Need Lens Suggestion 105mm

[mhoytech]

As it says in the desription. I am looking for a lens suggestion for shooting closeup food shots. Very tight and detailed. It has been suggested that a Nikon 105mm f2.8 might be the answer to my search. Do you all agree? Or am I overlooking an alternative solution?

 

[Anubis]

how close up? the 105 F/2.8 macro VR would be a great lens that

 

[mhoytech]

Water droplets close. We will be using a lot of the photos in a regional Wedding Magazine which will feature our food along with a storyline. They have to be publication quality, very tight and clean. We had a "pro" come in and spend hours shooting and we ended up with only two photos. What a disappointment. This time we will attempt do complete this task ourselves. We can't do any worse. Thanks for the recomendation

 

[secretanchitman]

how about the ever popular 18-200mm?

 

[virtuamike]

If you're not happy with the shots, why not try to find a better photographer? There's a lot more that goes into food photography than just picking a lens (lighting, food styling, etc), especially if the images are intended for publication.

If you want tight and close, any macro lens will do. Alternatives to attaining the magnification you want would include extension rings, teleconverters, and closeup lenses.

 

[mhoytech]

The reason I want to do this myself is for the same reason that you have already mentioned..."there is more to shooting food than picking up a lens". We already have the food style or we wouldn't be selected for this article. We have twenty five years of experience dealing with "pro" Photographers who can't shoot food, and frankly we feel we can't do it any worse than we have seen. I guess it is control issue as well. The more control I have over the entire process the more in control I am, and since this is my standard of living and my lifestyle I am talking about, I decided that it was time to learn to shoot the photos myself.

 

[blurredvision]

The Nikon 105 you are looking at is definitely a fantastic lens for the job. Very sharp, crisp pictures, definitely suited for food, water droplets, etc. The VR version runs about $750, though, and if you weren't looking to spend that much, I'd recommend looking at the Sigma 105/2.8 macro lens. It's not really considered a professional lens, but it still takes very sharp pictures at 1:1 in macro, for half the price of the Nikon glass.

I own the Sigma 105/2.8 myself, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. However, if someone offered a straight-up trade for the Nikon 105 (which would never happen), I'd trade in a heartbeat.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
how about the ever popular 18-200mm?

Good luck finding one of those...

 

[ProfJohn]

Like everyone said, go with the macro for the close up water drop effect.

Here is a flower pic with water drops, and I took it with my 10 year old cheapo 70-300 macro flower

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: secretanchitman
how about the ever popular 18-200mm?</end quote></div>
Good luck finding one of those...

actually, my dad ordered that lens from abt electronics and it came in within 2 days!

its a damn good lens especially when coupled with a D40x/D80/D200.