Home Forums Gear Photography Macro lens Working Distance tips

At one of my recent workshops I had some questions as to the difference in macro lens lengths. I look at the real difference as simply being �working distance�. It is the difference in how far the lens can be from the subject when shooting. The angle of view decreases as the lens length gets longer. In other words you can fill the frame with the subject at greater distances when using a longer lens. This comes in handy when shooting subjects that might look at you as a threat, for instance�bugs.

The 3 lenses I use are the Tamron SP 60mm Di-II f2 Macro lens, the Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD Macro lens, and the Tamron SP 180mm f3.5 Di Macro lens. The Tamron SP 60mm Macro is designed for APS-C sensor cameras, the Tamron 90mm Macro and Tamron 180mm Macro are designed for Full Frame but work great with APS-C sensor cameras. For the demonstration photos I used a Nikon D-300s which is an APS-C sensor camera. In the images I shot a picture of the camera and distance to subject, then a photo with about the same subject size, but look at the area around the subject, often referred to as Bokeh, which is the quality of the out of focus area. You see less detail in the longer lenses also because of the compression the longer lens and smaller angle of view give to the viewer.

If you are shooting macro or starting to shoot macro and want to better define your work, think about which lens will be best for your work. Technical work is great with a 60mm, bugs and critters are best with the 180mm, flowers and macro work or portraits are best with the 90mm Macro lens. Give Joel a call up at Camera Land for the best pricing, make sure you tell him you are a member of the Campfire!

Tamron SP 60mm f2 Di-II Macro lens examples





Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD Macro lens





Tamron SP 180mm f3.5 Di Macro lens

A question:
Can one boost depth of field significantly with flash assistance? Like get down to the really tiny F stops. Cookie has a ring flash, but it's still in the box a year later.

Depth of field only increases as you go higher in the f-stops. A flash will allow you to get a higher f-stop if movement is a concern without it, but a flash also appears to give a little better contrast which can appear as better sharpness, maybe even be perceived as depth of field.

Last week in CO for wildflowers, one step I forgot to do and wondered why the lens would not focus, was to change the focus limiter switch to "full" from "3m-infinity"... Kinda helps when the flowers are a few inches from the lens

Doug, it has happened to most people I know, just not all of us are willing to admit it! ;-)