Macro?

[dontgoaway]

Do I need a special lens to take macro's?

I was just playing around with my camera and, granted it's 12:15am and the only light is a bedside lamp, the camera refused to focus so I couldnt take a picture.. if I was outside during the day would I still have this problem?

Or am I just doing something terribly wrong? Heh.

 

[photoman720]

There are special lenses for macro photography. You can still get pretty close depending on your lens but it is not true macro.

 

[panocho]

I'm afraid I cannot really understand your question. One thing is to be able or not to focus very close to the subject (macro), and another thing is to be able or not to focus because there's a low light situation. In the latter, you can turn to manual focus and have the picture. In the former, you will need a lens that can focus closer to the subject, i.e. a macro lens

 

[Garbz]

If you are too close to the subject you will be out of the focal distance of your camera. If this is the case the camera may hunt for focus. The easiest way to check which it is, is to take a step back and try again. If you get focus then you were too close. Either that or set manual focus to the closest distance possible and move until the image is in focus.

True macro photographer requires either trickery like attaching a lens backwards, or using a tube to move the lens away from the camera thus decreasing it's minimum focus distance, or a true Macro lens designed to not only focus very close to its front element but often also operate sharpest in this position.