Why do cameras call it "Macro Lens" if it zooms in and is used to capture tiny objects? Shouldn't it be "Micro Lens"?

submitted by simple

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13 Comments

ma11en

Macro and Micro are both used in photography.

Macro generally is when a lens will reproduce an object the same size on film/sensor as it is in life.

Micro is for smaller subjects at higher magnifications such as using a microscope.

NeatNit

Macro generally is when a lens will reproduce an object the same size on film/sensor as it is in life.

Hey that's pretty cool. Is it really what happens?

ma11en

Yep, most macro lenses such as the 90 to 105 range from Sigma, Canon, Nikon and their ilk tend to have a designation like 1:1 in the description.

This is normally based on a 35mm frame size, for cropped sensors the magnification is greater.

randombullet

Actually for cropped sensors it'll still be 1:1 but "cropped"

You can get more magnification if you use extension tubes or specialized lenses.

XeroxCool

Cropped by way of a smaller sensor, but magnified if you compare a "full frame sensor" camera and a "crop sensor" camera with identical pixel counts. A penny will have a penny-sized projection on the sensor, but the image from the crop sensor will have ~40% more pixels of the penny.

AdrianTheFrog , edited

Depends, I think. In the same order of magnitude definitely.

Edit: this makes me wonder, is it possible to get an orthographic perspective with an ordinary size (but maybe not standard) lens on a normal camera?

randombullet

I suppose tilt shift lenses can achieve that.

Paragone

No, tilt-shift doesn't have any bearing on whether it's focal-length is high-enough to make the magnification 1:1..

hth!

_ /\ _

litchralee

As an aside, a "slow motion camera" and a "high speed camera" are understood to be the same object, being a camera that can capture at high frame rates, to slow down apparent motion in the video output.

jol

Which is fine, because the opposite is a time lapse camera.

randombullet , edited

Two train of thoughts. Making something 1:1 ratio is a true "macro" lens for photography. Because you're increasing the size of the object to match the size of the sensor.

Then you got microscopes which makes things much larger than life.

For which manufactures call it what? Probably all marketing, but this makes the most sense in my life for justification.

Also Micro lenses are also used for marketing for CCD and CMOS sensors.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microlens

ma11en

To add further confusion, I'm not sure if it's still the case, Nikon used to brand their macro lenses as Micro Nikkor.

Doxin

A macro lens produces a large image. It's a bit silly but I guess once these things get a name it's hard to get it changed.