Wide Angle vs Macro Lens

[mljrbg]

I have a Nikon D80, 10.2 Megapixels. I use a 55-135mm lens and do a lot of flower shots. I have always cropped my images and I am not happy with the results if I want the center of the flower etc. Would the image be different if I used a macro lens and just shot the center of the flower?

Thanks.

Mary Lou

[lowbone]

I'm not really sure what you mean. A macro lens will allow you to get much closer to the center of the flower and fill the frame with it. You can fill the frame with a subject that is approximately one and a half inches wide. If you are referring to quality loss when cropping the center of the flower then yes, because the macro lens allows you to get in very close and eliminate allot of cropping. Just by virtue of the fact that you are working with a bigger uncropped image will give you much better quality.
If you plan to do allot of flowers then a macro lens would be a good investment and it will also double as a portrait lens. Keep in mind that focus, camera movement and depth of field are critical with a macro lens and a tripod will be very helpful.

[Edmund]

Mary Lou, Lowbone hit it on the head. Meaning that with a Macro lense you will have a very shallow depth of field. It's almost like only everything in a single plane will be in focus. Try shooting at only the smallest f-stops (f-16 or f-22), use a tripod as the speed will most likely be slow. Also most zoom lenses are not that sharp at there widest openings. I have the D-90 and use the 18-200 mm VR zoom and always shoot at the sweet F-stop of f-8 and above. I looked at your galleries and your flower shots were really beautiful. With my film camera the N-90s I used a close up lense /filter that screwed on the lens to get you in closer but you cannot use these on the DX format cameras(I think).
Hope this helps,
Eddie:)

[Codebreaker]

A macro lens is a good investment if you want close ups of flowers, insects etc. At its minimum focusing distance it will allow you to capture the subject at 1:1, although with Crop Sensors the image is a little larger.

On the other hand your normal lens, if its of good quality, should allow you to crop just what you want with good results. However, you have to be careful about how you crop and what you want to do with the result.

A basic crop will just reduce the number of Pixels which means that if you want a print it will have to be smaller than the pre-crop image other wise quality suffers.

There are ways of cropping which allow you to preserve the number of pixels allowing for a bigger print. These methods will re-sample the image and again can cause loss of quality.

In short a Macro is a better option but cropping can work as well.

Colin

[mljrbg]

Thanks everyone for your help. I have always cropped my flowers and it has worked well. I am now trying to get pics of the center of the flowers etc. and it is not working well. I have all winter to "play" with my pictures and will try again in the spring. Maybe there is a macro lens in my future!!

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my question.

Edmund, thank you for looking at my gallery and you nice comment.

Mary Lou