As you know now, there are 100-ish macros that will got to 1:1. As for the AF vs MF question - you get trap focus with the Manual Focus lenses, Auto Focus (obviously) with the AF lenses. All things being equal I'd probably lean towards the AF lens. One short coming of macros is that while you gain the ability to focus close, you loose focusing sensitivity for mid range and further subjects. For example, the A* 200mm f4 macro takes you from infinity to 2 meters with a 30 - 40 degree twist of the focusing ring, white the A* 200mm f2.8 requires more than 200 degrees of turning to reach the same distance. So if you are manually focusing on a subject 5 meters away, you have a lot more control with a non-macro lens. My guess is that this wouldn't be an issue at all with an AF lens.
- MCC BTW - the difference between Macro and Non-Macro focusing lenses is just one of the things I learned from Valentin Donisa when he was active on this list. At 08:15 PM 3/9/02 -0600, you wrote: >I have manual focus Pentax gear. I've been using my A-series 50mm >F/2.0 with extension tubes and/or a reversing ring for the "macro" >photography that I do. I've been considering a dedicated macro lens, >and have a question about the MF versus AF variants. - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Kalamazoo, MI [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - - - - - - - - - Photos: http://www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .

