Although most zoom lenses don’t support true “macro” settings, that doesn’t mean you can’t shoot some great close-up photos. The key is to use your camera-to-subject distance to fill the frame while still being able to achieve sharp focus. This means that you move yourself as close as possible to your subject while still being able to get a good sharp focus. Often, your lens will be marked with the minimum focusing distance. On my 18–105mm zoom, it is about 8 inches with the lens set to 75mm. To help get the best focus in the picture, Close Up mode will use the smallest aperture it can while keeping the shutter speed fast enough to get a sharp shot (Figures 3.10 and 3.11). It does this by raising the ISO or turning on the built-in flash—or a combination of the two.
Fortunately, there are several other settings that you can change in this mode. The flash will be set to Auto by default, but you can also change it to Auto-redeye and Off, depending on your need. The ISO can be changed from the Auto setting to one of your own choosing. This probably only needs to be done in low-light settings when Auto ISO starts to move up to maintain exposure values. Other settings that can be changed are Image Quality, Release mode, Focus mode (AF-A or Manual), and AF-area mode.
