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Which macro/micro lens to buy depends a lot on your subjects. For most nature/wildlife subjects you'll want something in the 100mm to 200mm range just for the working distance with longer being better for skittish, live subjects. There are 40mm and 60mm macro lenses available for DX cameras like the D500 but for true 1:1 macro work the working distance between the front of the lens and subject is very small, as in a couple of inches, which makes things difficult in terms of getting close and not blocking the light. That close working distance is fine for things like slide copying and copy camera work but not so great for nature macro work.
There are alternatives to dedicated macro lenses. For instance adding a Canon 500D or Nikon 5T, 6T diopter to your existing lens in the 100mm-200mm range makes a great macro setup for a fraction of the cost of a new lens. It's basically like adding close up reading glasses to an existing lens. The downside is that you lose far focus capabilities when the close up diopter is mounted.
The Canon 500D in the 77mm filter thread size is a very good match to your 70-200mm f/2.8. It was my macro setup for Butterflies and small insects for many years and it's a very good high image quality solution.
Will that actually fit a Nikon though being a canon product? I didn't think that their stuff was interchangeable
It's just a big filter, screws onto any lens with 77mm front threads.
Yes, as Warren posted above it just screws onto the front of a lens just like a filter and fits any lens with the appropriate filter threads. I used a Canon 500D with 77mm filter threads on several generations of Nikkor 70-200mm (and the old 80-200mm) lenses and it works just fine. It's really no different than using something like a B&W or Hoya screw on filter.
I don't know what's going on with my mind today I didn't even think about it being a filter. And it is 77 mm because of my lens.thanks I'm having one of them days they changed my nerve pain medication and it makes me a bit dull
Thank you for the information. I wasn't even thinking about it being a filter
I just looked and I cannot find the canon 500d in 77 mm but I can find the 250d also the only thing I can find in 77 mm other than that is a hoya set and it's the only thing that gets any kind of good reviews. Will I be better off going with the 250d?
Marumi also makes quality achromat close up filters. They are easily found on Amazon if you cannot fine them at your favorite store.
My go to macro lens has been the Sigma 105mm OS. Using it with the group AF focus mode and limiter, it can easily compensate for back and forth movements when shooting close to 1:1.
If you're not actually going to shoot 1:1 macro or close to it and just want a little closer focusing out of your existing lenses then an extension ring makes more sense than a close up diopter. With a diopter attached your far focus is heavily limited as in 30cm to maybe 50cm for the farthest subjects down to something like 5cm from the front of your 70-200mm lens. That can be great for actual macro subjects but if you just want closer focusing for something like backyard birds then the diopter approach isn't great. A close up diopter is basically like adding reading glasses to your lens and allows very close focus but at the cost of losing normal to far focus.
Just to reiterate what @DRwyoming just stated above, the diopter is going to give you a very limited focus range to work with. If that specific range works for you then you are good to go. But if you are trying to frame a shot of a flower or cluster of flowers, you are only going to have a limited amount of range to work with, and that may or may not align with how you want to frame your subject. An extension tube will probably give you a larger range of focus to work with and frame a shot. Then again, it is probably a bit easier to mount a close-up filter as it is just a screw on/screw off. The extension tube will require that you remove the lens. Not really a big deal, but not ideal in windy or wet conditions.
