What are macro/close-up lenses good for?

[vizwiz]

I bought a “Universal” (a no-brand, to be sure) set of four 82mm “close-up” lenses for my HVX.

They are ‘close-up+1’ and ‘close-up+2”, which really look just like UV filters, then there is ‘close-up+4’, twice as thick ring with some detectable curve in the lens, and finally ‘close-up macro’, which is 3 times thicker than a filter with quite a bit of convexity.

I shot my hand from close range with all four and without, and the only difference I noticed was that the biggest one (macro) brought it closer to camera. But I could achieve the same effect by simply moving my hand closer to lens. Shot in Cine D 24p 1/24 . At 100% size in Final Cut Pro, I could notice no difference whatsoever in detail between with and without any of the lenses. What am I missing?

Thanks.

p.s. why do so many wide-angle adapters come with a macro lens attached when it more or less cancels the fisheye effect?

 

[eddavid]

macro lenses let you get focus on small objects - you can't normally get this at a certain distance with the stock lens.

 

[vizwiz]

what would be the distance from lens to object for each of the four? thank you.

 

[Milezee]

You can focus on objects only a few cms from the basic HVX lens when it is zoomed out wide. If you zoom in you lose that close up ability and the nearest focal point moves away from the lens.

The size of an object can stay roughly the same close up and wide or furtherback and zoomed in.

The close up fittings you have may allow you to be zoomed in AND get focus much closer to the lens and achive a much greater magnification.