Years ago in the film days, I was under the impression that a "macro" lens was synonymous with a "flat field" lens, which was of key importance when photographing art work and other flat objects. (EBay has several film-era Vivitar Flat Field 90-180 Macro Zooms, for instance.)
When I looked at the Canon web page describing macro lenses, the phrase "flat field" was not used. It led me to wonder if modern-day macro lenses are not flat field and if that characteristic was no longer a concern or design objective. With the advent of quality scanners, perhaps flat field lenses are just no longer needed.
So, for the stupid question of the day, do we still have (or even want) flat field lenses?
When I looked at the Canon web page describing macro lenses, the phrase "flat field" was not used. It led me to wonder if modern-day macro lenses are not flat field and if that characteristic was no longer a concern or design objective. With the advent of quality scanners, perhaps flat field lenses are just no longer needed.
So, for the stupid question of the day, do we still have (or even want) flat field lenses?