On Apr 29, 2010, at 11:40 AM, Adam Maas wrote: > On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 10:51 AM, Sam L <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 9:40 AM, CheekyGeek <[email protected]> wrote: >>> IMHO, autofocus on a macro lens is ridiculous. >>> The greatest value in macro lenses that I have seen is the Tamron SP >>> 90mm f2.5 (either 52B or 52BB). WHAT a lens for very little money. >>> You'll need the matched Tamron converter (or any good 7 element macro >>> converter) to reach 1:1. Alternately, use an extension tube. >> >> >> Could you also use a lens like the 90mm f2.5 for portraits? >> If so, autofocus becomes handy. >> >> I think I have seen posts where people use their ~ 90-105mm lenses for >> portraits, and I think those lenses were macros, but I could be >> mistaken. >> >> --------------------------- >> Sam >> > > In fact the Tamron 90 is somewhat legendary as a portrait lens. But > the AF on the AF version is so slow as to be useless for anything that > you can't reliably track in manual focus. Long focus throws are the > bane of AF performance and a requirement in macros.
The first version of the 90/2.5 Vivitar Series 1 is a superb macro lens. It is likewise capable of 1:1 using the optical adapter that came with it. It's somewhat of a cult classic, so it can be pricey, but I've found them for less than $200. It's also a very substantial metal lens and quite heavy. Paul > > -- > M. Adam Maas > http://www.mawz.ca > Explorations of the City Around Us. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
