A summary of five misunderstandings about macro lens

Macro lens is generally considered as a good partner for shooting flowers, insects and birds.

General photographic lenses are mainly used to shoot scenes within the usual focal length, and cannot be directly used for close-ups. Macro lens is generally considered as a good partner for shooting flowers, insects and birds, and the longest focusing distance of macro lens is infinite. Theoretically, too long object distance will affect imaging, but the difference may not be greater than the influence of temperature and humidity.

Photographers, whether professional or amateur, are always curious about the mysterious and tiny world, expecting to catch a glimpse of an incomprehensible hole every day. However, although macro photography makes many people yearn for it, there are some beautiful misunderstandings in the use of lenses. Here are the five most common macro myths:

Ant diagram under macro lens

1. Macro lens can only be used to take macro photos.

Of course, shooting small things is definitely the strength of macro lens, but it doesn't mean that macro lens can only shoot macro subjects. In fact, many macro lenses are also very effective in taking portraits, and compared with commonly used portrait lenses, macro lenses are even worse in contrast and saturation, not to mention sharpness. So, we might as well try to liberate the macro lens at hand and use it to try various subjects next time instead of being stuck in moistureproof box.

2. The macro lens is out of reach.

If you want to take the original flagship model as an example, four or five thousand can't run away naturally, but several cost-effective macro lenses can also be considered. For example, Longteng 90 Micro in the famous cheap bowl, or Canon Anti-shake 100 Micro, not to mention Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the second-hand area. So the price won't be a serious problem. If you want to play macro, you'd better act at once.

Shooting under macro lens

You must shoot with f/2.8 aperture.

Many people think that the maximum aperture of a good macro lens must be 2.8, but this is definitely a wrong myth! Many macro themes can still keep a good lens even if the aperture is reduced to f/8; On the contrary, if the distance from the subject is not enough, shooting with a large aperture will lead to a shallow depth of field and only increase the difficulty of focusing. Take a picture of a tree frog, for example. The eyes are clear, but the hind feet are blurred. Imagine this is the picture you want?

The longer the focal length, the better.

Obviously, this is another common misunderstanding. Undeniably, telephoto, such as 100mm, has better shooting effect than 60mm, and when shooting macro subjects that are easily frightened, such as insects and small animals, telephoto will ensure enough shooting distance to avoid unnecessary interference to the subjects. But on both sides, telephoto has higher requirements for shooting stability, and often requires a tripod to be stable enough. On the other hand, not all subjects need to shoot from a long distance, such as the details of goods and food on the desktop, but also need to shoot at close range with a short focal length.

Dragonfly diagram under macro lens

5. Why do you want a macro lens?

Macro photography, there is no need to buy a special macro lens to do. Many adapter rings, inverted rings or macro filters on the market can actually meet our needs. Unless we think about work or pay special attention to image quality, why do we have to go straight to the top of 100 micron?