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What are the closest focusing lenses that cover full frame!

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Brendan Isaac

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Hey guys,

Shooting some tabletop soon. I normally use arri macro's on s35 sensors. I am more interested in the wider lenses 24, 32, 35, 40mm sizes. Do any Full Frame lenses come close to the arri macro's in close focus abilities. I would like to avoid using Diopters as lenses will be on a bolt rig and i will run out of focus too quickly with diopters.

Thanks !
 
Not the sexiest option, but the Zeiss CP.2 25mm T2.9 focuses at 6.7" which is a tiny bit closer than the 24mm Arri Macro and covers full frame.
 
An ancient Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 focuses to 8 and 11/32". The aperture ring overhang on the back of the lens may foul a RED Nikon F-Mount as it also does with some modern Nikons which do not have the deeper and very slightly narrower diameter shoulder around the mount ring.

The modern Laowa 12mm f2.8 apparently focuses to about 6".

The recent Sigma 14mm f2.8 focuses to 6.7" according to the internet.

The last two are rectiinear lenses and the corners of the image appear stretched. The Micro-Nikkor confers an image which is more normally proportioned. In the early days of making solid state electronics, this lens was apparently used to scale drawings down to microchip sizes.
 
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Zero Optik's Nikon rehousings focus super close. I guess their Leica R and Canon FD do too. All cover FF.
 
The laowa macro lenses are really very very good. 60mm (which i have) and there's a 100mm APO which i ought to get. Very stupid close focusing and lovely bokeh. Well worth looking into and very cost effective. Not as wide.

I've also have great luck with 12mm Lecia M lenses on a helicoid adapter, so you can push the close focus to the barrel.

The laowa 12mm cine lens is pretty close, again macro tubes can help even more.

cheers
Paul

cheers
Paul
 
Are you sure on the macro adapter? Extension rings don not work on very wide lenses as even "infinity" focus is inside the lens barrel. Never used anything wider than 50mm with extension rings, a 35 might still work but wider???
 
Extension Rings on some wides put close focus within the lens itself, that is the downside, but depending on the glass your mileage may very. An adjustable helicoid adapter is nice because you can really tune that sweet spot often at the cost of the lens wiggling around.

Usually about 25mm and longer work fine with shorter tubes, longer tubes whelp perhaps 35mm and up.
 
My Mitchell Hi Speed AKA Super Speed Baltar lenses are close focus. They were intented for FF VistaVision miniature photography. You can actually focus one inch from the glass in the wides 24mm, 28mm and 35mm.
 
I have played with our Venus Laowa 12mm that has a close focus just over 7" (180mm). This lens has built-in distortion correction (to a point). It is a full frame lens and this is what they say about this lens: "The LAOWA 12mm f/2.8 ZERO-D adopts a floating optical design to ensure exceptional sharpness not only at infinity, but also at close focusing distances. Along with a 18 cm minimal focusing distance and 0.2x Maximum magnification, this lens is also a fun tool for creating some mini wide angle macros." And if you don't care about the 0.2x magnification factor, you can push the minimum focus point to about 6" (152.4mm) or so.

You can get more info from their website: https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-12mm-f2-8-zero-d/
 
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Contax 35-70 has macro at 35mm

Full frame and crazy micro contrast
 
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