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Lens Options For Close-Up and Macro Photography

There are many reasons why you might want to get up close and personal with your camera, but getting the right magnification ratio you need is all about selecting the correct equipment.

The ability to photograph a subject close up is important in lots of genres of photography – from wildlife and nature through to fine art, food, and portraiture. There are lots of different ways to do it, too, depending on just how close you need to be and where you want to photograph from.

Many of the lenses in the X Series focus close anyway, but to get even closer you’ll be looking at one of three options:

• A close-up lens – essentially a magnifying glass that screws into the lens’s filter thread to give you a larger image. Affordable and portable, though not necessarily the best image quality.
• A macro lens – a lens that’s designed to focus close enough to reproduce objects on the sensor at the same size as they are in real life. Expect superb image quality.
• An extension tube – fits between an existing lens and your camera, increasing magnification. Portable and versatile, since it can be used with virtually any lens you already own.

Choosing a Macro Lens

The X Series features two macro lenses, each with its own advantages. Which one you pick may well depend on what you like to photograph.

The XF60mmF2.4 R Macro is highly portable and offers great image quality, especially up close. It focuses down to 26.7cm, where it reproduces images on the sensor at half the size they are in real life. This is a lens well suited to food photography, still life, and portraiture photography, as well as commercial work – making images of products in the studio, for example.

The XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro focuses more closely than the 60mm lens and gives a 1:1 magnification ratio. That makes it a good choice for wildlife and nature photographers, as well as those with a specialist interest, such as coin or stamp collecting. It’s a weather-resistant lens, which makes it ideal for use on location. It also features OIS to guard against blur from camera shake.

The difference in focal length is key to understanding why these lenses are suited to different tasks. The XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro lets you get the same magnification as the XF60mmF2.4 R Macro, but from a greater distance away. This is useful when photographing subjects that startle easily or for when you need some distance between you and the subject in order to work with lighting.

But a longer focal length can be more difficult to use and slower to compose with. The closer working distance of the 60mm lens may well be better suited to tasks that require you to work more quickly.

Extension Tubes

An extension tube is a hollow cylinder that fits between a lens and camera and extends the distance between the lens and the sensor. This allows the lens to focus more closely and give you more subject magnification. There are two in our X Series lineup: the MCEX-11 and MCEX-16, which give 11mm and 16mm of extension respectively.

Magnification is increased by an amount equal to the length of the extension tube divided by the lens’s focal length. For example, fitting an 11mm extension tube between a camera and an XF23mmF2 R WR lens increases its native 0.13x magnification by 11mm ÷ 23mm. In other words: 0.13 + 0.48. Giving a new magnification of 0.61x.

From this relationship, you can see that extension tubes are more effective with lenses of a short or medium focal length, and less effective with longer telephoto lenses.

Another thing to note is that there is a drop in the level of light when using a macro extension tube due to the lens being extended away from the sensor, so you’d be wise to use one with your camera on a tripod.

Your Next Steps

• CHALLENGE With a macro lens or extension tube, get up close to an everyday object and photograph it in a way so we won’t recognise straightaway. Post your favourite image to social media with the hashtag #learnwithfujifilm and #closeup. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.
• LEARN Download our booklet Shoot Macro to Reveal a Hidden World with FUJIFILM X Series
• WATCH Check out our video below to learn more about macro photography.