kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

Fuji and Olympus make excellent lenses. Pentax as well. And of course we cannot leave out Sigma. On the costly side we have Zeiss and Leitz. The fact is that all lens makers now have access to computers to perform raytracing and model lens performance almost instantaneously. There are machines to precision grind element and new plastics for complex aspherics. The number of glass formulations with varying indices of refraction and dispersion has expanded tremendously, and new coatings mean that designers can add multiple elements without losing too much transmission or contrast. Digital correction of lens faults has allowed designers great latitude and kept costs and complexity down. The advances in lens performance in the past decade have been tremendous.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Macro lenses are designed to focus very closely, allowing you to photograph very small subjects. With some limitations, they are able to be used to photograph distant objects, too... all the way to infinity.

"Macro" is not rigidly defined. Some lenses that are labelled as such really aren't macro.

A "real" macro lens is able to do at least 1:2 or "half life size" magnification. Some will argue it needs to be able to do full 1:1 or "life size" to be considered a "true" macro lens. What this means is that the lens is able to focus close enough to render an image area the same size as the sensor (or frame of film, in the case of film cameras). For example, the sensor of a so-called full frame camera is 24x36mm... or approx. 1" by 1.5". To be a 1:1 macro lens it needs to be able to "fill the viewfinder" with an object that size.

Some differences between macro and non-macro lenses...

- Macro lenses are often slower focusing. This is a deliberate trade off. They use a "long throw" focus mechanism that's designed for precision over speed. The reason for this is at high magnifications depth of field becomes very shallow and focus accuracy becomes more critical. Many experienced macro shooters choose to use manual focusing for greatest precision.

- It is not uncommon for macro lenses to have "focus limiters". These are used to help speed up focusing, by limiting the range the system will try to cover. (Long telephoto lenses often have similar limiters for the same reason.) If you ever have trouble focusing your macro lens, check to see if the limiter accidentally got set to the wrong range. Some macro lenses have 2-stage focus limiters: Usually full range and non-macro only. Others offer 3-stage limiters: Macro only, Full range and non-macro only.

- Macro lenses often are "flat field" designs. This means that they are designed to be sharp very evenly across the entire image area... corner to corner... when focused very close. Non-macro lenses generally don't require this because they are used at some distance where a little field curvature doesn't effect image sharpness. It's essentially "hidden" within the much greater depth of field the lens renders at 8 feet, 20 feet or infinity.

- Some macro lenses are internal focusing (IF)... some are not. IF lenses do not increase in length at all when focused closer... all the focusing occurs inside the lens. Generally speaking, IF lenses tend to be larger and more expensive. Non-IF macro lenses extend as they are focused closer... often doubling in length. While they may be compact when set to infinity, at the other extreme of full 1:1 magnification they can grow quite long. These factors effect the working distance between the front of the lens and the subject, which can be quite small at high magnifications. Note: Minimum focus distance or MFD is a commonly provided specification of lenses. However, it measures the distance to the subject from the film/sensor plane of the camera... and a significant portion of that distance is occupied partly by the camera body, the lens and any accessories fitted to the front of the lens. MFD with 1:1 macro lenses are approx. 8" with 50mm/60mm, approx. 12" with 90/100mm and approx. 18" with 180/200mm macro lenses. But, again, this IS NOT the same as working distance between the front of the lens and the subject.

- Some macro lenses have image stabilization. Don't expect this to be as effective at high magnification as it is at non-macro distances. A lot of macro shooters prefer to use a tripod or at least a monopod.

- Some macro lenses, especially those with longer focal lengths, have tripod mounting collars to facilitate using a tripod.

- Some macro lenses have specially designed front barrels to facilitate attaching specialized accessory flashes.

WaltR

Thank you all once again. Interesting. My question was more intellectual than practical. I use my 110mm and 90mm without caring if they are macro or not. I shoot 90% at f16, probably 5% at f22 and 5% at f11. one in 500 outside of that range. I often want closeups of flowers and MFD can be important, and DOF is always important for me. Bokeh is not in my vocabulary.
Also, since I process everything through rather amazingly good noise and sharpening routines, this all adds up to "It doesn't matter" if they are macro or not. But, this is the way I work, simple mindedly. your needs may be more sophisticated.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

This works absolutely fine for most purposes. One of my favorite lenses for closeup work is a 35mm lens from the 60s. As long as you are not trying to photograph flat objects with edge to edge sharpness it won't matter much.

therwol Loc: USA

Have you tried focus stacking?

WaltR

Sony RX1 Rii, 42mp, full frame, fixed 35mm. Small camera was my favorite for a long time. I took several thousand flower shots, very close, filling the frame over a couple of years. Great little camera at the time. No one seems to have even heard of it!

It still works great and I now mostly use it when I need to shoot very discreetly. It is small and quick.

WaltR

f16 is waaay quicker and much easier. I often shoot on the run and there would be no time to set my camera for a focus stack.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

And limited. You need enough light and even then, shooting macro you’re inches from the subject. At one foot your DOF is probably les than a centimeter. Closer and it’s in millimeters.