I have recently taken interest in insect photography, and have thought about purchasing a macro lens to help the photo quality.
First off, does anyone know of a macro lens I could get (hopefully inexpensive) for my Canon EOS rebel t7? After some quick searching, I realized @huttonia had talked about one in this post, but did not mention a specific brand or product.
Secondly, is there anything else I should know about macro photography that is wildly different than regular photography? (i.e, if there are any supplies or settings that need to be incorporated that wouldn’t be used to photograph something with a regular lens)
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Firstly buy second hand (let the original owner pay the depreciation for you). Just a note that it may be a good idea to include your definition of inexpensive as it varies greatly from person to person.
I’ve listed the best affordable macro lenses for Canon EF/EF-S mount below (roughly in order of the better lenses first):
- Sigma 105mm EX DG OS HSM Macro.
- Tamron 90mm SP Di VC USD Macro (there are two versions - both are good).
- Sigma 150mm EX DG OS HSM Macro (if you need a bit more working distance).
- Canon 100mm USM Macro (non L series).
- Canon 60mm USM Macro (shorter working distance than the others, EF-S mount only).
The first three lenses listed have image stabilizers which can make a world of difference at macro range. The ~100mm lenses are good as general purpose macro lenses but the 150mm is great if you need a bit more working distance (for skittish subjects for example).
The biggest thing in macro is probably the depth of field is generally quite narrow so focusing has to be accurate, the other big thing is light - it is 100% possible to do macro with natural light but most people use flash with a diffuser as it lets you use narrower apertures (more depth of field). Also as a last note autofocus generally doesn’t work very well at macro range - my Sigma 150mm macro does a decent job but I still have it set to back button (using the af-on button as opposed to half press of the shutter button) and use entirely manual focus at the maximum magnification end.
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Totally agree with Felix-insects. Great advice. You can get good results in macro with fairly inexpensive gear and work your way up to the more demanding stuff. Getting the lighting right makes more of a difference than the lens
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An excellent review by felix-insects. I’ll just add that I’ve been photographing mostly macro for a great many years now and have accumulated a few macro lenses in my time, but I find my go-to lens is almost always the Sigma 105mm. I bought mine in long ago 2005 and after misusing and abusing it almost daily, it’s still going strong. Have fun!
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Yeah those Sigma lenses are built well - I had to take my 150mm macro apart and the internal structural components are all cast metal, explains why it’s so heavy! I assume that it’s the older 105mm EX DG (see photo below) given that you got it in 2005?
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Yes, that’s her, a few scratches and dents, but she’s never let me down 
! I’ve also got the 150mm which I love even more for quality and performance in the field, but it’s just too big and heavy to carry around all the time, especially if I’ll be walking any distance.
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It’s a nice lens isn’t it - it was my first proper macro lens and I just recently retired mine from field work as I’m now using the sigma 150mm and Tamron 90mm macro. I’ll have to pull it apart and get the mechanism working nicely again at some point (the focus ring resistance is not even and there is some grit somewhere).
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