Macro lenses are not like ordinary lenses. First, they have a fixed focal length. This provides maximum image quality without any of the distortion that characterises zoom lenses. Second, they focus much closer than ordinary lenses. Third, the optics are designed specifically for close focusing – all lens design involves compromises, and everyday zooms can’t be optimised for both everyday photography and close-up work.

This Samsung 100mm f2.8 isn’t cheap, but it does enable you to take photographs that would be impossible any other way.

The one issue with this lens is the focal length. A 100mm lens enables you to get far enough from your subject not to be shading it with the lens when you take the picture, but it also means that there’s almost no depth of field whatsoever.

Depth of field diminishes with focal length and the closer you get to the subject. At this lens’s maximum aperture of f2.8, the depth of field is so shallow that the slightest movement on your part will throw the subject out of focus. Even if you mount the camera on a tripod, the slightest breeze will blur your shots because the plane of sharp focus is so narrow.

Stopping down the lens to small apertures will help, but even then it may be impossible to keep both wings of an insect sharp, for example. This isn’t a fault with the Samsung lens. It’s an issue with all close-up photography. It’s just something to bear in mind when considering this kind of work.

Indeed, close-up photography at this range requires skill, planning and patience, but the results are worth it. One of our test shots is a close-up of a fly on a leaf in a garden. Perfectly commonplace from a normal perspective, but through the Samsung lens its huge compound eyes are mesmerising, as are the iridescent colours on its thorax. You can’t shoot these things with an ordinary lens.

The Imatest resolution figures are interesting, because they show the lens produces consistently high-resolution figures across its aperture range. The dip at around f4-5.6 is probably an anomaly, and it’s a reminder that lens tests using charts can be an imperfect science. It relies on the accuracy of the camera’s autofocus system for a start (and even this is usually more accurate than manual focusing by eye).

The test shots also reveal that there’s no distortion and almost no chromatic aberration. These are the advantages of fixed focal length lenses.

There’s another side to this lens apart from its close-up abilities. It also makes a great medium telephoto lens. You won’t find a 100mm zoom with a maximum aperture of f2.8, or one that can approach this level of image quality at wide apertures.

The build quality and finish are good, but while the AF is quite fast it’s also quite noisy. The manual focus ring isn’t very smooth, but the gearing is very high, allowing extremely precise focusing for close-ups.

Any owner of a Pentax or Samsung SLR (they use the same hardware) who’s interested in close-up photography should consider this lens. It’s not flashy and it’s not cheap, but it will genuinely open up new worlds.

Final Verdict The autofocus is noisy and the manual focusing ring feels a little rough, but the Samsung’s results are very good OVERALL

Our lens reviewer, and technical expert, Rod is a veritable photographic encyclopaedia. His illustrious CV has seen him write for many mags, websites and journals.