What's the difference between a lens denoted as Macro and one that is not? I understand that Macro lenses can be used for close up shots, but I've seen some pics on here that people have taken with macro lenses, but they are not close ups.
Macro lens
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Macro Generally means the lens is capable of life size reproduction ie 1:1 ratio or greater. Although they perform like other non macro lenses aswell i.e you can use it for portraits for instance. Also the lens will be capable of focusing at much shorter distances than non macro lenses. Hope that helps.
King Damager
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Depends on the macro lens. A proper macro lens will do as above. An example would be the canon 100 f2.8 L
Something like the canon 24-105 f4L has macro on it, but this is really only because it has a minimal focussing distance of 0.45. Pretty sure it doesn't do 1:1 though.
kd
Something like the canon 24-105 f4L has macro on it, but this is really only because it has a minimal focussing distance of 0.45. Pretty sure it doesn't do 1:1 though.
kd
Thanks. Is there a downside to using a macro lens for non close up photography (I quite like the idea of being able to do macro photography - my brother is into Warhammer gaming and it's useful to be able to photograph the models when he' selling them, but I couldn't justify a lens just for macro photography). If there is no downside when using it for non macro I might be able to justify it to myself 
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If anything macro lenses usually have better optics than non macro lenses. So there is no downside. If you want to use it for other things just make sure you are happy with the focal length. Primes are usually best for macro ie 100mm
petersmart
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Thanks. Is there a downside to using a macro lens for non close up photography (I quite like the idea of being able to do macro photography - my brother is into Warhammer gaming and it's useful to be able to photograph the models when he' selling them, but I couldn't justify a lens just for macro photography). If there is no downside when using it for non macro I might be able to justify it to myself
The cheapest way for close up and macro is to buy a set of cheap close up lenses off Ebay for about £10-£15 and use them with your kit lens.
They simply fit onto the front of your lens like a filter.
Using between +1 to +4 dioptre will probably get you close enough to easily photograph your models, although the DOF can get quite small so a small aperture is usually needed and a tripod is quite a good idea.
These lenses work best with a small filter size so the 18-55 kit lens is ideal for them.
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Some macro lenses aren't as fast to focus as similar spec non macro lenses plus they'll lose out a bit on ultimate aperture size, macro's generally being f2.8 or there abouts whereas a non macro lens could be f1.4 or so.
Other than that... it's all good
