As close as its published minimum focus distance, measured from the sensor plane rather than from the front of the lens. The working space in front of the glass is therefore always less than the figure suggests.
The published figure answers a narrower question than most readers assume, and the convention behind it is the reason.
Where that distance is measured from
The distance from the sensor plane to the subject, at the closest focus the lens allows. Most bodies mark that plane with a small symbol on the top plate. Subtract the length of the camera and the lens, and what remains is the space you actually have in front of the glass.
Why it matters more on long lenses
A telephoto lens is physically long, so a large share of its minimum distance is occupied by the lens itself. Two lenses quoting the same figure can leave very different working room, and only one of the two numbers needed for that comparison is published.
The related figure
Magnification, expressed as a ratio — 1:1 meaning life size. A lens focusing close is not necessarily a macro lens; the ratio is what distinguishes them, and where a listing gives none, no claim has been made.
What this catalogue publishes
Minimum focus appears in a minority of titles, which is why the families here are drawn around what does appear: macro lenses as their own shelf, close-up lenses in the filter group because they screw into the thread and are sold by diameter.
Where this page and the maker’s own manual disagree, the manual decides. Every focal length, aperture, guide number, stop of stabilisation, load rating and sealing claim on this page is reported from the manufacturer’s own documentation, with its unit written as published, and named as such — none of it is measured here. An engraved figure is reported as the maker engraves it, and is never restated in another convention, because the two are not the same number. And the statement repeated rather than assumed: an equivalent focal length is arithmetic, not a measurement. The millimetres engraved on a barrel describe the optic itself and never change; what changes is how much of the projected circle a given sensor takes out of it. An equivalence is that ratio applied to the engraved figure, and it appears here as a calculation with its format named, never in place of the number on the lens.
What people ask before they commit
Why measure from the sensor?
Because it is the one fixed reference inside the camera: the front of the lens moves as the barrel extends and changes with every lens fitted. The convention is consistent and the consequence is that a long lens with a short minimum distance can still leave very little room in front of it.
Does a close-up lens change this figure?
It lets an ordinary lens focus nearer than its own minimum, at the cost of no longer reaching infinity while fitted. Those screw-in elements sit in the filter group on this site, published by diameter, and the figure to match is the thread on the front of your lens.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026