Close-up lenses?

[Tucker77]

Hi

I bought a D60 yesterday but opted for a 55-200mm lense instead of the standard kit lense. I'm completely new to photography (so forgive me if this is a stupid question) but want to learn as I go along, but am unsure what I need for really close up subjects.

Would I require an 18-55mm lens (as per the standard package) with some sort of 'close up' lense attached to it? Or is there some sort of lens/filter I can add to my current lense to get a good close up picture?

[Fen]

Hi There,

What you really need is a "Macro Lens". These are designed for closer focussing on objects.

You can get a "+2 Filter" that screws on to the lens you already have which basically cuts the focussing distance in half, but you won't get the quality that a proper Macro Lens would give you.

(BTW - There's no 'e' on the end of 'Lens')

[Tucker77]

(BTW - There's no 'e' on the end of 'Lens')

I know, that's my sausage fingers at work!

Thanks, I'll look at the macro lenses but I figure they'll be fairly costly. I'll also try a filter out and see how that goes.

[lee74]

Hi

I have got the Nikon 60mm AFS micro lens, in my opinion worth every penny, cracking results with it.

You can of course get a third party macro lens Sigma, Tamron if cost is a issue.

Before I got the macro lens I played about with a close up filter on the end of my 18-70mm, got some pretty decent results, I got mine from Jacobs about £20ish.

Hope this helps

[Learning]

You can of course get a third party macro lens Sigma, Tamron if cost is a issue.

Hope this helps

And if cost, and weight and bulk are not an issue You could consider the 105VR. I had misgivings shortly after ordering this beast but the more I use it the more I'm impressed.

[Zou]

Screw in close up 'filters' (lenses really) are a great value way of starting out in macro. I wouldn't go and spend £500 plus on a macro lens until I knew it was what I wanted. You can get close up lenses in a variety of strengths, the bigger the number the more powerful the magnification. You can screw several together for big magnification, but the quality will suffer as the light has to pass through a lot more glass. 7dayshop (and others) will sell you a +4 for about £4~5. Well worth trying before splashing out on a dedicated macro lens.

Or, if you want a bargain macro lens get a used 55mm f2.8 Micro - one of Nikon's sharpest lenses and very reasonably priced on the second hand market. No AF, but you won't need it anyway.

[Pastieman]

I have a set of screw on close-up filters brought from 7dayshop.com for about £40 for a set of 3 giving me a total of x7 magnification.
This photo was taken using them with my 18-135 Nikon lens.