Macro photography is hugely popular among amateur and pro photographers. There is just something fascinating about capturing small worlds and details that you would normally overlook. It’s a beautiful style of photography, however, there are some myths across the Internet about macro lenses. I have gathered the most common and explained them.

Macro lenses are only good for macro photography

While this type of photography is the main purpose they are created for, by no means should the use of a macro lens be limited to details. In fact, some of them are excellent portrait lenses as well. They also have better contrast and saturation than a normal “portrait lenses.”

Macro lenses are expensive

Well, this is partially true. It really depends how you look at it. The flagship macro lenses from Canon and Nikon will set you back almost 1000$, and even if they are worth that money, they aren’t the only options for quality macro pictures. Sigma and other 3^rd party brands are making high quality macro glass as well, often for half the price. Therefore, the question of finance for macro is a relative one.

It has to be f2.8

Most people believe that unless the aperture is wide open at f2.8, the lens isn’t good enough. A lot of folks make this mistake. You don’t need this opening to produce attractive bokeh with a macro lens. You can do that even at f8. Some lenses, Nikons especially, don’t even use f2.8 unless there’s a certain distance between the camera and the subject. The majority of them are that bright anyway, but it’s not something absolutely necessary. In fact, in some cases, it can be quite complicated to shoot at f 2.8 and get what you want in focus.

The longer the lens, the better

This is yet again debatable. In opinion, the ideal focal length for a macro lens is between 50-75 mm. Obviously, for insects, small animals and basically everything that’s bound to run from you if you get too close, a longer lens is better. Just keep in mind, the longer the lens, the more stable you will have to be when shooting .It’s best to combine using a long lens with a tripod.

The need for a macro lens

I probably should have started with this one, but I saved it for last. Most amateurs and emerging photographers stay away from anything macro until they buy a macro lens. In their view, there is absolutely no way to shoot macro photography without one. While it is indeed true that once you get serious about this type of photography you will need a decent lens, it doesn’t mean it’s absolutely necessary for “day to day” macro photos. There are cheaper, lighter alternatives such as close-up filters. They are basically pieces of glass with various magnification ratios and they reduce the minimum range between lens and subject. They actually work pretty well, but no, you shouldn’t expect the same result you would get with a 105 mm f2.8VR.

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