I just bought my first digital SLR camera, Canon EOS30D with EF-S 17-85mm and EF 70-200mm L lenses.

I am new to using SLRs and I know a mcro lens lets you take close up photos. How is this different to using a standard lens and zooming in?

My question is do I need a dedicated macro lens to photograph my model kits?

I find that I can use the 17-85mm lens to zoom in on the kit. What are the benefits of using a macro lens? Is it worth the extra money? What focal length is recommended 50mm or 100mm?

I tried to search this forum on macro lens but returned no result.

Thanks very much for your help
Lawrence

Hi Lawrence,

First off, there's no such thing as a stupid question. The only stupid question is the one never asked.

Macro lenses give you the ability to create very close-up pictures of objects. I'm the proud owner of a Canon 20D and I happen to have a Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro USM lense. While I wouldn't say the lense is useless for photographing your models my personal experience is that it's hardly necessary to own one if your only use for such a macro lense would be to photograph your models. The only advantage you'll have is the abbility to sit away 3 feet and still be able to photograph a 1/35 figure head and filling the complete image with it. That up close is what you'll get.
A decent macro lense isn't cheap so I would recommend purchasing different hardware to enhance your photography experience. Like a remote control cable for your camera and a decent tripod. These are badly needed if you wish to create sharp detailed pictures of your models.
With your 17-85 (is it the kit lense?) you can get close enough to your model and photograph all the detail you wish.

Hopes this helps.

Cheers,
Marcel Jussen

PS: A few examples I made a few weeks back with my Canon 20D and Canon EF 17-40/4.0 L USM 77mm. All pics where given a Photoshop treatment to enhance color and sharpness.





The following pics are made with my 100mm macro.





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This matter regarding macro lenses is very interesting, but creates lots of doubts! At least to me...

I own a Nikon D50 and I am seriously considering buying an AF-S VR 105 f/2.8 G IF-ED macro lenses.

Off course my problem is that the only thing that I will use it is for photographing models, so how to be sure that the high investment will really worth it??

Well, you said that you could take a photo 3 feet away and still capture the head of a 1/35 figure, did I understand it correctly? Because this looks like a zoom...

I thought that the macro lenses allows you to take very close pictures and this was the main reason for being able to achieve the 1:1 ratio, meaning that you could easily have a 1 cm part filling the all image. Is this correct?

The specification of the above mentioned lens says "1:1 of maximum reproduction ratio and up to 31cm closest focusing distance".

I don�t know if this means that one can only focus to a minimum distance of 31cm (which of course does not make sense!) or that one could only use this lens up to a maximum distance of 31cm?? (This will not be useful to take any kind of portraits for example).

With a macro lens you should be able to focus at 1cm or less distance from the subject; if not how the hell you could put a 1cm subject in the complete image without a zoom?

Well these are just my very non-educated thoughts...

Regards,
Folgado

The only reason I see that would make a macro for photographing plastic models be worth it is if you'll accept taking only detailed close-ups. Like photographing a single track link or a small piece of photoetch. But is this what you want? An entire shot of the model itself will be close to impossible as this is not what you would need a macro lens for.
I'm not saying it's impossible to use a macro for overall shots 'cause if you distance yourself far enough away from your model it can be done just as it would be like taking portait shot with a macro. But a bit clumsy it could be. Dedicated macro lenses do not operate like zoom lenses. The only method of determining what and how much detail you'll see in your photo is by positioning the camera in contrast to the zoom lens where adjusting the zoom determines the level of detail. The last picture showing the chain glued to the ball was taken at a distance of say 40 centimeters. Imagine what you would see if I had taken the shot just 10cm away. The only reason I used my macro is because I could not zoom enough with my 17-40mm zoom lens.
A decent zoom lens would do the trick just as well and at a lot cheaper price too. Macro's are fun to use but they are expensive and for me personally not worth it if you do not intend to use the lens outside your model photography.

Marcel


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