Nikon D80 Which Lens

[jtro]

Which Lens does anyone recommend for some marine photography and why?

 

Thanks

Jim

[amay121]

A very nice macro lens. Not sure what they have for the Nikkor Lenses though.

[dshnarw]

Macro lens for sure - Nikon's 105mm f/2.8 is a very good lens, cheaper options being the Tamrom 90mm f/2.8 and sigma 105mm f/2.8.

 

 

You can go cheaper with the 50mm and 60mm macro lenses, but the working distances are very close to the subject, which you might find difficult for those very small objects in the back of the tank. The 100-ish mm lenses give a better working distance for the same magnification (and better background blur as well).

 

 

 

Reason for macro? Because everything in your fish tank (and the ocean, if you dive) looks good magnified (even bubble algae is cool). You can also use it as a normal lens for other situations - people photography, flowers, bugs, etc.

[DJBoy98]

How about the Nikon 55mm f/2.8? I have that lens. How do you take those shots where everything is blown up?

is it Photoshop or do you need a PK13 extension?

[amay121]

DJ, it's called cropping the picture, picking a certain area/point in the picture and zooming on that point. Go online to craigslist and see if anyone has a used macro lens or find a place that'll rent it out, so that you can try the lens before buying it.

[DJBoy98]

Cool, that's what I thought

 

I actually bought that lens for my D70 couple weeks ago. I find it hard to manually focus. The old days, you had a circle with the bottom and top half focusing to tell you have well focused you are. This lens, doesn't have it. I end up taking several shots with slight tweaks and then reviewing them

in photoshop to see how well they were focused.

[dshnarw]

How about the Nikon 55mm f/2.8? I have that lens. How do you take those shots where everything is blown up?

is it Photoshop or do you need a PK13 extension?

 

 

That lens would do a pretty good job, especially combined with a few other techniques to get closer. Biggest problem is that it's only 55mm, which will get you close to the front of the tank, but not so much on the back of the tank. I use the 55mm setting on my Canon kit lens a lot, but the only really close shots I get out of it are corals and fish near the front glass.

 

To get closer, there are a few techniques:

 

1. crop the picture (cheapest option, but you lose size and the more you crop, the more you should be concerned with image quality)

 

2. extension tubes like the PK13 will get you closer (more expensive, but no loss of image quality except that the edges will start to darken. Extension tubes reduce the amount of light getting into the camera, so you may introduce problems from camera shake)

 

3. teleconverters - usually 2.0x or 1.4x (even more expensive, but they allow you to get much closer than any other in-camera option with the right lens attached. Some distortion of the image around the outer edges may be apparent, but it's quite functional on 50-100mm lenses. Combined with a macro lens, you can get just a few tentacles on a zoanthid to fill the frame)

 

4. close up filters (very cheap option that can get good results, but you'll lose image quality as you move away from the center of the image). Related to this option is an average magnifying glass held in front of the lens. not quite as good results, but fun to play around with.

 

5. macro lens (most expensive option, but the best results. Most of these allow a lot of light in and produce very sharp photos - the longer the lens, the more working distance you have - 100mm is better than 55mm, etc. You also want to look for "true" macro lenses, they'll say 1:1 instead of 1:3.5 or something like that for the really close shots).

 

6. reverse lens technique - put a lens on the camera, then hold another one backwards in front of the first lens. (another cheap option, assuming you have multiple lenses, but its very difficult to get used to and takes a ton of practice. Can get you closer than most other options, but the working distance is essentially nothing. If it's not within an inch or so of the front glass, forget it.) There are a few really good tutorials on the technique by googling "reverse lens macro".

 

 

 

 

That said, obviously the best option in the close-up/macro world is the macro lens. But there are several options to get you closer. Without a macro lens, I usually use a combination of my kit lens at 55mm with either a 2.0x teleconverter or a close up filter to get in closer.

 

 

 

and I second amay's suggestion to try a lens before you buy - some lenses just feel awkward to some people

[DJBoy98]

Thanks for the detailed response.

 

I bought the lens from ebay and it's labeled as the Nikkor AI Micro 55mm f/2.8. According to Ken Rockwell, it's one of the sharpest micro lens.

 

I'm thinking of getting the Pk13 extension which is around $50 used on ebay which supposed to put the lens to 1:1. I already have a tripod so I'm not too worried about camera shakes.

[dshnarw]

Thanks for the detailed response.

 

I bought the lens from ebay and it's labeled as the Nikkor AI Micro 55mm f/2.8. According to Ken Rockwell, it's one of the sharpest micro lens.

 

I'm thinking of getting the Pk13 extension which is around $50 used on ebay which supposed to put the lens to 1:1. I already have a tripod so I'm not too worried about camera shakes.

 

 

yeah, that lens oughta be sharp - prime lenses at 55mm are probably the most used out there. 55mm is just about perfect for portraiture

 

I'd go for it. The extension tube will really help you get that extra range, and you'll appreciate it at the zoo and such as well.

 

 

 

 

 

I just realized after playing with a very long zoom lens (up to 300mm) that the close up filter works by reducing the working distance between camera and subject. Not so noticeable for shorter lenses, but at 300mm, I went from a working distance of 5 feet to about 2 feet. Makes for MUCH larger images - instead of a photo of the whole flower, I could get this: