The best macro lenses offer you a fast aperture, close focusing distance and that all-important 1.0x magnification ratio. What does the latter mean? A 1.0x – or 1:1 as it is often written – magnification ratio means that when you are framing a subject at the closest possible focusing distance of your macro lens, it will reproduce your subject at life size onto your camera’s sensor.
This might not sound like much when you read it here, but when you think about what that means when viewing your subject on a print or blown up on a computer screen, there’s huge potential to capture incredible detail. What’s more, some of the options on our list of best macro lenses go beyond life size magnification. The Canon RF 100mm F2.8L MACRO IS USM, for instance, offers a 1.4x magnification ratio. This means reproducing, say, an insect in 1.4x times larger than life size. This allows you to expose all sorts of fine details.
Best focal length for macro photography?
Typically the best focal length for macro photography is in the 90-105mm range. A lens at this focal length allows you to get close enough to your subject to fill your frame, but not so close that you’ll scare it off or cast a shadow with your body.
Macro lenses at longer focal lengths, such as 200mm or 300mm, will allow you to stand even further back, but shooting handheld is much more difficult with these lenses.
What’s more, a macro lens in that 90-105mm range gives you versatility to shoot head and shoulder portraits. That focal length is also long enough to allow you to isolate your subject and set your background out of focus.
For more on what to look for when choosing the best macro lens, check out our guide explaining how macro lenses work and what features to look for.
What are macro lenses good for?
Macro lenses are good for capturing very small subjects. Traditionally they are used to photograph insects and flowers, but they can also be used to capture different views of everyday subjects, such as the detail on a coin or textures within a fabric. Macro lenses are also good for portraiture.
The main benefit of macro lenses is that they can focus on small subjects at very close distances, enabling you to fill your frame with the subject. Because these are small subjects we don’t often get close to, macro lenses allow photographers to show viewers something familiar in a whole new light.
The best macro lenses you can buy today
Below are our picks for the best macro lenses you can buy based on our experience with them. To help you choose, we’ve broken our list down into the best options by brand. If you have a favourite macro lens that we haven’t included, let us know in the comments!
