Kerry Pierce Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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If you're wanting to do butterfly and most any fairly large insect or flowers that are difficult to get to, the Nikon 70-180 f/4.5-5.6 is a wonderful lens, at least IMO. It's the only zoom macro/micro that I know about and that zoom is simply the nuts for framing difficult subjects while on a tripod, or even hand held or on monopod, while standing in a flower bed where a misstep would be a disaster.
IIRC, the 70-180 was discontinued in 2003, supposedly for not selling all that well. I had a heck of a time finding one in 2004, but managed to find 1 NIB from a little shop in the midwest. Not too long ago, the lens became somewhat of a cult item and the prices went well over what the NIB price that I paid. I just looked on Amazon, and they have 2 for sale, at this link, 1 used for $1100 and 1 refurb for $1480.
(Andre, here's your chance to get one! )
I also have an older Sigma 180 f/3.5 that has some great working distance. But, I haven't used it in so long that I don't know how it performs on modern cameras. It was fine on 6 &10mp DX, but I basically quit using it when I got the 70-180. It's a big, heavy honker too, w/out OS, so it can be a problem using it hand held.
Lots of great choices out there, IMO.
good luck
Kerry
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