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YS0203

I am fairly new to photography and have a Sony Alpha A37 camera with the above lens. It says "Macro" on the side of the lens and I was told that it would "lock" in macro mode but despite numerous attempts to get close up photos, the camera will not fire at anything near what could be classed as a macro shot. I contacted Sony Europe to ask why this was and have been given the complete run around by their call centre, they blamed the firmware (I have updated it) and then told me that there were compatibility issues with this lens and my camera despite it being sold as a kit. I don't think that this lens functions as a macro lens at all and the label on it is quite misleading. If it does do macro shots can someone explain how I get it to work please?

Jules74

Hi YS,

Mick's and Martin's tips are very good for handling your SAL75300 in regards of macro shooting.

The reason why the SAL75300 has "Marco" its name is that it can reproduce images up to a max. magnification ratio of 1:4 (0.25x), which in photographic terms still qualifies as "macro shot". This means that the image on the sensor of your camera is 1/4th of the original subject size. In addition the SAL75300 is optimised to deliver pretty good image quality, even at its closest shooting distance (1.5m).

When looking for a Macro lens the following specifications are important for you (apart from aperture):

Focal length, min. focusing distance and max. magnification ratio.

Here are some examples:

Your SAL75300: focal length 300mm, min. shooting distance: 1.5m, max. magnification: 1:4 (0.25x)

Sony SAL30M28: focal length 30mm, min. shooting distance: 0.129m, max. magnification: 1:1 (1x)

Sony SAL50M28: focal length 50mm, min. shooting distance: 0.2m, max. magnification: 1:1 (1x)

Sony SAL100M28: focal length 100mm, min. shooting distance: 0.35m, max. magnification: 1:1 (1x)

Tamron SP AF60mm: focal length 60mm, min. shooting distance: 0.23m, max. magnification: 1:1 (1x)

As you can see, the "real" macro lenses enable a much higher a max. magnification of up to 1:1, which means that the image on the sensor of your camera is the same size as your original subject!

I think it is a good idea for you to consider buying a macro lens, because when shooting with 300mm it is quite difficult to avoid camera shake or focus on exactly the right part when you are not using a tripod.

Depending what type of macro subjects you like, you should consider the focal length. If you are shooting e.g. life insect or other shy creatures, it is better to use a larger focal length and a larger shooting distance. If you are shooting, e.g. coins you are ok with a shorter focal length....

As Martin said, extension tubes/macro tubes and also reverse adapters can achieve great results, but sacrifice a lot of handling comfort in regards of focusing and achieving a correct exposure

I hope this explanation helps a bit...

Enjoy taking photos!

Jules

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Mick2011

Hi

There should be no compatibility issue there, as you say. I'm not sure what kind of 'lock' you were told to expect but the camera should be able to 'lock on' to autofocus a subject as close as 1.5m from the sensor.

At this distance, zoomed all the way in to 300mm, you will be able to get a subject to fill the frame in much the same way as some macro lenses.

Many quality telephoto zooms are described as having a 'macro function' due to this ability to shoot extreme close-ups, but few would argue that their reproduction ratio – the relation between the actual size of the subject and the size of the image – is high enough to call them a 'true' macro.

A true macro lens will focus much closer and give you much bigger magnification, because that's all it was designed to do. On a telephoto zoom such as yours, it's a side benefit and you have to work a little harder to get a good result. Shoot in very good light, use a tripod, and stop the lens down to f11, and it will produce nice, sharp, full-frame close-ups of subjects such as postage stamps, spiders, flowers, etc.

If you're not getting good results it may be due to camera shake and/or using too wide (low value) f-number, both often due to poor light levels, lack of tripod, or both. Long lenses are very hard to hold still, especially in low light.

Hopefully addressing those points will improve the results you're getting.

Cheers

Mick

YS0203

Mick,

Thanks for the helpful explanation, I will try and do as you suggest. I do think it's a bit misleading for a novice like me that the lens says macro on the side of it as I expected a much better result from my close shots than I have been getting. If Sony customer service staff had given me that explanation I would have understood better but I was told initially that the lens was incompatible with my camera and then when I queried this I was told that I needed to update the firmware on the lens. I have never even seen anything about firmware updates for lenses but have updated the firmware on the camera since I bought it a few months ago. I felt that the chap I spoke to knew less about my camera than I did!

Thanks for the advice, I will have a go with the tripod and stop the lesn to f11.

YS

marashfo

Hi there,

I'd have to agree with Mick in that there's no compatibilty issues with the A37 and SAL75300.

Just bear in mind that Macro photography requires a very steady hand as when you're doing extreme close ups the slightest movement will be amplified resulting in a blurred image.

To prove this, set your Camera to A mode (Aperture priority) set an aperture of say F11 and set the ISO to the highest value. (I'm guessing it's around 1600 on an A37). At this speed you'll get a very grainy image, but it will give you a quick exposure which should eliminate any camera shake. If the resulting image is nice and sharp, at least you know everything works ok. Then it's just a case of getting a good quality tripod so you can take shots with a lower ISO and exposure.

The other thing to consider, if you want to do true Macro shots with the SAL75300, is the use of Macro Tubes. A Macro tube is basically a plastic tube that fits between the camera body and the lens. By pushing the lens away from the Camera it allows a much closer minimum focus distance. As Mick said, the minimum focus distance at the moment on the SAL75300 is around 1.5m. Put a Macro tube on the camera and with the same lens you might be able to get as close as 50cm?

Do a search for Macro tubes on Amazon - There are two types: -

The cheap ones (Around £10) do the job, but don't carry any of the electrical connections through to the lens itself, so you'll need to manual focus, and you'll be stuck with a fixed aperture.

The 'dear' ones (£100 +) do carry the electrical connections through, so you can set different apertures and use the auto focus if you prefer. The best brand I've seen is called Kenko.

Good luck - hope this information is useful.

Martin

YS0203

Martin,

Thanks for the information about the Macro tubes, I haven't heard of using anything like that. I have actually now decided to get a proper Macro lens (Tamron 60mm) but I will look again at how I can improve my shots by following the guidance you and Mick have given me.

Many thanks

YS

Jules74