Hi, I'm about to buy my first slr in a month, i want to take macro shots so i decided to buy sigma 150 macro usm but for the bodies im not sure :S any help much appreciated

150 macro is a great lens,but mechanical very bad!

Why that? I use mine without any problems since three years now.

I think it's a very very fine lens.

I have a D90 with the AF Micro-NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8D!! Love that combo!!. The 60mm is like a 90mm on the D90 and has a WONDERFUL 3D feel to it on that crop sensor!!! The 60 has less telephoto compression than the 105 or the 150. Gives great results on a crop camera!! And less money too!! Also makes a great portrait combo!!

You would love it!!

Some examples:

@Christian thank you so much i think I'm gonna do this i mean i try them and i think now I'm more interested to Nikon D90 :) and what do you think about a nikkor 18-105mm vr lens? i was searching all the day and found that ppl are happy with it

aw that sounds cool, have to see my money too, cheers

I´m no special fan of Sigma lenses but the 150 Macro Lens is superb and very sharp ( used on Fuji S5 and Nikon D200).
Take the cam which feels better in your hands. Enjoy the fetish ;)

remember on a crop camera, the 150mm is the equivalent of 225mm, ok if you want bug eyes, not so great if you want flowers. Just keep in mind...

@Clyde Beamer hi, now i have a doubt cause i thought it will work for flower and plants closeups too, so what do you suggest? thanks a lot for noticing that

Sigma 105 macro is well thought of.
Jon

@Clyde oh thanks now read your great comment and samples, so nikkor 60mm works on flowers and plants too

Farhad, as for the camera choice, either will be an excellent choice. Both displaying up to the minute features and specification. I reckon it would all come down to which system you feel you want to buy into and which feels the most natural and comfortable to use and handle in your hand. Try them out side by side in a shop to get a fell of their controls and ergonomics, decide from there.

You can buy Sigma, Tamron, Tokina lenses for each camera but you will have to stick with one manufacturers brand of leneses once you have chosen your camera.

Good luck and enjoy your shooting.
JP

Yep, D90 w/ 60mm Micro is a quite nice little kit for both macro and portrait work. Be sure to get a good tripod and a monopod for walking around. A must for macro work!!

The 50D has a lot more pro things, like faster frame speed, weather sealing, tougher body, more cross AF sensors.

But the D90 sure wins at higher ISO values.

Since one week I am the happy owner of the D90. And I use the older Nikkor 105 AF micro. Great lens and not that expensive second hand.
You could also look for the 90mm Tamron, almost or just as sharp as the Nikkor.

But if it is flowers you want to photograph, why not buy a cheap reverse-ring and mount your default lens backwards on your body? Great to test cheaply what you want out of your macro lens (more lens - subject distance, larger enhancement, etc etc).

And there are other cheap possibilities to experiment with as well. No need to buy a 300+ euro lens to experiment with macro.

Or, rent to try out.

There are also free macro capabilities to experiment with.

For example suppose you decide to buy a Nikon D90. This is a 12MP camera and this gives you images of 4,288 x 2,848 pixels.

If you don't print your images but want to upload them to the web (to 1x.com) you'll find that the max resolution you need is 850x700.

This gives you an enlargement of 5 in the case of a landscape picture. You can cut out a part of your picture of 850x570 if you want to stick to a 2:3 image and throw away all the other pixels.

And suppose you have the kit lens 18-105 which has a maximum reproduction rate of 1:5 (105mm focused at 0.45m).

Those two numbers would yield an image of 850x570 at 1:1. Not a very printable picture but very showeable macro on the web.

:) But ofcourse you want a macro lens, like I wanted one. It's because of the LPS (Lens Possession Syndrome) and a cure has not yet been found.

By the way, the supercheap kitlens 18-55 VR has a reproduction ratio of 1:3.2 which would get you from micro into macro territory.

i would go to the DxO website and compare the two cameras and decide which one suits your needs. http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Image-Quality-Database/Compare-cameras/%28appareil1%29/294|0/%28appareil2%29/267|0/%28onglet%29/0/%28brand%29/Nikon/%28brand2%29/Canon

according to this site the nikon outperforms the canon. it is an unbiased site which i find very useful.

I have owned both cameras and although the D90 was a great camera. I slightly prefer the 50D simply due to its build quality and (in my eyes) slightly better image quality and choice of lens. This could just be down to the particular models I owned though.

The biggest decision maker should be future lens choices as mentioned before. The canon has a superb higher priced macro lens. I think it is a 65mm which comes with a 2X converter but I could be wrong. The results from this lens are among the best I have ever seen on a macro lens.

Just do some more research into lens choice. Good luck

I would get a 50D, ef-s 60 macro (very sharp), and with the money you save kenko set of tubes and a x1.4 teleconverter ;-)
I own 40D and ef 100 Macro, the good about canon lenses is that they do not extend while they focus

I'll quote dpreview on this one as I went through pretty much the same thing three months back:

Switching to our benchmark RAW converter, Adobe Camera RAW equalizes image processing between the two cameras and allows us to get a much better idea of the level of detail actually captured. As you can see both cameras images look crisper and exhibit better detail but the 40D stills beats the newer model in terms of per pixel detail. Despite of a 22% increase in vertical and horizontal resolution the extra detail captured by the 50D is marginal. Unsurprisingly color and contrast are near identical though.

I did my best to find a new 40D but it was already out of stores here, and in the end got a D90.

Another thing to keep in mind about your system choice:

Canon has a great advantage for professional macro and thats 1-5x enlarging 65mm 2.8 macro. Keep in mind that this is not the lens you work out of hand, all the successful shots I saw with it were well lit and with a macro rail.

Nikon cameras on the other hand tend to work better with Sigma lenses, I am unsure why but there are plenty of examples all over the review sites and user blogs where Sigma has a back/front focus on Canon, and works flawlessly on a Nikon.

As for the 150mm macro, every single review I found says 105mm is a faster focuser and sharper, also on a crop sensor which your getting it is roughly a 150mm equivalent. I saw a comment about flowers and longer macros with a 60 having the advantage. Keep in mind 105 will give you extra working range with things smaller than a flower.

And the final advise is go to a store and get it, don't order online. Check if the lens focuses correctly before you take it home; it could potentially save you a lot of headache.

All the best luck with the buy,
Milos.

Save you money and buy bigger better god like tool not something that is now out dated. Both are out the door.