It will be used with my Canon 40D body.
What do you think please?
Best Wishes Penny
I would like to buy a dedicated macro lens for insects etc - I have been looking at the Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 USM Macro Lens or the Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG Macro Lens.
It will be used with my Canon 40D body.
What do you think please?
Best Wishes Penny
Both are good lenses. Advantages of the Sigma are the longer working distance over the 60mm and it's also suitable for full-frame (35mm-size) cameras as well as cropped digital sensors such as the 40D. Disadvantages are the long extension of the lens at or near 1:1 macro and a non-USM/HSM motor can be a bit noisy for shy subjects (manual focus gets round this and is not a problem with macro subjects).
The Canon has a USM 'silent' focus motor plus an internal-focus system and is designed especially for Canon's 1.6x crop digital bodies. Disadvantages are: not suitable for full-frame, you need to get closer than the Sigma for a particular image size and the front element of the lens is not very deeply-recessed making a lens hood a desirable option, but it costs extra, though it will make the front of the lens even closer to the subject.
There are several macro lenses available from 50mm up to about 180mm but there's not that much difference in the working distance when you want to get really large frame-filling shots of small subjects, If the creature will let you get close enough with the 105mm then you can probaly get that bit closer with the 60mm providing you move carefully - the main problem comes with trying to avoid your own shadow encroaching into the picture.
[QUOTE=Penny Clarke;1249799]I would like to buy a dedicated macro lens for insects etc - I have been looking at the Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 USM Macro Lens or the Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG Macro Lens.
It will be used with my Canon 40D body.
What do you think please?
Best Wishes Penny[/QUOTE]
The 60mm is APS only, and IMO too short a focal length for insects. You really need at least 100mm. Personally I would look at the Canon 100mm. IMO Canon lenses are better than Sigma, and you know the Canon lens will be compatible with all future Canon bodies, which is not the case with the Sigma. That said, by all accounts the Sigma is a decent lens. (I find the appearance ugly, but it is not entering a beauty contest.)