Aquarium Photography

[mrdiscus]

I'm new to digital photography but am planning to buy a Nikon D70 mainly for photographing tropical fish hopefully for magazine publication. What I need to know is whether or not a macro lens is necessary bearing in mind the subjects will sometimes only be one inch in length? I'm familiar with normal slide photography and have some Nikon lenses but no macro. I know even cheap compact digitals will focus very close compared to SLR film cameras. Will for eg a 35-70mm Nikkor zoom perform exactly the same when fitted to a digital camera? Please help.

[Medic1210]

Originally posted by mrdiscus
Will for eg a 35-70mm Nikkor zoom perform exactly the same when fitted to a digital camera? Please help.

As far as focusing, yes, but with all DSLRs that don't use a full size image sensor, there is a FOV crop of around 1.5x. This means that your 35-70 on the D70 has a field of view of a 52-105mm lens.

Mike

[mrdiscus]

Thanks for reply.
How close up will eg. 35-70 zoom focus though when fitted to a D70. For example I've practised with a compact digital on a cigarette end as this is about the right size. If I can fill the screen with this and focus sharply the lens is adequate but a 35-70 nikkor will not do this when fitted to a 35mm slr so am I right in assumed that it wont with a d70 either?

[Medic1210]

Each lens has it's own minimum focusing distance. If your main focus is macro photography, then you should find a macro lens. A lot of zoom lenses offer a "macro" mode, but this is usually just a close focus setting. You could also look into the Nikon 3T, 4T or 5T and 6T closeup lens attachments. They screw onto the front of your lens and allow you to focus close at full zoom. I use a 5T and 6T lens, and it allows me to use full 432mm zoom as close as 12" when without it I can only focus down to ~7 feet.

Mike