Normal lens vs macro?

[owen27]

What is the difference between a normal set of lens and a macro one?
Meaning for example the 50mm macro lens(is there a normal 50mm lens?) and a telephoto 40-150mm lens... both has the 50mm... so what is the main difference.

 

[zac08]

What is the difference between a normal set of lens and a macro one?
Meaning for example the 50mm macro lens(is there a normal 50mm lens?) and a telephoto 40-150mm lens... both has the 50mm... so what is the main difference.

Well, the difference is in the magnification level which is actually also tied to the minimum focusing distance. For a macro lens, normally it can focus much much closer than a normal lens.

For e.g. a 60mm macro lens from Nikon would be able to focus as close as 23cm from the image plane and a 50mm would be somewhere at about 45cm minimum instead.

 

[owen27]

So meaning the 50mm macro lens could be used for normal landscape pictures and such as well?

 

[zac08]

So meaning the 50mm macro lens could be used for normal landscape pictures and such as well?

Yes, if you think it's wide enough.

 

[dw2chan]

just be warned that marco lenses usually do not focus as fast as normal lenses. but depending on what you're shooting it may not matter

 

[zac08]

just be warned that marco lenses usually do not focus as fast as normal lenses. but depending on what you're shooting it may not matter

Do remember to lock it down if you only need focusing of a certain range. Some of the macro lenses have this feature to lessen the amount of time need to traverse the whole focusing range to lock onto a target.