Sony R7 V with Hoya Close-Up Kit 82mm

[Mario]

Greetings all,
I would like to explore macro photography and I would very much appreciate any advice with regards to coupling Sony 7R with Hoya Close-Up Kit 82mm.
Has anybody used the combo and if so are you happy with results?
Is anything else needed, a flash etc?
I have only attended one macro session and I absolutely loved the experience.
I hired macro lens for 3 days but I am told that close-up kit is almost as good but significantly cheaper and more portable.

The kit itself is not exactly cheap so I would like to find out if it works before I go ahead and buy it.

Thanks very much in advance.

​

 

[dragonsdreams]

The Hoya kit looks like a selection of close up/ supplementary lenses. That is certainly a good start to get you closer to your subject. A macro lens would be a substantial investment and probably left until you are sure you are hooked on macro.
I would normally recommend to start using sunlight to get used to balancing the need to get the best depth of field without sacrificing too much speed
However as you live in the UK and the sunny days are few and far between you might like to invest in a cheap flash unit with a diffuser ( easy to make a home made one).
A flash will eliminate the light problem but you will need to learn a little about controlling the amount of light coming from the flash to get natural looking photos. It takes a little experimentation to get it all right.
Best advice I can give is watch a lot of beginners videos on You Tube regarding macro.
Hope that helps.

 

[Peter K]

Concerning the flash: the usual gear you put in the hot shoe on your camera will be to high to get a good light on a close subject. You might consider a ring flash, there are ring flashes where you can change the amount of light one side to the other which makes it more natural. Other option: use a regular flash with a radio trigger as remote flash. Godox is good and affordable.

 

[Mario]

Concerning the flash: the usual gear you put in the hot shoe on your camera will be to high to get a good light on a close subject. You might consider a ring flash, there are ring flashes where you can change the amount of light one side to the other which makes it more natural. Other option: use a regular flash with a radio trigger as remote flash. Godox is good and affordable.

Thanks very much.
However, flash is something I am currently investigating but my question is more around Hoya close-up filters.
In UK, a set of three is around £330, Sony has recently launched new Macro lens which is around £1300.
I don't doubt that dedicated macro lens will give better results but for somebody embarking on macro photography purely as a hobby, is it really £1000 better, plus it adds bulk for sure. The latest lens is not available for hire yet and I don't see Hoya close-up kit available anywhere for hire.
The best think to do is to buy cheap close-up kit and if I see it does the job reasonably well I will get Hoya kit, otherwise Sony macro lens it is.

 

[Richard A]

I reckon that there will be a lot of good second hand 90mm macro lenses around once the new lens is available. That’s what I’m waiting for.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Thanks very much.
However, flash is something I am currently investigating but my question is more around Hoya close-up filters.
In UK, a set of three is around £330, Sony has recently launched new Macro lens which is around £1300.
I don't doubt that dedicated macro lens will give better results but for somebody embarking on macro photography purely as a hobby, is it really £1000 better, plus it adds bulk for sure. The latest lens is not available for hire yet and I don't see Hoya close-up kit available anywhere for hire.
The best think to do is to buy cheap close-up kit and if I see it does the job reasonably well I will get Hoya kit, otherwise Sony macro lens it is.

That's still a significant amount of money for something I would expect (no experience with it!) to be somewhat compromised.

The new Sony macro lens is a top-of-the-line lens - it's a G Master lens, and Sony's G Master principles are quite demanding - a lens has to meet a lot of criteria to be given the GM badge. GM lenses are expensive, and intended for users who can afford and want the best Sony can offer. You do not have to start with this one!

You do not have to aim for the best macro lens to get started. Sony now has four macro offerings:

• yes, the brand-new Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro GM lens - top of the line, and supporting 1.4x life-size macro, plus multiple bells and more than a few whistles (including teleconverter support all the way out to 2.8x life-size)
• the Sony 70-200mm f/4 G II Macro zoom. NOTE: this lens is only 0.5x life-size by itself, but reaches 1:1 macro using the 2x teleconverter (albeit at f/8) - it's the only zoom option
• the venerable, but still relevant 90mm f/2.8 Macro - this is an excellent zoom lens, giving 1:1 macro
• the oft-over-looked 50mm f/2.8 macro lens - about half the price of the 90mm, but still a full 1:1 macro (I overlooked this one because I thought it was a 0.5:1 macro (I was confused - I was thinking of a Canon 50mm macro)

As Richard suggested, you could get a used 90mm Macro, and get what was Sony's primary macro lens for many years.

You could even look for a used Sony 50mm Macro for around the same price as the Hoya kit. It's a true macro lens, and also usable as a general 50mm lens, too.

That's Sony's macro lenses, but there are a whole bunch of third party macro lenses, too. Some are right up with the Sony lenses in sharpness and image quality. Some have restrictions (more than a few of them are strictly manual focus - make sure you know if the lens you are looking at is manual focus). And some are kinda weird (yes, I'm thinking of that Laowa Probe lens, for example). A lot of the third party macro lenses are cheaper than Sonys.

Honestly, I'd get a real macro lens rather than a close up kit from a filter maker.