A macro lens lets you photograph something small at something close to life size. Petal structure, the compound eye of a dragonfly, the crystalline edge of a salt flake: detail that the eye skims past becomes the whole frame. This guide explains what a macro lens is, how it differs from the other lenses in your bag, what to look for when choosing one, and which subjects it suits best.
What is a macro lens?
A macro lens is built for close-up work. It focuses far nearer to the front element than an ordinary lens will, and it holds resolution at that distance instead of going soft the way a general-purpose zoom tends to. Most are prime lenses, which is part of why they render so cleanly and produce such smooth background blur.
There is no formal standard behind the word, but in practice a macro lens means two things together: a short minimum object distance, and a maximum magnification somewhere between 1:2 and 1:1. That combination is what allows a subject only a few centimetres across to
