Macro For Pentax K10D

Hi,
I have several lenses but would like to get a good macro. I'd like to be able to photograph bees, spiders, etc.. Also, I am planning to do some Dog and Cat Photography and would like to do close-ups. Does anyone have a good lens recommendation for a Pentax KD10?

Thank you.

As an Pentax user, you can use variety of lenses. Do you prefer manual or AF? There are outstanding performers in both categories. For your subjects, longer focal lengh is suitable. I think you can't go wrong with third party manufacturers with AF lenses, they all are very good performers, sharp with beautiful bokeh (out of focus area). I mean Sigma, Tamron, Tokina. I have personal experience only with few of them as there is lots of variants out there. They go from 90mm to 180mm.
MF lenses are older, cheaper, but as high in performance as autofocus lenses. You can mount them with proper adapter. Pentax is good brand in this regard. Some examples: M42: Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5, Kiron 105mm f/2.8, Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.8 (or the same lens with Tokina name). Cheap is Cosina 100mm f/3.5 Macro as well. I have no experience with old pentax (takumar) lenses.
All macro lenses are exceptional walk around primes IMO. Whatever lens you choose you should not be disappointed. Maybe the most important thing is AF/MF and focal lengh.
Best regards, Jakub Mach

I have the Tamron 90-mm ("SP 90mm f/2.8 Di 1:1 AF") macro. It is significantly lighter than other brands' equivalent lenses, and I find the build quality nevertheless excellent. Re the focal length: compared with shorter and longer lenses, the 90-105-mm macro lenses may not be the best for every situation, but they're always a good choice and never the worst.

Thanks for the replies and info. I would prefer the ability to do both: Manual or AF. Sometimes I am in locations where I need manual to focus in on the subject, but in most cases AF is what I use since I like to photograph birds. Also, I am looking at a macro to get better shots of bees which can be difficult to manual focus. Is Sigma a good brand of lens?

I'm extremely happy my Sigma 180mm Macro for the field of work I do, I sometimes extend it with Tubes or a 2x Teleplus MC 7 for the smaller subjects.

Charles R Kerr

The Sigma 105 macro is a fantastic lens. I've used it with my Pentax K10D for all the macro shots on my photoblog.

Thanks for the info and sharing your blog as an example. Sigma 105 is one I have been looking at along with the Pentax 100mm, Tamron AF 90 mm, and the Sigma 70 mm. I've been reading and looking at works, the blog examples helped. Thanks again.

Thanks for your help and advice, but I have become more confused about which macro lens to buy. Not because of anyone's opinion here, but because I went to my local camera shop to purchase the lense and they don't carry it. Then, I was bombarded with how if I were to upgrade my camera, I would have to "re-chip" my lense or buy a new one. Currently, I don't have plans to update my camera anytime soon.

Being relatively new to this field, I put in on hold, again. Is this something I can expect when buying a lense? Thanks again for your opinions and advice.