Scenes of Vermont Forums

The salesman at Green Mountain Camera recommended the Canon 100mm macro. We also talked over the Tamron and Sigma lenses but I'm on a fixed income now. I bought a used quantaray 18-200mm is lense this spring and it does well. I have a new canon sx10 camera with the 20x zoom now. I've been using the super macro setting and have had good luck with it. The 20x zoom has been real handy. I use the rebel for everything between macro and 20x.

I have never used them, but I have spoken with folks who have used the screw on macro lenses (they screw on the front of the lens like a filter) and I understand they work reasonably well. They are relatively inexpensive.

The Canon SX does an admirable job. But in my view, you are giving up a lot in creative control. With flower closeups, I always recommend a tripod and playing around a lot with different apertures. I also fiddle around with off-camera flash, trying different lighting angles. If you have a diffuser (or an old piece of cheesecloth or a sheet or something, you can often get interesting (or if the light is too bright -- better) results. Also, using some foil (gold, if you can get it) as a reflector, directing the sunlight around on the subject will often yield pleasing results.

When I find a good subject, it is not unusual for me to crawl around on my hands, knees, and even belly, for hours in the same area.

I wasn't sure what kind of hike it would have been at the Bog so I didn't bring the big tripod. My niece borrowed my light weight tripod for a trip. I got to get that back. I'm not in a big hurry to buy a macro right now. Them problem is no one has the sigma or tamron lenses on hand so I can't look them over before I buy any of them. The one thing I can do is too examine all of my photos and see what works.