Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro?

Fenway · 27th of April 2012 (Fri)

I was very fortunate to receive a 60D with an 18-135 kit lens. The lens is marked Macro 0.45m/1.5ft. I am curious to know if this lens will give acceptable results before looking into purchasing a dedicated Macro lens.

WayneW.

Larry Weinman · 28th of April 2012 (Sat)

This lens will get you close enough to photograph something about five inches wide and fill the frame but it is not a macro.
A macro lens used by itself will allow you to fill your frame with something about one and a half inches wide. Specialty lenses like the MPE-65 will allow you to fill your frame with objects much smaller then this. This is a very very basic explanation. All lens makers misuse the term macro on their lenses.

Fenway · 28th of April 2012 (Sat)

Larry, thank you. My thought was that it being a BASIC kit lens it would allow you sample different aspects of photography but not suit that particular need.

HoT.Shek · 30th of April 2012 (Mon)

This lens gives you around 0.2x magnification, so, not really a macro.

Preeb · 30th of April 2012 (Mon)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Weinman

This lens will get you close enough to photograph something about five inches wide and fill the frame but it is not a macro.
A macro lens used by itself will allow you to fill your frame with something about one and a half inches wide. Specialty lenses like the MPE-65 will allow you to fill your frame with objects much smaller then this. This is a very very basic explanation. All lens makers misuse the term macro on their lenses.

Actually a true macro will give you an image which is life size on the sensor. For something which is 1.5 inches long, you would get less than half of it in the frame of a 1.6 crop body at closest focus. Any lens that gets less than 1:1 may get good close-ups, but it isn't really macro, no matter what the manufacturer may try to say. Closest focus on my 70-200 is 1.2 meters (about 4 feet), and it gets great close-ups, but they aren't macro.

The EF-S 60mm f2.8, the EF 100 and EF 100 L are all true macro lenses.

gmillerf · 1st of May 2012 (Tue)

Before jumping in an buying a macro lens, you should try a reverse ring, they're usually less than $10. Even though they're a bit cumbersome to use, you can get really good results without jumping all in.

tonylong · 3rd of May 2012 (Thu)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmillerf

Before jumping in an buying a macro lens, you should try a reverse ring, they're usually less than $10. Even though they're a bit cumbersome to use, you can get really good results without jumping all in.

Heh! That's an approach, as long as you have a second lens!

But when I bought my first DSLR I already knew that I wanted to shoot Macros and so I just bought the 100 f/2.8 Macro -- it's now the "old" version but I still happily shoot with it!

gmillerf · 3rd of May 2012 (Thu)

You don't need a second lens to use a reverse ring.

27th of April 2012 (Fri)	#1
Fenway Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Bucks County,PA Posts: 19 IMAGE EDITING OK	Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro? I was very fortunate to receive a 60D with an 18-135 kit lens. The lens is marked Macro 0.45m/1.5ft. I am curious to know if this lens will give acceptable results before looking into purchasing a dedicated Macro lens. WayneW.

28th of April 2012 (Sat)	#2
Larry Weinman Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,108	Re: Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro? This lens will get you close enough to photograph something about five inches wide and fill the frame but it is not a macro. A macro lens used by itself will allow you to fill your frame with something about one and a half inches wide. Specialty lenses like the MPE-65 will allow you to fill your frame with objects much smaller then this. This is a very very basic explanation. All lens makers misuse the term macro on their lenses. __________________ 7D 50D 100mm f 2.8 macro 180mm f 3.5 macro, MP-E-65 300mm f 2.8 500mm f4 Tokina 10-17mm fisheye 10-22mm 17-55mm 24-105mm 70-300mm 70-200 f 2.8 Mk II 100-400mm 1.4 TC 2X TC 580EX 430 EX II MT 24 EX

28th of April 2012 (Sat)	#3
Fenway Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Bucks County,PA Posts: 19 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro? Larry, thank you. My thought was that it being a BASIC kit lens it would allow you sample different aspects of photography but not suit that particular need.

30th of April 2012 (Mon)	#4
HoT.Shek Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: HKG Posts: 491 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro? This lens gives you around 0.2x magnification, so, not really a macro. __________________ 350D (IR) 400D 5Dc 1Ds Canon 50, 85mm F/1.8 │ 135L Sigma 28mm F/1.8 │ 12-24mm popeye Tamron 17-35mm F/2.8-4 │ 60mm F/2 Macro

1st of May 2012 (Tue)	#6
gmillerf Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 116	Re: Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro? Before jumping in an buying a macro lens, you should try a reverse ring, they're usually less than $10. Even though they're a bit cumbersome to use, you can get really good results without jumping all in.

3rd of May 2012 (Thu)	#8
gmillerf Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 116	Re: Is the 18-135 kit lens a Macro? You don't need a second lens to use a reverse ring.

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