Lenses Are What I Like
What’s photography all about? If I put aside the spiritual side of
photography (which would be another entire conversation,) for me
it is all about lenses and of course ‘seeing’ through those lenses.
Initially it was not the photographic results of those lenses that
had my interest, but rather the very clear, the pristine, ‘seeing’ that
fine lenses make possible. And of course fine lenses are linked to
fine photographs, but that was never my first thought. That first
thought was the incredible seeing of the macro or micro worlds
that great lenses enable. That’s what got me.
And while my particular take on this may be unusual or even
almost unique, I share with many (perhaps most) macro
photographers a fascination with quality lenses. Nikon lovers call
it NAS which stands for Nikon Acquisition Syndrome, and a very
infectious disease it is. And while I love good cameras, tripods,
and the like, it is lenses that capture my complete attention. As
mentioned, actually it is ‘seeing’ through fine lenses that is at the
heart of it, but seeing requires lenses to see through, so there you
have it. A little crazy? You bet.
So when we discuss what lenses are the best for close-up and
macro work, I have very definite opinions. All of the fine details on
lenses I have put in the second volume of this series, so I refer you
to that. Here let’s just talk in a more general way about lenses that
work well for close-up and macro photography.There are many macro lenses, thus many entrances into close-up
and macro photography. A good principle might be “use the macro
lens you have rather than yearn after those you don’t have.” Of
course, that is not how I do things. I have almost all of the most
well- known macro lenses, but end up only actually using a very
few. I will tell you what those very few are along with my reasons for
using them, but I warn that this may not work for you. My advice?
Learn at least one macro lens well before starting to play around
with other lenses. If you know one well, then you have something
to compare to. Otherwise you don’t know what is causing what
and may never be sure you know what you think you know. You
need the anchor of real experience with a single lens to get
started.
In any case you will have to start somewhere and in the beginning