Macro lens question

[Mike410]

Hello,

this may be a stupid question, but how do you tell if its a 'proper' macro lens and not a telephoto zoom with Macro capability?

Are the lenses that have focal ranges like 70-300mm proper macro lenses? I know they say Macro in their name but some are much cheaper than others.

Can macro lenses have a focal range like 70-300mm as well as a fixed focal length like 100mm?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Dogfish_magnet]

A true macro lens will give you 1:1 magnification and they are usually primes (fixed focal length), the 70-300mm macro are just close focusing give a 1:2 magnification (1/2 life size)


if you take a photo of a ruler at 1:1 the resulting image will be the same size as the sensor in your camera

Nikon crop sensor

and at 1:2 half life size something like a Sigma 70-300mm lens, you would get twice the size of the sensor

 

[HoppyUK]

All true macros are primes.

 

[Mike410]

Thanks for the replies!
one simple and one complicated

 

[CT]

Any zoom lens which has a marked 'macro' fuction isn't a true macro lens at all and quite how manufacturers get away with using the term beats me - it's very misleading. A true macro lens produces at least a 1:1 image ratio (life size) on the film or sensor. These lenses produce nowhere near that - all that happens is that when you set the 'macro' function on the lens, all the lens elements move forward to give you a closer focusing ability than the lens would normally have.

The function can be very useful in a walk about zoom lens as the 'macro' function does allow you to get closer than you would normally, and it does enable some quite close up photography of fairly small subjects, but compared to a true macro lens, which is designed from the ground up for macro work they're very unimpressive. As already stated, a true macro lens is always a prime.

Imagine photgraphing a fly or a bee.. A tue macro lens would reproduce the fly on your sensor at least at life size, often bigger than that. The potential for extracting maximum image detail as you enlarge the image is obviously enormous.

 

[Mike410]

Any zoom lens which has a marked 'macro' fuction isn't a true macro lens at all and quite how manufacturers get away with using the term beats me - it's very misleading. A true macro lens produces at least a 1:1 image ratio (life size) on the film or sensor. These lenses produce nowhere near that - all that happens is that when you set the 'macro' function on the lens, all the lens elements move forward to give you a closer focusing ability than the lens would normally have.

The function can be very useful in a walk about zoom lens as the 'macro' function does allow you to get closer than you would normally, and it does enable some quite close up photography of fairly small subjects, but compared to a true macro lens, which is designed from the ground up for macro work they're very unimpressive. As already stated, a true macro lens is always a prime.

Imagine photgraphing a fly or a bee.. A tue macro lens would reproduce the fly on your sensor at least at life size, often bigger than that. The potential for extracting maximum image detail as you enlarge the image is obviously enormous.

Thanks! "