Thread: Forget the macro lens, get a serious compact instead!

nice ones James. It's been many years since I've had occasion to say Coryadora. I miss my days of aquarium keeping, but my life changed and keeping up with maintenance was bring me down. I think, it's time for me to set up another tank. I just don;t know where I'd put it for the cats to not get into it.

My cats don't go fishing, they're fascinated by the fish but during the summer months I can confidently leave my tank open.

The fish are equally curious about the cats and will come up to have a look, maybe nibble on Atom's whiskers:


Atom does try to drink the water a little though but I think he doesn't do that anymore. Here he is taking a few sips when I thought he was looking at the fish:

Originally Posted by Booka

Didn't even know the aphid was there when i took the photo! -Ricoh grdIII I think it focuses down to a centimeter or two.

To me, this shot gets at the essence of "What is macro". The textbook definition is a 1:1 or greater subject magnification on the sensor, but the main idea as far as I am concerned is for the photo to show you details of things that are so small as to be difficult to see with the naked eye. To that purpose, the next question is how small do you want to go? Small sensor cameras are great for getting shots of very small things as this wonderful photograph shows. However, there are those who want to see every detail of the single aphid's body (to me making for a much less interesting image than this one), and for that you need a dedicated macro lens.

A truly "enlightening" article, thanks a lot for the link :)

Originally Posted by demiro

I like the idea of a P&S option instead of a macro lens. In terms of what can be achieved with a P&S check out Mark Berkey's site: Macro Illustrated « Nature's Place. Some of that work was done with a Panny FZ50 & an achromatic lens adapter.

Originally Posted by TraamisVOS

Actually, looking through my Flickr, it looks like I have taken a few not-still-life macros with my LX5:

The spider moon and corydora shots are truly outstanding, kudos :)

Thanks Kian, doesn't come close to some of the other macro shots from the other members though!

Originally Posted by TraamisVOS

Thanks Kian, doesn't come close to some of the other macro shots from the other members though!

You're welcome, a stunning picture is stunning, it cannot be compared, there is a mood in that spider shot that is unique no matter what.

This was what I meant when I said forget about macro lenses:

dump your macro lens! | Laurence Kim Photographer

Lumix LX5 2 summers ago

Dennis, that's a WOW!