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

smmokan16
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

My wife is starting to get into growing all kinds of flowers in our backyard garden, so I thought it would be cool to take photos of everything throughout the year for her. I currently have a Sony A6400 and don't plan on upgrading to FF anytime soon (I recently sold my A7C in order to downsize).

I'm thinking of picking up a smaller f/1.4 or f/1.8 prime for the job; I don't think I need/want a true macro lens as most of the shots won't be that close up. For those of you with some experience, which lenses should I be looking at? Preferably under $500 used.

Edited on Sep 03, 2023 at 09:41 PM · View previous versions

Sep 03, 2023 at 06:40 PM

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

Would be interesting to know what is the best lens/FL for flower photography on FF. Not speaking of macro, just regular type quick shots.

Sep 03, 2023 at 06:44 PM

freaklikeme
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

The Sigma 56/1.4 has a nicely close for the focal length MFD of .5m and very pretty bokeh. It tends to be a little dreamy at MFD wide open, so you might have to stop it down. And it's under $500 new, so used will leave you with money (for more lenses, obviously). Alternately, there's the Zony 55/1.8, which has a little less distortion, a little less undercorrected SA wide open, a lot less vignetting, and is overall a higher resolution lens and has the same MFD. I greatly prefer the Sigma's bokeh, but that's a matter of taste.

If neither focus closely enough for you, you could always try a diopter. I have no idea what something like a 58mm Canon 500D would do to their performance or the AF, but it might be worth a shot.

Sep 03, 2023 at 07:33 PM

smpetty
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

I do a lot of wildflower photography. IMO, the Voigtlander Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm f/2 and the Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS are by far my most used lenses for this type of photography. Both are stellar lenses for other uses as well. Highly recommended and often available on the Buy and Sell forum for a lot less than retail.

Sep 03, 2023 at 10:10 PM

philip_pj
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

I'm always impressed with lenses that can do things other than what people use them for. Waiting for the jeep, I rocked the Loxia 85/2.4 at MFD and very casually shot a few of the garden at the GH in Diskit, Ladakh. And here I was using the lens at/near infinity. I found these when looking for images that EFCS would mess up bokeh and OOF, lol. You can easily see how the a7r (a7rI?) shutter shock has destroyed these photos, curse that camera ;-) Fooling around aside, the 220 degree ring rotation, fine damping and 0.9m seem fine to me at least. I'm not a macro person.

Sep 03, 2023 at 10:53 PM

freaklikeme
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

smpetty wrote:
I do a lot of wildflower photography. IMO, the Voigtlander Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm f/2 and the Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS are by far my most used lenses for this type of photography. Both are stellar lenses for other uses as well. Highly recommended and often available on the Buy and Sell forum for a lot less than retail.

Great lenses, but $500 or under? That would surprise me.

The FE 50/2.8 can be found in budget, and the OP's 6400 will take advantage of that lens' excellent central resolution with very low vignetting. Alternately, and even less expensive, there's the Tamron SP 60/2 in A mount with an LAEA3. That combo works well on an a7rIV in APSC mode, and I think that's the same focus system in the 6400, so the combo should be compatible. It's slow to focus, but no slower than the Sony 50.

Still, it sounds to me like the OP is looking for a fast lens that can be used for multiple purposes, including flowers. Macro lenses aren't everyone's idea of great all-arounders.

Sep 03, 2023 at 11:20 PM

GHarris
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

I know the OP emphasised that he's not interested in macro. But. He might want to keep in mind that a lot of the smaller primes, that aren't explicitly macros, have quite a poor magnification ratio. The Sony 55mm f/1.8, for example, has a ratio of 0.14x, or 1:7.1.

It's a design characteristic that often gives way on fast primes to make design flexibility for other aspects like size.

A lot of zooms have considerably better magnification ratios than primes. It's just a quirk of the primes market.

I don't know what kind of magnfication ratio you're going to need for flowers. But probably better than 1:7.1. So check the specs on anything anyone suggests. Again, I don't know what you actually need, but maybe look for something more like 1:4. Obviously the 1:1 of a dedicated macro lens isn't necessary, but maybe even 1:2 or 1:3 would sometimes have its uses.

Think about it. How large are the flowers you're thinking of shooting? With a 1:2 ratio, you can fill the frame with a flower that's twice the size of your camera sensor. With 1:3, you can fill the frame with something 3 times the size of your sensor. Etc.

EDIT: For context, the Loxia 85 that someone mentioned has a magnification ratio of 1:7.2. I'll let others judge, based on the pictures, whether that's "enough". You can definitely take pictures with flowers in the frame, with that kind of ratio. But a picture "of" a single flower, that's maybe not the biggest flower, and without a lot of negative space in the picture... it might be limiting.

The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 has a ratio of 1:7.4.

Sep 04, 2023 at 06:20 AM

mogul
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

My go to flower shooter is the A mount 135 stf. Unlike macro lenses, the stf will keep the whole flower in focus while blurring the background. It is very sharp but have no idea if you could get one for less than $500.

Sep 04, 2023 at 10:29 AM

IndyFab
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Just get yourself a set of Extension tubes, and use on lenses you already have..

Sep 04, 2023 at 10:45 AM

Robin Smith
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

I don’t know what lenses the OP has, but most standard zooms have something like 0.21 or 0.25 x magnification which is usually quite sufficient for a lot of pretty flower photography. Ultra fast lenses f1.4 etc tend not to have good magnification factor. Why not just keep using the lens you have? It seems to work from the shot you posted (unless that is a crop). I’m also not sure why you need f1.4 or f1.8 for close ups. Most of my close focus stuff is shot at f2.8 to f5.6. It’s not like you don’t get narrow depth field already when close focusing. I agree with the extension tube idea. I would suggest a close focus filter if there was a good one available for your lens(es). That would not lose you any light and you could keep AF, which would be useful. Otherwise I agree the 50 FE macro seems like a good option. I suspect the Loxia is >500.

Sep 04, 2023 at 11:47 AM

smmokan16
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

IndyFab wrote:
Just get yourself a set of Extension tubes, and use on lenses you already have..

Thanks for the thoughtful advice, but that's not going to work when the two lenses I have are the 18-135 and 10-20 f4. Almost all of my photography currently is focused on mountain biking and a little bit of landscapes mixed in.

For the others- I think the example I posted (from years ago, using a Canon DSLR I believe) isn't a good one as it's definitely more macro than the images I'm looking to take. In practice, I want to shoot images more similar to what another poster showed above: creative, colorful, beautiful images of flowers like Zinnias, Dahlias, Poppies, etc where I certainly want to blur the background and separate the subject. So far I like the idea of something like the Sigma 56mm, and maybe even combine that with the 30mm for a slightly wider FOV.

Sep 04, 2023 at 12:20 PM

treacle
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

You could get any manual focus 50mm or 85mm lens along with some extension tubes to really go for an inexpensive set up, often with closeup flower photography manual focus works well. For something modern that you could do close up natively and use in body focus stacking the 90mm macro or the new 70-200 f/4 focuses close but both are pretty $$.

Sep 04, 2023 at 12:45 PM

Goodrich
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

The 100mm f2.8 GM is more or less designed for this task.

The 70-200mm f4 macro is, however, more flexible.

They are both way over your budget. Look at philreeve.net for some cheaper, manual focus, options.

Sep 04, 2023 at 03:18 PM

IndyFab
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

smmokan16 wrote:
Thanks for the thoughtful advice, but that's not going to work when the two lenses I have are the 18-135 and 10-20 f4. Almost all of my photography currently is focused on mountain biking and a little bit of landscapes mixed in.

For the others- I think the example I posted (from years ago, using a Canon DSLR I believe) isn't a good one as it's definitely more macro than the images I'm looking to take. In practice, I want to shoot images more similar to what another poster showed above: creative, colorful, beautiful images of flowers like Zinnias, Dahlias, Poppies,...Show more →

I would go with the Sony 90 Macro using AF or Voightlander 65 or 110 macro capable using MF as smpetty recommended.

I might pick up a pair of extension tubes off Amazon, and use your 18-135 @ 135, if your not happy with results return the tubes,and get a designated macro lens.. No skin off your back, and it might save you a buck or two

However all below were used using extension tubes

Sigma 150-600

24-70II

70-200II

Contax C/Y 80-200

Edited on Sep 04, 2023 at 04:07 PM · View previous versions

Sep 04, 2023 at 04:01 PM

AmbientMike
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

I often use the 55-250 on Canon. 1:3 or so magnification is good on aps. Not sure how many primes get as close, although you might be OK with largish flowers. 5.6 at 250mm isn't bad not sure of equivalent zooms.

Tokina Firin 100/2.8 on sale $400, 90-105mm macro is very good. Probably less than 55/1.8, for example, and you can move in closer if you want. 2.8 at 100mm beats 1.8 55mm

Edited on Sep 04, 2023 at 04:09 PM · View previous versions

Sep 04, 2023 at 04:05 PM

gregfountain
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Sony 135/1.8 period.

Sep 04, 2023 at 04:07 PM

smmokan16
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

gregfountain wrote:
Sony 135/1.8 period.

Looks like a great option, except it's almost three times my budget.

Sep 04, 2023 at 04:51 PM

2613pch
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

Previous ly experienced 1200.00

Sep 04, 2023 at 05:23 PM

gregfountain
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

smmokan16 wrote:
Looks like a great option, except it's almost three times my budget.

Sorry, I didn't read all the way through, just sort of jumped in there. You can get them used like I did for anywhere from $1100 to $1400, so possibly only double

Anyway, there are some shorter 1.8 lenses in the Sony-Zeiss range that would serve you well closer to your budget. 85/1.8 lenses are usually pretty solid.

Edited on Sep 05, 2023 at 10:04 AM · View previous versions

Sep 04, 2023 at 11:56 PM

GHarris
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Best Sony Prime (or Zoom?) for General Flower Photography

gregfountain wrote:
Anyway, there awe some shorter 1.8 lenses in the Sony-Zeiss range that would serve you well closer to your budget. 85/1.8 lenses are usually pretty solid.

The Batis 85mm f/1.8 has a magnification ratio of 1:7.9. The Sony 85mm f/1.8 has a ratio of 1:7.7. The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 is similar. They're even trickier to use, to fill the frame with a flower, than a lot of the 50mm primes.

gregfountain wrote:
Sony 135/1.8 period.

One thing that makes this a good lens for the role (if not for its price) is its 1:4 magnification ratio. The 135mm primes all seem to do better at magnification ratio than the 50s and 85s. The Sigma 135 has 1:5, the Batis 135 has 1:5.3, Samyang's 135mm f/1.8 has 1:4.2.

Sony's 100mm f/2.8 STF has a ratio of 1:4, as well.

And they're all out of budget.

No idea what the old manual-focus f/2 Samyang 135 is selling for now, but it's got a magnification ratio near to 1:4.

But I apologise if my banging on about magnification ratios is tiresome.

Sep 05, 2023 at 07:24 AM

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