Macro zoom lens help ?

BADGER.BRAD

BADGER.BRAD

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Hello all,

I have been looking for some longer M42 fitment lenses and have come across a few which are quoted as being Macro zoom what is meant but this ? Can I still use as a standard zoom ? Some quote Macro: 1:4x or similar what is meant by this ? I'm intending to use on my Sony A6000 to supplement my other M42 lenses.

Thanks for all your help.
 
Macro 1:4 is not macro, but is 1/4 life size on the sensor. These are simply standard zooms that focus moderately close, and are not really intended for macro.

If you want macro then buy a macro lens.
 
Yup. They'll just be lenses that maybe focus a little closer than you'd expect them too.
 
You can buy a helicoid adapter for very close up with an M42 prime if you just want some occasional close up?

My Contax zoom focuses at 1m at 200mm so it's fairly good for close up stuff whilst also being a 80-200mm - think flowers, fungi, ferns, etc
 
Some macro zooms can get you very close. The humble Nikon 28-105 goes to 1:2 when you engage the macro mode, a very useful 'semi-macro' range. Nikon also had a 70-180mm they labelled a 'Micro' zoom (Nikon jargon for macro), though at 1:1.32 it didn't quite achieve a true macro reproduction ratio (conventionally 1:1). I don't know how close you can get with an M42 zoom (or with what image quality), though as they tend to be older lenses made when zoom technology was less well developed it's probably best not to expect too much.
 
Thanks everyone, I do have some extention tubes that I brought cheaply for use with a body cap pinhole lens. I'd forgotten about them and don't have a clue where they are ! That said I wanted the lens for longer distance shots anyway so I'll now have a look what I can find.
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
Hello all,

I have been looking for some longer M42 fitment lenses and have come across a few which are quoted as being Macro zoom what is meant but this ? Can I still use as a standard zoom ? Some quote Macro: 1:4x or similar what is meant by this ? I'm intending to use on my Sony A6000 to supplement my other M42 lenses.

Thanks for all your help.
Click to expand...
I know of no universally accepted definition of "macro" photography. The range from 1:1 to 10:1 seems pretty popular, the Nikon Compendium has it from 1:10 to 1:1, and for sure there other ideas. If anyone ever asks about any of my pictures, I'll just tell them the subject size and they can call it what they want,
 
The definition I think most work to is 1:1 on the sensor or film. Anything where the subject is less than life-size would not be macro, despite labels lens makers apply.
 
It was a selling point in the past to have some facility for close up and label the lens as "macro" - as you said 1:4 was common. I have had/have several including a Tamron AD2 60-300 model 23a which i think is 1:1.5. The original Tamron AD2 SP90 ( 55B ) Macro is only 1:2 - you had to get their extension tube to get to 1:1.

For long teles ( > 200mm ), I sometimes shove on an achromat to get closer in, rather than tubes which can get unwieldy since you need quite a depth of them usually,

If you are interested, the following site has a lot of useful calculators to see what tubes/achromats may give you:

Extreme macro photography
 
I consider anything greater than 1:2 as being macro, as even with 1:1 there's usually some cropping involved for very teensy things. 1:4 isn't bad for close ups of larger subjects like butterflies or dragon flies, a tele lens with 1:4 mag can be very handy as you can have a lot of distance between you and the subject to work with. With a true macro lens to achieve 1:1 [or greater] you have to get extremely close. I have a lens that can do up to 2:1 but I rarely would ever use that magnification as you ideally want to use a tripod and flash for best results.
 
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