I understand that some lenses can give dissapointing results whan used for close focusing at around 1/2 life size to life size. Would this be the case with the Schneider apo symmar 210mm f5.6, even though its apochromatic? For general and macro use in 6x7cm 5x4in and maybe 5x7in.

-- Ian Watt (ian@cycads.fsnet.co.uk), March 18, 2002

Answers

An Apo Macro Sironar or an Apo Ronar would be somewhat sharper...

-- Per Volquartz (volquartz@volquartz.com), March 18, 2002.

Hi Ian

Just take your shoots and if you are not happy with the results then buy the Schneider G-Glaron 150mm from Robert white for about 250 bucks and you will get better results up to f32 but you will not see a difference if you have to stop down to f 45 or f 64 because the diffraction kills the resolution also on a macro lens!

Happy shooting and cheers!

-- Armin Seeholzer (armin.seeholzer@smile.ch), March 18, 2002.

It's spherical aberration that reduces image quality when a lens is used outside of its designed working distance. Since an 'apo' lens only has better correction of chromatic errors, its ability to focus closely isn't much different from non-apo lenses.
A graphic-arts or copying lens, or an enlarging lens used on the camera, will easily outperform any general purpose camera lens at macro distances.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), March 19, 2002.