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Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Newenglandrocks
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Perhaps this is blasphemy, but you could kill two birds with one stone here. Buy a cheap and cheerful portrait 85 - I would get a used FE85 here on B&S - and then purchase a Nisi achromatic magnifier for $120-150. I have used it with both my FE85 and 70-200GMii and really like the results.

Sep 05, 2023 at 06:28 AM

ytwong
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Sigma 90/2.8 ?

Sep 05, 2023 at 06:33 AM

Bobby V
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

The new 70-200 F/4 is a pretty cool lens for this and doubles as a pseudo macro. I like a range of focal lengths for capturing plants and pollinators.

Sep 05, 2023 at 02:11 PM

Bobby V
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Sorry, I missed the $500 part. If it was me I'd definitely go used then and probably get something like the newer 15 1.4 prime, 20 1.8, or if I was going for mid telephoto then a used sigma 105 macro

Sep 05, 2023 at 02:41 PM

Grenache
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

The Zeiss Touit line is exceptional glass for APS-C bodies. Their 32mm f/1.8 gives you essentially a full frame equivalent 50mm field of view with a reasonably fast aperture and light weight…plus great color and sharpness. The minimum focus distance is medium, but if you put a short 12mm extension tube on, you’ll be able to magnify as much as you are likely to need. Increasing the extension to 24mm really gets you close. A set of tubes runs about $25-50. New, the Touit is listing at $610, down quite a bit from original price. I have a lightly used one (as well as their 12mm f/2.8) that I was going to list on the B&S this weekend. Both are my wife’s and spent nearly all of their life snug in a drawer.

If you are not familiar with these, they are worth a look. Here is a Flickr search for the 32mm:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=Touit%2032mm&view_all=1

Let me know if you are interested. I will be listing the 32 for $350 and the 12mm for $500. I have the original boxes and everything, plus B+W filters for them.

Jim

Sep 05, 2023 at 05:36 PM

lensfan
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

gregfountain wrote:
Sony 135/1.8 period.

This one worked well for me a couple weeks ago in a botanical garden. The center sharpness, good working distance, bokehed background - all contribute to flower picture taking. I will take it again this Saturday.
However, I was satisfied with 24-70 2.8 for my personal needs before.

Sep 05, 2023 at 09:10 PM

lensfan
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

135GM @ 1.8 ES 1/1000

Sep 06, 2023 at 06:06 PM

Geekapoo
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

What about the Sony 30mm f3.5. Can be had for $150-200 used.

https://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/sony/e-30mm-f3.5-macro-sel30m35/review/#:~:text=For%20a%20very%20portable,for%20its%20price%20tag.

https://www.ephotozine.com/article/sony-e-30mm-f-3-5-macro-lens-review-28379#:~:text=The%20Sony%20E%2030mm,for%20E%20Mount%20cameras.

Sep 07, 2023 at 11:25 AM

Peire
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Sony GM 135/1.8.

Sep 07, 2023 at 12:52 PM

lensfan
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Tamron 35-150 contributes at 150mm f8, full sized SOOC JPEG (open in new tab).

Sep 09, 2023 at 01:15 PM

lensfan
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Tamron 35-150 @ 150 f4 SOOC

Sep 09, 2023 at 01:40 PM

smmokan16
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

To follow up, I picked up a used Sigma 56 f/1.4 and took some shots tonight... the flowers are fading here in CO right now so there's not a ton of color left, but I'm happy so far. I may end up complimenting it with a longer lens at some point in the future, so far so good though.

Sep 12, 2023 at 09:27 PM

lensfan
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

smmokan16 wrote:
To follow up, I picked up a used Sigma 56 f/1.4 and took some shots tonight... the flowers are fading here in CO right now so there's not a ton of color left, but I'm happy so far. I may end up complimenting it with a longer lens at some point in the future, so far so good though.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Personal/Various-Personal-Images/i-TcnxW75/0/d8ed35c3/L/ConeFlower%2023.09.12-2-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Personal/Various-Personal-Images/i-24sp92D/0/3f7e1243/L/Grasshopper%2023.09.12-1-L.jpg

You should have picked up Sigma 56 1.4 regardless of flower photography. One of the best available lenses for APS-C. Good choice.

Sep 12, 2023 at 09:29 PM

mudlake
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p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Consider the Zeiss MP 50/2 ZE with an adapter. 1:2 macro and beautiful Zeiss color and contrast. Sells for around $500 or less. I loved it on my Canon 6D years ago.

Sep 12, 2023 at 10:00 PM

cameraman72
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p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Sigma 90mm F2.8 has nice rendering.

ILCE-9 90mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary 021 lens 90mm f/6.3 1/800s 100 ISO -1.7 EV

ILCE-9 90mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary 021 lens 90mm f/4.0 1/320s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

ILCE-9 90mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary 021 lens 90mm f/5.6 1/320s 800 ISO 0.0 EV

ILCE-9 90mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary 021 lens 90mm f/8.0 1/400s 100 ISO -1.0 EV

Sep 12, 2023 at 10:59 PM

AmbientMike
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p.2 #16 · p.2 #16 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

55-250 canon does really good, focuses close, fills the frame almost to 1:2 ff macro. 250 f/5.6 requires more aperture than 50/1.2, and I prefer it to 50mm for bg. STM version is close to $200 at keh, used to be <$100 so apparently other people like it

need an adapter

Looks like I used 180 Tamron this spring, f/4 less bg than 1.4 or 50/1.2. I still think the 100 tokina I recommended on the 1st page would be great

IMG_5382i by AmbientMike, on Flickr

IMG_4961i by AmbientMike, on Flickr

IMG_1166e by AmbientMike, on Flickr

Sep 12, 2023 at 11:08 PM

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