105mm or 200mm????

Hiya!

I'm trying to figure out which lens should I opt for...105mm or a 200mm macro.

The 200mm is not a general purpose macro lens especially with DX cameras. The answer depends on what size sensor you have and what you want to shoot, but it will in most cases be the 105.

I have a 200mm. It's not too useful. The 105mm is my workhorse for macro.

My macro workhorse is a 60mm. I often find that even with the 60mm there's too much water between the port and the subject. While I might consider a 105mm, I'd never entertain the thought of a 200mm for underwater work. Of course, I'd love a 200mm macro for above water.

105 is too long for most shots on DX. I would suspect the 200 would be worse.

Hi,

I have both & I use 105mm VR for macro most of time, like everybodyelse.

Re 200mm, if you are refering to Nikkor lens, issues are;

1.It is not in current production & you may find 'used' in e-bay( U$1000-1200 ?).

2.When you find the lens, you have to send it to service center

or repair shop to remove tripot bracket. (U$70-100 ?)

3.You need extra long macro port or extionsion rings to use this lens. (U$400-600 ?)

4.It is a dark lens & image you get is not like you are getting from

60mm or 105mm.

5.It requires a good strong strobe(U$$$$$).

Sam

The choice of a macro lens depends in large part the general size range and skittishness of the subjects you like to shoot and the water conditions you usually shoot in. And whether you are shooting with a cropped sensor (DX) camera or a full frame (FX) model.

If your typical subject is a fish of 6-12" inches in length and your water conditions are usually low visibility, you may find a 60mm macro lens is what gives you the best quality.

If you shoot smaller subjects like nudibranchs or other relatively small invertebrates that are not particularly mobile or skittish, a 105mm will probably be more useful. The longer the focal length, the more water distance you will have between the front of your lens port and a subject of any given size. This greater "working distance" has several aspects. You may lose a bit of the lens's resolution due to the greater water distance unless the water is very clear. But in return you also have greater freedom in positioning your strobes, particularly if the strobes are of the larger size category such as Ikelite 200's or the Hartenbrger 250's or 625's that I normally use.

I find the Nikon 200mm Micro-nikkor is almost a specialty lens. The 200mm does give you a much greater working distance than a 105mm, which can be helpful with very skittish subjects such as some species of shrimp gobies. But a second drawback in the use of such a lens, in addition to sharpness lost to the greater water distance, is that you will need stronger strobes to illuminate the subject at those longer working distances. Or will have to use higher ISO's with the resulting loss of image quality.

Despite what was said by shchae this lens is still in production which can be verified on Nikon's own website, and is still available through places like B&H photo in NY. Both the current 60mm and 105mm Micro-nikkors are AF-S lenses, which focus faster and make adding manual focus capability easier. The 200mm is only the older body-driven auto-focus.

If I had to pick only one macro lens, it would be the 105mm. The Sigma 150mm macro lens, would seem to be a worthy compromise between the 105mm and 200mm. But as yet I have no experience with this lens.

Fred

Hi,

Thank you so much for the valuable info. I use a Nikon D300 with an ikelite housing and dual ikelite DS125 strobes. Currently my macro lens is the nikkor 60mm. I'm happy with it but I still want to get more close ups of much more smaller critters. I guess a 105mm would do then.

Cheers

Shaff

I use both. the 60 is great when you don't know what size critters you will shoot, the 105 excels at smaller stuff or eyeballs of larger critters. both are quick and work well underwater.

A friend of mine eyu uses the 70-180 macro and loves it.

not made anymore only used ones available.

I use both. the 60 is great when you don't know what size critters you will shoot, the 105 excels at smaller stuff or eyeballs of larger critters. both are quick and work well underwater.

A friend of mine eyu uses the 70-180 macro and loves it.

not made anymore only used ones available.

I'm gonna go for either the Sigma 105 or the Nikkor 105. Depending on the budget I have in 2 months time. Thinking also of buying the Nikkor 10.5 fisheye lens. I'm diving everyday and most of the shots I take are macro as there are so many little critters on the Male' House Reef. Right now my gear consists of 3 lenses: Nikkor 50mm, 60mm and Sigma 10-20mm. So 2 more lenses to invest into.

"Despite what was said by shchae this lens is still in production which can be verified on Nikon's own website, and is still available through places like B&H photo in NY"

I thought I saw an article that they stop producing 200mm but, I was wrong & new lens still available.

Sam

"Despite what was said by shchae this lens is still in production which can be verified on Nikon's own website, and is still available through places like B&H photo in NY"

 

I thought I saw an article that they stop producing 200mm but, I was wrong & new lens still available.

 

Sam

Thanks for the info Sam. I'll have a look out for the lens.

I'm gonna go for either the Sigma 105 or the Nikkor 105. Depending on the budget I have in 2 months time. Thinking also of buying the Nikkor 10.5 fisheye lens. I'm diving everyday and most of the shots I take are macro as there are so many little critters on the Male' House Reef. Right now my gear consists of 3 lenses: Nikkor 50mm, 60mm and Sigma 10-20mm. So 2 more lenses to invest into.

If you can, go for the 105vr. It does not "grow" when focusing so the port configuration will be tighter. It also works very well with both kenko 1.4x and 2x.

Instead of the nikon 10.5 go for the tokina 10-17. Most of us used the 10.5 and then got the tokina...now there are many 10.5s without a job! There is plenty of info about this in these forums.

If you can, go for the 105vr. It does not "grow" when focusing so the port configuration will be tighter. It also works very well with both kenko 1.4x and 2x.

Instead of the nikon 10.5 go for the tokina 10-17. Most of us used the 10.5 and then got the tokina...now there are many 10.5s without a job! There is plenty of info about this in these forums.

Thanks a lot for the info davichin. I will definitely go for the 105vr and the Tokina 10-17.