looking for best macro lens suggestions sigma v nikon v tokina v tamron

monkey101

Senior Member
I am looking at buying my wife a macro lens and I am just getting more and more confused with reading everything on it.

I guess am looking for what people here think.

I am not sure if there is one that is better than another besides just preference.

I have been looking at
Sigma 105 mm f2.8
Nikon 105 mm F2.8
Tamron 90 mm f2.8
Tokina 100 mm f2.8

I have read sigma is sharper than nikon but heavier and tokina is from what I have been reading is the best out of the 4. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

wev

Senior Member
Contributor
I've had the original Tamron 90 for years, an excellent lens. The new version with VR has proved problematic.
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
I am looking at buying my wife a macro lens and I am just getting more and more confused with reading everything on it.

I guess am looking for what people here think.

I am not sure if there is one that is better than another besides just preference.

I have been looking at
Sigma 105 mm f2.8
Nikon 105 mm F2.8
Tamron 90 mm f2.8
Tokina 100 mm f2.8

I have read sigma is sharper than nikon but heavier and tokina is from what I have been reading is the best out of the 4. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What camera does your wife use. The reason I ask is, based on my own experience, the Tokina lens is great, but only if you have a camera with a builtin screw drive focus motor like a D7XXX. If she is using a D3XXX or D5XXX, it will only work in manual focus mode, which may or may not be a deal breaker.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
You probably could get away with a better deal if you could find an older model of Sigma without VR (in lens stabilization). I have both 105 and 150 Sigma macro lenses and am very happy with the results. As for auto-focus, I rarely use it when doing macros. I find that setting focus and then s l o w l y moving back and front gets me better results than relying on auto-focus. But that's just me. Good luck shopping.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I'm not sure if the Sigma is the same one @BackdoorArts has, or if Sigma has released a newer version. If it's an older Sigma lens, it might have to be sent in to their company for firmware updates to be fully compatible with newer Nikon bodies. The older lenses aren't compatible with the Sigma dock.
 

macduff

New member
The Nikon 105mm 2.8 or the Nikon 60mm 2.8 will not disappoint you. The latter is great for macro, portraits & landscapes.
macduff
 

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BackdoorArts

Senior Member
If you're buying new then the lens should have the latest firmware or something close, which given that the D600 is 5 years old (at least?!) you shouldn't have a firmware issue.
 

TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
I've only used the Tokina and as @Bikerbrent pointed out, it uses the drive motor from the camera, (which a D600 has). This is my swiss army lens. Its great for anything from portraits to macro to landscape. Its only slow to focus if you do the infinity to close focus test. In real life, when using AF, its fine. If I am using it for landscapes, it typically stays at a far distance and is not slow to focus. Same with portraits. Like many, I pop the clutch for manual focus while macro shooting. A word of caution- if your wife plans on going to the Z any time soon, the screw drive lenses become manual focus only but honestly, with the focus peaking available on the Z cameras, it would work just fine with this lens as long as your not trying to track fast moving objects. Landscape, portraits and macro are all just fine in manual focus. There is a newer model of this lens, the ATX-i. I have the older one. Its my understanding that nothing changed except the exterior of the lens. I don't know if this means its now weather sealed, (the only thing I wish mine had) but it still uses the cameras drive motor to focus and although both lenses are a good price, forces the price of the previous lens down to a very good price. If price was no concern, I would go with the Nikon. Sure others might be sharper, but Nikon to Nikon seems to work just fine for the pros getting their shots published. Plus, the Nikon 105 with VR is weather sealed which is a huge consideration when shooting macro.
 

Vixen

Senior Member
The Nikon 105mm 2.8 or the Nikon 60mm 2.8 will not disappoint you. The latter is great for macro, portraits & landscapes.
macduff

Couldn't agree more. I love mine (105mm). It is also excellent for portraits (but I rarely do those).
 
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