What's the camera

[Cans]

With my Canon 75-300 lens, if I get too close to a subject, I cannot click to take the photo, as I am too close. I see other people with huge lenses that get within two inches of the subject. What camera/lens are they using that allow them to do this? Thanks.

 

[480sparky]

Use a macro (nikon lingo: micro) lens.

 

[Cans]

Thanks!

 

[TCampbell]

Some zoom lenses have a macro range. But these don't allow you to get quite as close as a true (dedicated) macro lens. Most dedicated macro lenses will allow you to get to 1:1 scale which means the image captured "on the sensor" is as large as the subject is in real life. A US penny has a diameter of about 19mm. The camera sensor on an APS-C sensor body measures about 15mm tall by about 23mm wide. That means the penny (at closest focusing distance) would be so large that it just barely fits on the sensor in the horizontal direction... but is actually too large in the vertical direction. That's pretty close.

When looking at lenses, you can check the closest focusing distance (or minimum focus distance). Note this is NOT measured from the front of the lens... but from the focus mark on the camera body (there's a mark on the body of any DSLR camera that looks like a line with a circle drawn in the middle of it. The mark indicates the position of the sensor plane (or film plane if it's a film camera) so it's usually marked somewhere on the top of the body... but nearer to the back (often next to the viewfinder.)

You don't necessarily have to use a "macro" lens -- but they get the best results. You can also use "close-up diopters" (or sometimes called "close-up filters") These look like screw-on filters, but rather than "filtering" light, they act like a kind of magnifier and allow the lens to focus at a closer distance than would normally be possible (often with some degradation of optical quality -- particularly near the edges of the image.)

You can also use something called "extension tubes". These are hollow barrels that go between the camera body and lens. They have no optics in them -- totally hollow. They do pass through the electrical connections so the lens and body can communicate. But by moving the lens farther away from the body, the minimum focus distance is reduced and the lens can focus on subjects at a closer distance than would normally be possible. The optics of a lens are typically designed for a particular back-focus distance (the distance from the rearmost lens element to the sensor) and that means the lens isn't used at that optimal distance. The entire focus range of the lens is shifted nearer (so you can no longer focus to infinity when the lens is mounted to the extension tube.)

Extension tubes and close-up diopters are a very low-cost way to do close-up photography.

BTW, when you get really close to a subject, the range at which things appear in acceptable focus becomes VERY narrow. Once the lens achieves focus... it takes almost no movement at all from your body (leaning just fractionally closer or farther ... perhaps by just 1/4") will throw off focus completely. In these situations... a tripod will make controlling focus much easier.

 

[qleak]

Another option for macro is to reverse mount a lens, usually a cheapo 50mm.

either purchase an adapter to reverse mount it directly to the body. This can be tricky and result in having to stop down meter unless you have some way for the camera.

Or buy thread couplers and reverse mount a lens on the existing lens. This allows usual metering. You'll need some way to keep the 50mm aperture open. The ratio is then the ratio of the 2 lenses.

Focusing becomes tricky, you'll effectively have the focal length equal to the flange length of the format for the reverse mounted lens. It's easiest to move the subject or the camera to focus.