Lens advise

ShepsMom

Hello everyone! I hope you don't mind me asking, but
would you please be kind enough to suggest a best lens for micro shots? I would love to be able to get as close as possible to my object: bugs, butterflies, flowers, etc.
I'm using Nikon D80

Also, what would you recommend for the sharpest possible lens? I currently have Nikkor 18-200 F3.5-5.6, i don't find it to produce images as sharp as i would like. It's a great lens overall, for every day use, i took some good pictures with it, however, majority of the pictures i shoot must be edited in photoshop for sharpness. I would prefer my pictures to be sharp straight out of the camera, am i dreaming? Is it even possible? LOL
Thank you so much for your advise. )

Tee Why

for macro shots, if you want to get as close as possible you can buy a 180mm macro lenses. However, for most, a 100mm lens dedicated for macro is good and maybe what you are looking for. Nikon, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina all make lenses for the Nikon D80 in the 90-105mm range. The Nikon is the most expensive, but it has a VR feature built in. The others don't. I have a Tokina and find it very nice. All the 100mm range macros are pretty darn good, so I'd consider all of them first.

As for the sharpness, you'll probably get better sharpness if you consider primes and more expensive prograde lenses, although the 18-200VR is a pretty sharp lens. Remember, if you shoot RAW, you generally need to add some sharpening. Also, remember technique and knowledge of your particular lens makes for sharp images as well. Without knowing your specific shooting needs, it's hard to recommend a sharp lens as there are plenty of them out there for all sorts of shooting needs.

Good luck.

ziggy53

ShepsMom wrote:

Hello everyone! I hope you don't mind me asking, but
would you please be kind enough to suggest a best lens for micro shots? I would love to be able to get as close as possible to my object: bugs, butterflies, flowers, etc.
I'm using Nikon D80

Also, what would you recommend for the sharpest possible lens? I currently have Nikkor 18-200 F3.5-5.6, i don't find it to produce images as sharp as i would like. It's a great lens overall, for every day use, i took some good pictures with it, however, majority of the pictures i shoot must be edited in photoshop for sharpness. I would prefer my pictures to be sharp straight out of the camera, am i dreaming? Is it even possible?
Thank you so much for your advise. )

Macro lenses from 100mm to 180mm tend to be of excellent quality, and I think the Micro-Nikkor 105mm, f/2.8D AF is a tough lens to beat.

http://photo.net/equipment/nikon/105-micro/
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/nikkor_105_28/index.htm

Other macro lenses to look at:

Sigma AF 105mm f/2.8 EX macro DG
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/sigma_105_28_nikon/index.htm

Tokina AF 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro D macro
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/tokina_100_28/index.htm

Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP macro
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/tamron_90_28_nikon/index.htm

Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4.0s IF
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/micronikkor/200mmicrof4.htm

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The zoom lens recommendation to get you the same range as your Nikkor 18-200mm is actually two lenses, the Nikkor AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 G IF-ED DX and the Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 G IF-ED VR. These two lenses will give your D80 something better to chew on, and yield considerably sharper images at similar apertures than the Nikkor 18-200mm. They should also do pretty well even wide open.

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/nikkor_1755_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/nikkor_70200_28vr/index.htm

It's a good thing you didn't mention a budget, because all these lenses combined will give you the potential for great images, but quality improvement costs some real cash.

ziggy53