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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clovishound" data-source="post: 821570" data-attributes="member: 50197">I have no experience with technical macro photography. My experience is things like insects, flowers etc. I use a standard on camera flash, a Godox 685, and one of several diffusers. The simplest being a small, inexpensive fabric pop up that slips over the front of the lens. The ring flashes may be the better choice for technical, although they are definitely more expensive. Using a ring flash, you won't have trouble with shadows. What kind of subjects will you be photographing in the lab? The 60mm Nikon listed is only available used these days, however, it can be had rather inexpensively. From what I can tell from the compatibility chart, this lens will not autofocus on the D5100 (it doesn't have an internal focus motor), although it will work fine in manual focus mode. Keep in mind that the shorter macro lenses will give you very little working distance at minimum focus, as in 2 or 3 inches from the front of the lens.  This can cause issues with the lens shading the flash, unless you are using a ring flash. You might want to invest in an FX (full frame) lens as well. The D5100 is an older body and if you upgrade to a full frame body later on, you won't have to replace the lens at the same time, plus, you will have more choices in the FX lenses. FYI, an FX lens will work fine on a DX (crop frame) body, but a DX lens will on use half of the sensor on a full frame camera. It will work, but you loose half your resolution. If money is tight, you might be able to get by with extension tubes and the lenses you already have. You will loose some speed, and a decent macro lens will likely give you better image quality.</blockquote>

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