Decent lens for watch photography

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Works well enough to acquaint you with a new nemesis , dust bunnies. 馃榿
Spose I should have used the dust blower- but is it inside or out?
 
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New lens has arrived and with the 1.7 extender seems to work admirably
Scan is D800 105 f2.8 + 1.7 at f40 MU at 1/30sec

46848

Look at those blue hands. Yes please.
 
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I got a Nikkor 2.8/105mm VR Macro lens a little while back, picking it up used for a reasonable price. I've been shooting it on my D80, so its focal length equivalent gets bumped up a bit. Despite Ken Rockwell's review saying that he doesn't like it as a dedicated macro, for my amateur uses, this lens has been incredible. Wide open, the DOF is obviously very shallow, but with only a very basic (and quick) lighting setup, I can shoot it handheld, avoiding the hassles of the tripod.

I like its bokeh and think that the VR will make it a nice medium prime zoom for portrait shots around the house, which will get even more useful if I ever upgrade to a full frame sensor. Otherwise there's no way I'd put this much into glass just for taking pictures of watches 馃槈

Here's a couple of the more artsy shots (no post processing other than crops and white balance):



The rest of last night's shots are here. (Not trying to pump my FS thread, just wanted to share some more pics).
 
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Love the moody lighting on the movement shot - graduated from the D70 to the D200 then finally jumped to the D800 FX then had to cope with the difference in the Focal length as far as framing was concerned. Over the years I have built up an arsenal of glass from the 14-24 to the 200-400 and have only owned three primes the 50mm 300mm and the 105mm - just upgraded to the 105VR11 and will now dispose of my old 105
I envy your ability to shoot hand held - lost that use at 75 now at 80 I am afraid it is all tripod work.
Thanks for sharing
 
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Love the moody lighting on the movement shot - graduated from the D70 to the D200 then finally jumped to the D800 FX then had to cope with the difference in the Focal length as far as framing was concerned. Over the years I have built up an arsenal of glass from the 14-24 to the 200-400 and have only owned three primes the 50mm 300mm and the 105mm - just upgraded to the 105VR11 and will now dispose of my old 105
I envy your ability to shoot hand held - lost that use at 75 now at 80 I am afraid it is all tripod work.
Thanks for sharing


Thanks. 'Course by hand held, I mean snapping three shots to get one with crisp focus and no motion blur. 馃槈 Still easier than the tripod, and lets me shoot angles/arrangements that I wouldn't bother with if the camera was mounted.

This is probably a dumb question, but what's the 105VR11? I think we're shooting the same lens, but haven't seen it referred to that way.
 
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Hi
VR11 if you like VR2 just indicates the second generation Vibration Resistance mechanism in that particular model.
My 70-200 and 200-400 are the older VR1 models
 
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Hi
VR11 if you like VR2 just indicates the second generation Vibration Resistance mechanism in that particular model.
My 70-200 and 200-400 are the older VR1 models


Cool. Didn't realize there were two generations. We're shooting with the same glass, btw. Only thing I dislike about it is that the filter screws are plastic. Some of the threading is a little wonky (the price of buying used glass). Once I got the front element totally clean and dusted, I put a B&W UV filter on it... it's not going anywhere, any time soon.

I finally sold an old Nikkor f4 200mm non-ai lens that I had. Man, the build quality these days is a sad joke compared to the old lenses. That thing would still be shooting crisp pictures after a nuclear apocalypse.
 
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Tried the combo - spurred on by you Hand held on this critter first of the year in the garden
 
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What kind of macro lens for iphone should we use ? Thx watchfam
 
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I use a Canon 100mm f2.8L . It's good enough to get bee's knees. Lol
 
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i use a Canon EF100mm f/2.8 with a canon 70D.
excellent DOF and great in low light

 
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Your standard and telephoto lenses will only give you a close up image - and that is technically not a macro 1:1 image. Your Tamron allows you to get much closer to your subjects and thus achive that 1:1 magnification. If you want anything more in terms of magnification, then you should explore with an extender...
Your standard and telephoto lenses will only give you a close up image - and that is technically not a macro 1:1 image. Your Tamron allows you to get much closer to your subjects and thus achive that 1:1 magnification. If you want anything more in terms of magnification, then you should explore with an extender...

Tamaron lenses are no comparison to Canon Glass. If you use a tripod and your camera has a 'delay shutter' timer, use that to keep your hands off the camera when tripping the shutter.
 
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As ICONO states, photography is about composition, lighting and experimentation...Not the equipment.

That being said, we are watch collectors, so many of us like precise, elegant mechanical/optical objects such as new lenses. The only suggestion I would have before you buy the newest, greatest macro lens is to rent one for a week (there are multiple quality outfits that do this both in North America and Europe). If the lens still speaks to you and expands your vision after a week, buy it. If not, you have saved yourself 80-90% of the cost, and do not have the hassle of trying to resell it.
 
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At the moment I have three lenses for my Canon 600D

Standard - Canon EFS 18-55mm
Telephoto - Canon EFS 55-250mm
Macro - Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Macro 1:1

I'm not all that happy with the "macro" lens, it doesn't seem to be able to really "macro" much more than my standard lens.

Any suggestions from expert WIS photographers, something that suits watch photography?

Here's a pic that I've cropped from the macro shot.

Get an adapter to Flip your lenses and you get great macro. Need some patience, but you can get real close detail.