

[photolady95]

it wasn't me, blame the article

Well, maybe it would be better if you put these articles you find in quotes, so it doesn't look like you're saying it, hint, hint.

[aslyfox]

Well, maybe it would be better if you put these articles you find in quotes, so it doesn't look like you're saying it, hint, hint.

you can't see the quotation [ " ] marks ???

or the Ellipsis [ … ]

they are there and as far as I know, those indicate a quotation

[photolady95]

{quote\quote} but with the icon with writing it, to the right of the insert image icon

But see those above, they work better than using the ones on the keyboard, and they're the ones I said you should use.

[catfishjohn]

Shopgoodwill has a Pentax 100mm f4 M series macro ending 4-8-19, a Fiji 55mm f1.8 macro with m42 mount ending 4-11-19 and a Pentax bellows with m42 mount ending 4-12-19. I cant predict what the final bid price will be but these might be worth a look. A low price option is the 50mm f4 macro Takumar with a m42 to K adapter, it is a really fine lens. You can review all these in the lens and accessory database.

[Thagomizer]

A cheap way to get some extension for lenses that have no aperture ring is to find a teleconverter with "A" contacts and remove the glass elements from it. You might need to paint the interior with flat black paint to cover any bare metal revealed by the removal of the optics. A 2x converter, if I recall correctly, gives about 25mm of extension. This Fotodiox adapter, originally intended to permit the mounting of PK lenses to Nikon bodies, can be used to control the aperture on reversed lenses lacking an aperture ring. I will be using one of these, with the optics removed, to expand my selection of lenses for reverse lens techniques.

[DSims]

The already mentioned D FA 100 WR Macro is an absolutely fantastic lens - a standout, despite being in the one category (macro) where almost all lenses produce nice quality images. It's worth considering.


IMO it's one of the best macro lenses you can get from any brand on any body. But why? Aside from the quality construction and feel:

- Picks up fantastic colors that look better than real life, but not so much that they look artificial (like stripes on hard candy do - some cameras/lenses go too far)
- Rounded aperture blades produce nice backgrounds and bokeh
- Sharp, high quality images at both macro distances and infinity

I can't think of any category in which it doesn't rate at least a 9 out of 10 -> the perfect all-around macro lens.


It should be a great addition if you like your FA77 - but don't think it overlaps, because while they both produce beautiful images, the D FA 100 WR macro could be sharper than you want sometimes. At the same time, the FA77 can often focus faster, because it has a normal focusing range.


In the meantime, since there are so many high-quality used macro lenses on the market, you could try almost any brand or model. I like the F/FA 50 or 100 f/2.8 models, and the (Cosina made) FA 100 3.5 macro (or its even cheaper versions under other brands - mine happens to be Vivitar).

[Gbhati01]

Thank you so much, everyone, for the advice

To answer some of the questions, I am trying to keep the purchase/s below $100. I do have a tripod, but don't have a flash. While I understand the 100 mm macro might be the best option, but I currently don't have an appetite for such an investment. I keep kicking myself for the 77 mm - not that it is a bad lens, but I just don't use it often. It has a very specialized use case; I believe 100 mm macro will fall into the same category.

With that - I think my choices are two - Raynox 250 adapter to pair with my 50 mm 1.8 lens or an old manual macro lens. I was able to find 50 mm F4 macro on eBay for $75. Raynox 250 is also in the same ballpark price range. Is there any difference between the two in terms of image quality. Also, can they both be combined to get even higher magnification, Raynox on 50 mm F4?

[xandos]

If you have a few old manual lenses, I recommend getting the reverse coupling adapter that some people also recommended above. I use it without extension tubes with my pentax-M 28, 40 and 50mm lenses, and get results I'm very happy with. You can always add extension tubes later to increase magnification, but a reversed 28mm already gives you more than 1:1. If you were to use extension tubes with reversed lenses, they obviously can be very simple: there won't be electrical contact anyway. Such an adapter or simple extension tubes are available online for about $10.

I have the D-FA macro which is fantastic. I used the reverse adapter before I could afford it, but still use it now and then for a very compact macro setup with more magnification than the macro lens.