Choice of Lenses Aquarium Photograpy

[Gary_T]

About a week ago, I got a Canon 300d (the digital rebel), and have since got the cable for remote shutter release for use with a tripod.
I've been looking at the Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM Zoom Lens, mainly because I don't want to have to change lenses all of the time and thought it would be a good all-purpose lens for almost any situation. With the sensor size of the camera, it translates to the equivalent of 44-320mm. Specs say it will focus at 17.7" for the entire zoom range.
I know it's not a macro lense, but will it work for getting really good up-close shots in the aquarium, or will I need to get an actual macro lens for that? If this won't work well, could somebody recomend a lens that will work good for aquarium shots?
I haven't perfected my up-close shots yet, but here are a couple acutal-pixel size shots, any advice would be apprecieated.

 

[madmeri]

weeelllll.....

as jealous as i am you have that camera...

ideally, when you want macro photos - usually defined as lifesize on the film, or in this case on the sensor) there are many different ways of going about this.

1. close up filters that attach to the lens at the front
essentially the poor mans macro lens.. problem with those is that you're going to get distortion and they're not that great

2. extension tubes (like kenko tubes) - another cheap alternative, but you will get light loss with these. they go between the lens and the camera body.

3. macro lens - the more expensive, but by far the nicest way to do macro/close up work. a good lens could set you back a few hundred $.

the extension tubes you can pick up for $120 for a set of three, and get yourself say the 50mm 1.8 lens from canon, and you can have yourself a nice little set up.

the extension tubes also ahve the added advantage of being able to go onto zoom lenses (except, i think the lens that comes with the 300D).

do a search for extension tubes and macro photography for more info - i don't have access to my bookmarks at the moment

hope that helps.

 

[mkirda]

The Canon Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens is what you want.

The lens you have may be ok, but it will not take good macro shots as it is not designed to do that kind of work.

Next thing to buy... External flash with sync cord. Your photos are not sharp due to the long exposure times and the fact that the polyps are moving.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[madmeri]

the sigma 105mm EX 2.8 is also a really nice choice of macro lens - at about 3/4 of the cost of the canon counterpart.

also - you really do not need such a small aperture... go to about f8 or so, and you'll get faster times

-- Lisa

 

[mkirda]

also - you really do not need such a small aperture... go to about f8 or so, and you'll get faster times

-- Lisa

I'd suggest more that people test this and see what they like. Start at f8 and work down to f32, one stop at a time. Especially with digital, it doesn't cost you a thing besides time.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[Gary_T]

Thank you all for your information, and suggestions. My next purchase will be an external flash. This coming weekend I'll spend some time with the tripod, and different aperature settings, from minimum to maximum as recomended.