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Lens comparison for macro work

Started Feb 20, 2022 | Questions thread
John K Veteran Member • Posts: 9,870
Re: Lens comparison for macro work

Macro guy wrote:

I completely agree with John K.

I think that what he's trying to tell you is that macro is a VERY specialized field and requires specialized tools depending on the type of macro photography you're going to do. There is no such thing as a "general purpose" macro lens,

Indeed. Just like there is no such thing as a "bug lens". The light source you use, and how you want to shoot, will determine your gear choices. If I was still shooting with Canon's 100mm USM macro lens I never would have been able to take photos like this one of a live, actively moving, subject:

Tech Specs: Canon 90D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT, E-TTL metering, -1 FEC. This is a single, slightly cropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Clarity and Denoise AI in that order.

Think of it this way: At this point, you're saying that you want to be a doctor and you're asking which doctor tools are better. John is telling you that it doesn't work like that. You have to decide WHAT TYPE of a doctor you want to be. If you're going to be an orthopedist, a stethoscope does you no good. If you want to be a psychiatrist, you don't need a scalpel.

It's the same scenario here. The TYPE OF MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY YOU DO DICTATES YOUR CHOICE OF EQUIPMENT.

Yup and if you make poor choices you (OP) might struggle and decide to quit shooting macro. I have seen it all too often, and I would like to see more people in the macro discipline.

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