Lens comparison for macro work

Janer_2 wrote:

Your photos are brilliant!

Thanks, there are so many subjects ... no "one" lens can get them all

There's a lot of good advice here.

Me, while I completely respect all of the dedicated macro shooters, I've strayed away from the discipline quite a bit. I have become more of a "walk-around snapper" these days, since moving to S/E Arizona. I'm quite a bit more into birds and reptiles, though I will always have a passion for dedicated macro shooting.

In fact, I still have the following 6 specialized macro lenses:

• Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 125mm f/2.5 SL
• Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8
• Laowa 100mm f/2.8 UltraMacro 2x APO
• Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro
• Zeiss 25mm f/2.8 Distagon T* ZF.2 (1:4)
• Laowa 15mm f/4 Ultra-Wide Macro

I've got a plethora of other tools to accompany this gear, but haven't used any of it much lately. (Maybe I should!)

When I first started, macro was all I did. I really got into stacking live arthropods, in their natural environment (if I could possibly achieve this). It is a lot of work!

That said, I actually haven't even used any of the above lenses for almost a year. I've been shooting my super-telephotos mostly, for birds, and the Z 70-200/2.8 zoom for reptiles and butterflies, as illustrated.

Slightly off-topic (maybe), but designed to get you to think do you really want macro – or is "close-up" what you're actually after?

Looking at some of the work John and Nick are doing, as well as others, it's tickling my "macro funny-bone" a little bit, making me want to revisit the macro world somewhat. It's where I began my photographic journey.

I also agree with John's assessment that light is more important than gear.

This is especially true when you're shooting "a single image" @ f/8-f/16 ... or beyond.

However, when you're stacking, you're doing this to avoid diffraction. You want the same DOF, but you're doing this to keep the most color/detail potential possible. Here is where the vast difference exists between "common lenses" and elite-quality lenses.

All lenses pretty much look the same from f/8 to f/16 ... the he most expensive lenses in the world are always sharpest and best wide-open.

Such lenses create "a look" common lenses cannot duplicate. If you have the patience and dedication, to do stacks with such lenses, it can be really satisfying work.