Macro lenses

I need some advice here. During the spring and summer months, I do a lot of butterfly/dragonfly photography and up to now, I have been using an Olympus C8080WA which has allowed me to take some nice, albeit very noisy close-ups. Now that I have a 400D SLR I intend to buy a decent macro lens for the coming year. My question is would I be better off buying the canon f2.8 100mm lens, the sigma 105 f2.8, the sigma 150 f2.8 or the sigma 180 f3.5. The canon 180 is sadly beyond my means. Any other suggestions or advice kit-wise.
I'd appreciate your help.

I love my Sigma 150/2.8 macro. Great working distance and very sharp. See my website for macroshots taken with this lens.

Edwin Kats

Eric,

Either of the Sigma longer lenses are good choices, particularly for Bflies and damsels/dragons... the extra working distance is what counts.....

I often will use my 300mm lens with tubes to get even more....

HTH

Phil

Another vote for the Sigma 150mm F2.8. Cracking lens, compact in size and razor sharp.

Chris.

Yet another here. The Sigma 150mm f/2.8 has the advantage of a fixed length during focussing whilst being long enough to give a reasonable working distance and is still usable by hand if necessary. (Tripod or monopod prefered.)
Wouldn't be without mine!

Ian

Hi Eric, A good person to speak to is Guy Rogers who is a member and regularly exhibits on the macro forum. He is very knowledgable on macro and uses the sigma 180mm.His email is oly2040@aol.com.

Sig 180mm here Eric, on my D2Xs it's awesome - wouldn't part with it for anything. But I am considering the 150mm for my Canon next year - sometimes I find the 180mm on a 1.5 crop just a tad too much if you know what I mean.

All my dragon images on my website are shot with the 180mm on the D2Xs.

Hi I prefer the 180 sigma I have had mine from the day they came out, I used to have the f2.8 version previously and that is a fantastic lens, I do have 3 other macro lenses as well but like I say the 180 is my favourite.

Phillip.

From the four lenses you mention and taking into consideration your intention to use it for butterflies and damselflies my choice without a doubt would be either the Sigma 150mm or the 180mm.
All four lenses will give superb images, but as already mentioned the extra working distance and narrower angle of view would be of prime importance for the subjects you specify.

If you wish to see some outstanding images that have been taken with the Sigma 180mm macro lens, with and without extenders, then check out the superb quality images HERE

Justin has beaten me to it. Juza's website has some great shots and advice re using with extenders. Infact the whole website should be in your favourites!!

If you do a lot of butterfly/dragonfly photography I would go with the longer 150/180 lenses. The choice between Sigma and Canon is really a case of wallet size. The specs on both are great and Sigma macros are exceptionally sharp. I get by with a Canon 100mm F.28 macro, but would rathe rtrade up to a Sigma 150/180 - The extra reach is very useful.

Thanks to everybody who has replied to this thread. I was wondering if anybody would tell me to save harder and stick out for the Canon 180, but so many top photographers are using the sigmas that it doesn't appear to be an issue. The quality of the shots on these websites is answer enough and they're all in my favourites folder now. Now all I have to do is trip up santa as he goes past.......

The Sigma 150mm is my preferred lens for butterflies as it it gives more working distance but the focus in AF does hunt a lot so it's mainly used in manual. For sharpness on smaller bugs you can't beat the Canon 100mm. PS I regularly use extension tubes on both of the lens as well for really close work