Jeroen, as for "macro mode", my DSLR adds a plus to saturation for more vivid color. If I don't want that, I don't use that mode. I generally shoot with camera added optomizations turned off. The camera I have use for close shots up until this year is a little Minolta Dimage f100. I must use macro mode for that camera and it does a pretty good job...yes in auto focus or manual focus. Auto focus is quicker and less distrubing to critters than clicking the little "selector" on the back in manual focus. I can't complain about how that little camera performs considering all.