macro lens by pant

Apr 06, 2018 Written by Anurag Pant Lens

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MACRO LENS

1. A macro lens is a camera lens designed for photographing small subjects at very close distances. They can focus much nearer than normal lenses, allowing you to fill the frame with your subject and capture more detail.

2. A proper macro lens is designed to eliminate aberrations, focus colors and attain maximum sharpness on close-up subjects.

3. Macro is the photo opportunity that’s always available. You can find good close-up subjects just about anywhere. All you need is a way to make your camera focus close enough. 

4. Most macro lenses also are well corrected for flat fieldwork, such as photographing stamps and coins, which may or may not be useful for nature photography. 

5. Macro camera lenses normally have a fixed focal length (i.e. they are "prime" lenses). There are a few zoom macro lenses available but they tend to be of low quality and won't achieve such high magnification ratios as prime macro lenses.

6. Focal length is an important consideration in macro photography because it determines your “working distance” from the subject. The longer the focal length, the greater the working distance to achieve 1:1 magnification.

7. A magnification ratio of 1:1 means that when the camera is positioned at the closest focusing distance, the image formed on the sensor will be the same size as the subject. For this reason, a 1:1 ratio is also called "life size" or "standard".

8.  Minimum focusing distance is measured from the subject to the rear focal point of the lens, which is at the image sensor plane in the camera body. The term “working distance” is used to describe the distance between the subject and the front element of the lens.

9. Stability is huge in macro photography. While some cameras and lenses have stabilization built in, nothing can quite match the usefulness of a tripod for taking macro shots.

10. Autofocus is an important factor for most photographers these days. Given that macro prime lenses also work well for portraiture and general short telephoto shooting, a fast, accurate and quiet autofocus system is good to have.