LARGER THAN LIFE

A macro lens is usually considered to be one that enables 1:1 reproduction of the subject on the image sensor, the same size that it appears in real life. this might not sound like that much of a big deal, but because images are reproduced much larger than they appear on the sensor, the result is stunning levels of detail. let’s take the sensor of our 7d, which has a paltry (by today’s standard) 18mp resolution of 5184×3456 pixels. High-quality printing typically has a resolution of 300 dots per inch, meaning images can be blown up to 17.28x11.52 inches (44x29cm) at top quality – that’s the size of a double-page spread in this magazine. the more pixels your sensor has, the bigger the image can be reproduced, and this is exponential, as larger images are generally viewed from further away, so can be printed at lower resolution.