Best reasonably priced macro lens for a 70d

Question

Hi i have got a canon 70d and have just started doing alot of macro photography (Flowers bugs etc) i've been using the the 18-135mm kit lens but now i know im enjoying it im going to get a mocro lens. Cant afford nothing to major as saving for wedding and house. Was just looking for some advice on reasonably priced macro lenses. Any Advice welcome..
Thanks in advance
Darren 

Answer 1

amfoto1 wrote:
Actually, it's hard to go wrong with macro lenses... Most give excellent image quality, so it tends to be the other features that are deciding factors. I have no idea what you consider "reasonably priced".... To one person that might be no more than $100, while to another it might be anything under $1000.
Canon EF 50/2.5 Compact Macro is currently about $270... As an EF lens, this can be used on both your crop camera and on full frame cameras. But this is a micro motor focus drive lens (slower, hunts more), and on it's own it only goes to 1:2 or one half life size magnification. To get full 1:1 magnification with it, there's a separately sold converter that costs another $270. You also could use macro exension tubes - that sell for between $70 and $200 for a set - to increase the lens' magnification. All the other macro lenses listed here are able to do 1:1 without need for any adapter. 50mm is fairly short focal length, putting you relatively close to your subject. This lens' closest focus is about 4 inches (with 1:1 adapter... compare to 12 inches with a 100mm lens). Personally I use shorter macro focal lengths mostly in-studio where they can work well.... but prefer a longer focal length in the field. Uses 52mm filters. No lens hood offered or supplied, it doesn't really need one because the front element is deeply recessed into the lens.
SIgma 50/2.8 Macro lens sells for about $350. I don't know much about this lens, it's been around for a while. I know it's 1:1 capable, both crop and full frame capable and has a micro motor focus drive. Comes with a lens hood. Uses 55mm filters.
Canon EF-S 60/2.8 USM Macro is on sale at the moment for $420. It's an EF-S lens, which will work fine on your 70D, but is not usable on a full frame camera. USM focusing drive is a bit faster, quieter and more precise (see below about focus speed). It's full 1:1 capable, a little longer focal length than 50mm, but not a lot. It's relatively compact and it is "internal focusing" or IF, which means it doesn't change length when focused. It uses 58mm filters and the matched lens hood sells separately for $24 (third party hoods are available for less).
Tamron  SP 60/2.0 "Di II"  Macro/Portrait lens is selling for about $525 and, like the Canon 60mm Macro, is a "crop only" lens. Fine for your 70D, but not usable on full frame cameras. It's also IF, but using a micro motor type focus drive. I've been working with one of these lately, giving it a try. I find it's focus slower than Canon USM, but generally plenty fast  for most macro/portrait usage. The main attraction of this lens is its f2.0 aperture... fully a stop larger than most other macro lenses (Zeiss makes a couple f2.0 macro lenses, but they are manual focus only and quite expensive). This is nice particularly when using the lens for portraiture. It uses 55mm filters and comes with a lens hood.
Canon MP-E 65mm is not a lens I'd recommend to anyone just starting out shooting macro. This is an ultra high magnification lens... actually can do no less than 1:1 and goes as high as 5:1. That's a range well beyond what many people shoot. It's also about $1000 and stricly manual focus. It's a superb lens, usable on both crop sensor and full frame cameras, and one I use personally. But it's still not something I'd recommend to anyone just starting to shoot macro. It's rather challenging to work with, pretty much a "tripod only" lens.  Comes with a tripod mounting ring, uses 58mm filters and an odd little lens hood sells separately for around $40.
Sigma 70mm f2.8 EX DG macro lens.... is another I don't know a whole lot about. Like their 50/2.8 macro, it's been around a long time and uses a micro motor type focus drive. It is the first lens in this list that has a Focus Limiter (2 ranges), which is a feature that can be helpful speeding up auto focusing. It sells for about $470, uses 62mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood.
Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di is another excellent design that's been around a long, long time. I've still got and use manual focus versions of this lens dating back to the 1980s. The currently available micro motor version sells for $500 and, as a Di lens is usable on both crop and full frame cameras. It's got a focus limiter (2 ranges),  uses 55mm filters and includes a matching lens hood. It is not an IF lens.
Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD is an updated version of their venerable 90mm, now with both an improved AF system (USD is similar to Canon's USM) and image stabilization (Tamron calls it VC). It is said to be better sealed against dust and moisture, and also uses an aperture with 9 curved blades to make for smoother background blurs. This lens is Internal Focusing (IF), has a Focus Limiter (4 ranges!), was introduced within the  last year or so selling for about  $750, uses 58mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood.
Canon EF 100/2.8 USM is another excellent lens I use personally. This is the older version of this lens without IS (and not L-series, but you would be hard pressed to tell any difference in build quality, comparing it to some L-series such as the 180/3.5L macro). A key feature here is that it can optionally be fitted with a tripod mounting ring.... something that's not possible with most of the other lenses mentioned here. For macro work, I consider a tripod mount a very important feature, though some of the smaller lenses might be fairly usable on a tripod without one. This lens has USM focus drive, is IF, has a Focus Limiter (2 range), sells for about $550 presently, and uses 58mm filters. A matched lens hood is quite large and sells separately for about $40.  Tripod Ring B to fit it sells for about $140 (there are cheaper third party hoods and tripod rings).
Canon EF 100/2.8 L IS USM is a newer model that primarily is upgraded with the addition of Image Stabilization (IS). Now designated an L, it includes a matched lens hood. Like the older model, a tripod ring can be optionally fitted. It has an improved Focus Limiter (increased to 3 ranges). It uses 62mm filters and is currently on sale for $900. Tripod Ring D sells for $172 (cheaper 3rd party ring is avail.).
Tokina 100/2.8 ATX is both crop and full frame compatible and sells for about $400. I haven't used it, but it's another venerable design that's been around for a lot of years.  It has a Focus Limiter (2 range), uses 55mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood. I don't believe it's IF.
Sigma 105/2.8 OS HSM  is currently on sale, heavily discounted, for about $670. I suspect Sigma is about to introduce a new version and that's why they are blowing out the current model with a large instant rebate. It is both crop sensor and full frame camera compatible. The current version has OS, which is Sigma's version of image stabilization, as well as HSM which is similar to Canon's USM focusing drive. This lens has a Focus Limiter (3 ranges), uses a 9 blade aperture, 62mm filters and comes with a matched hood. It cannot be fitted with a tripod ring.
Canon, Sigma and Tamron all offer longer macro focal lengths... 150mm and 180mm. In general I'd say those are pretty long to use on a crop sensor camera such as your 70D or my 7Ds. They all come with tripod rings, which is good because longer macro lenses can be difficult to keep steady. But they all are also considerably more expensive, so I won't go into the details about them.
Regarding auto focus speed... All macro lenses with AF are slower focusing for a couple reasons. One is that they have to move their focusing mechanisms a long, long way to go all the way from infinity to 1:1 magnification. Another is by design, they use "long throw" focus mechanisms that emphasize accuracy over speed, which is necessary because depth of field can be quite shallow at high magnifications. So, in general, don't expect a macro lens to offer the same AF speed as a non-macro lens with similar focus drive mechanism. What can help a lot are the type of focus drive and if the lens offers a Focus Limiter. Canon's USM, Sigma's HSM and Tamron's USD all will give faster focusing than micro motor drive systems on other lenses. Properly used, a Focus Limiter can really speed up focusing performance, too.
When shooting macro, auto focus speed usually isn't all that critical. In fact, I often just focus manually. Accuracy often is more important, due to the shallow depth of field. So AF perfomance might be a bigger consideration if planning to also use the lens a lot for non-macro purposes.
Image Stabilization (Canon OS, Sigma OS and Tamron VC) is offered on a few premium models. Canon's is a special hybrid version developed just for macro purposes, which most feel is a bit more effective than other forms of stabilization. Nikon actually was the first to put stabilization (they call it VR) on a macro lens, but most agree that while it's useful for non-macro shooting, it is of little practical assistance at 1:1 magnification. The Canon hybrid IS is considered to be a bit better at higher magnifications, but even it will be of limited effectiveness at 1:1. In other words, there may be times when you want to use a tripod or at least a monopod. And in those cases, particularly on some of the larger lenses, a tripod mounting ring can be a very nice thing to have (among all the above, only the Canon 100mm macro lenses can be fitted with a t'pod  ring).
There are other options to "do macro", too. For example, you could simply get some Macro Extension Tubes to use with your current lens, to make it focus closer. Canon offers quality individual tubes in 25mm and 12mm lengths ($84 and $140 respectively). Kenko does too, but also offers a set of three that includes 12mm, 20mm and 36mm lengths (set sells for $200).  The Kenko are very close to the Canon in design, quality and performance.
There are also less expensive sets (under $100) from Zeikos and Opteka. The Zeikos set includes 13mm, 21mm and 31mm and sell under a bunch of different brand names (Vivitar, Bower, Dot Line, ProOptic and many more). The Opteka set was just recently introduced and includes 12mm, 20mm and 36mm. All these sets are more plasticky than the Canon and Kenko tubes, but they do support autofocus and direct control of the aperture.
AFAIK, all the currently sold macro extension tubes for Canon mount are compatible with both EF and EF-S lenses. (If you were shopping used you'd have to be careful because some of the older tubes were EF only and could not be used with your EF-S 18-135mm lens).  
Canon's TS-E 45mm and TS-E 90mm lenses also are usable for near-macro and, with extension tubes added, macro shooting. These are Tilt-Shift lenses that give additional control over the plane of focus which can be used to good effect with macro and shallow depth of field. I use a TS-E 45mm a lot for table top studio shots of small products. However, these are manual focus only, largely tripod-only and rather pricey lenses, so I just wanted to mention them here. They are probably not something I'd recommend for a first time macro shooter or general purpose, outdoor, walk-around macro work.
Personally, my two most-used macro lenses are a Canon EF 100/2.8 USM (the older model) and a Tamron SP 60/2.0. When I'm planning to shoot a lot of outdoor, walk-around macro shooting, the Canon lens is my first choice. However, it's rather large so when I'm not planning macro, but want to have a macro lens just in case, I'll substitute it with the much more compact Tamron lens. (Which also can replace two portrait lenses in my camera bag, so reduces my load by one lens serving in place of three.)
Another key consideration is flash. Often when shooting macro it's a challenge to get enough light to allow a stopped down lens, desirable ISO and adequately fast shutter speed. So you probably will find yourself wanting to use flash sooner or later. Canon offers two macro-specific flashes: the MR14 EX Ring Lite and the MT24EX Twin Lite. I use both for different purposes. I prefer the Twin Lite for macro shots up to about 1:1, maybe 2:1 (double life size) magnification. The Ring Lite I mostly use for very high magnification shots with the MP-E 65mm lens.
All the Canon lenses above have provision for, or can be adapted to allow for direct mounting of the two Canon macro flashes (Note: I believe there is a new "Mark II" version of the Ring Lite coming out soon). There also are adapters available to mount these flashes on non-macro Canon or onto third party lenses. It also is possible to use a single "standard" flash, along with an off-camera shoe cord and some sort of diffusion to hold back the flash, when shooting macro. I do that often with 550EX and 580EX II flashes.
There are other macro-specific accessories you may want to consider eventually. Often I'll use a diffusion panel and/or a reflector when out in full sun, to reduce too extreme contrast and help fill too-deep shadows. A focusing stage is another useful thing, when shooting macro with a tripod.
Finally, I recommend you pick up some books on macro photography. John Shaw's "Close-Ups in Nature" is perhaps the "Bible" among them and likely the most comprehensive. I also found books about macro by Tim Fitzharris and Joe & Mary MacDonald very helpful and interesting. I'm sure there are others, but those came immediately to mind.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM 
Almost 2,400 words to answer a macro lens post? Alan, nobody can believe you can write so much (except TCampbell, ha ha) but you risk nobody wanting to read. See the link that follows for the sort of difficulty readers have with this sort of post, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn't_read