Best budget macro lens for A6500

[Johnhoward28]

Spring is here and I have been out shooting nature to the tune of 2000 pictures in the last few days. Mostly wildflowers and insects. I have used four different lenses and I am just not happy with what I am getting in the macro department. I just can't land a really sharp macro. The four lenses I am using are as follows.

1. Sony 18-135mm f3.5 OSS

2. Sigma Macro 50mm f2.8 (Adapted legacy film Pentax lens)

3. Pentax-M SMC Macro 100mm f4 (Adapted legacy film Pentax lens)

4. Helios 44-2 58mm F2 (Adapted)

The sharpest and brightest of these four lenses is the Sony, but it is not a macro.  The only true Macro is the Sigma, but you have to be like 1/2 inch away from the subject to get a close-up and then it is a virtually flat DOF. The Pentax 100mm gives me the longer focusing distance I want, but the glass is crap and it produces really soft images.  The Helios is a really nice lens with great bokeh, and a long focus distance, but it is not a macro lens either.

So the two main feature I want is SHARP and longer focusing distance.  I know that the answer is the Sony 90mm Macro, but that is out of my price range.  I don't mind doing everything manually, and actually, prefer it when it comes to macro photography.  I even switch the Sony lens to manual use the focus magnifier and peaking when doing macro.

I just want a really good sharp macro lens, so I can get up close and person with very small objects.  Take this picture for example.  This is a close as I could get with the Sony 18-135mm on this tiny bug.