Canon 100mm f2.8 L IS macro..

jcf

Hi,
I have been thinking of getting this lens, I have wanted to get a macro for a while now, but is 100mm too long for a macro lens ?

I'll be shooting on a FF body.

The other option is a 135mm f2L for portraits.

gloobag

The 100mm excels at macro (and no, it's not too long), but is also an excellent portrait lens.

The 135mm is just a much better portrait lens, probably one of the best available, up there with 85mm f1.2 in my opinion.

I've used both, but don't own either, but I will own the 135mm soon.

What do you like to shoot, macro or portrait? Base your choice on that.

Borderfox

Get the macro, the 135L is lovely but it just doesnt get used enough. It aint in the same park as the 85L though. With the 100mm macro you can do both

Necronomicon

I don't have the L, but the regular 100mm is such a beautiful lens. And it is so damn versataille. As mentioned here, it is a terrific portrait lens.

Also, I've never found it too long for macro work, and I shoot on a cropped sensor. The internal focusing also means that you scarcely have to worry about bumping the glass into your subject.

Zillah

gloobag wrote: »

85mm f1.2 in

Would that not give you a razor thin depth of field? Keeping the right bits in focus sounds ridiculously hard.

Borderfox

At the minimum focus distance it is a very thin dof but if the subject is further away then it isnt as critical especially if you stop the lens down

gloobag

As Borderfox says, it all depends on distance from subject (and if the **** AF on my 5D actually manages to focus on what I want ).

Stopping down gives you a bit of wiggle room, but on those rare occasions where you do nail the focus at f1.2, special things happen

It's without a doubt my favourite lens, but I was blown away by the 135mm f2 when I got to play with one recently, hence why I'll be buying one myself soon.

The 100mm at f2.8, for me doesn't blow the background out of focus enough for what I usually shoot.

I shoot a lot of natural light portraits, so these fast primes fit in with the type of stuff I want to do.

Borderfox

gloobag wrote: »

As Borderfox says, it all depends on distance from subject (and if the **** AF on my 5D actually manages to focus on what I want ).

Stopping down gives you a bit of wiggle room, but on those rare occasions where you do nail the focus at f1.2, special things happen

It's without a doubt my favourite lens, but I was blown away by the 135mm f2 when I got to play with one recently, hence why I'll be buying one myself soon.

The 100mm at f2.8, for me doesn't blow the background out of focus enough for what I usually shoot.

I shoot a lot of natural light portraits, so these fast primes fit in with the type of stuff I want to do.

I only use the 85L on the 1dmk3 body I have, the 5d is lovely but as you say the focus cant be trusted. With the 1d body I can use f1.2 quite a bit when needed and it always locks on.

jcf

Thanks guys, yeah I find it difficult enough to get nice focus with the 50mm f1.4 ....


"stopping down" -- you mean increasing the aperture here yeah ?
how can you "stop down" and the max aperture ? :S

gloobag

jcf wrote: »

Thanks guys, yeah I find it difficult enough to get nice focus with the 50mm f1.4 ....


"stopping down" -- you mean increasing the aperture here yeah ?
how can you "stop down" and the max aperture ? :S

Stopping down, i.e. on your 50mm f1.4, going from 1.4 > 1.6 > 1.8 > 2.0 etc... will give you a longer depth of field / increase the amount of your subject that is in focus.

jcf

gloobag wrote: »

Stopping down, i.e. on your 50mm f1.4, going from 1.4 > 1.6 > 1.8 > 2.0 etc... will give you a longer depth of field / increase the amount of your subject that is in focus.

OK so narrowing the ap .... ok ...

yes i need to stop down all the time !!

I find f8 on the 50mm f1.4 Lens is perfect !!

pullandbang

I have the 100mm L f2.8 macro and it's a lovely lens on the full frame. Only one issue I have is that the AF sometimes hunts from one end of the lens to the other leaving the focus very slow and annoying. Other than that it's awesome.

jcf

OK, well Macro "generally" doesn't really need fast AF...

Borderfox

It should have a focus limiter to stop that

smash

looks nice from the samples http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sample-Pictures.aspx?Equipment=674

pullandbang

jcf wrote: »

OK, well Macro "generally" doesn't really need fast AF...

I suppose I should have expanded - it's when I'm using it as a portrait lens and especially if the subject is moving.

As a macro it's used in manual focus anyway.

chisel

I have the non-IS version of this lens, and its a cracker. The macro function makes it very versatile, and it seems to me to be just right for portraits, at least on a cropped sensor. Speaking of which I must mount it on full frame and see how it goes.

I'd say go for the much cheaper non-IS version and enjoy it. There are some available on adverts at the moment (I think) for around €400 or so.

jcf

Just picked it up today and happy with the shots im getting.
got it for a good price too - €795

Thanks all ..

S55AMG

jcf wrote: »

Just picked it up today and happy with the shots im getting.
got it for a good price too - €795

Thanks all ..

Hi, Firstly can I ask you where you got the lens for that price? I'm ready to buy this lens but cant decide where to buy from. Initially I was going for Pixmania (€ 843 excl delivery), then I came across Simply Electronics (€739 free delivery) but checked them out here and am unsure If I want to hand over that type of money and not get a manufacture warranty. Amazon.de are doing it for €759 but since I cant read german I'm afraid I wouldnt order it correctly!

Secondly, are you happy with the lens? Im buying it for a 550D.

Thanks in advance

S55AMG

S55AMG wrote: »

Amazon.de are doing it for €759 but since I cant read german I'm afraid I wouldnt order it correctly!

Haha!

I had the exact same problem recently! Canon 70-200 f/4 IS L was on my to-get list, so it was between SimplyElectronics and Amazon.de for price competitiveness.

What I did was just order the lens on .de and .co.uk at the same time. Now, obviously I didn't actually buy the lens twice, what I mean is I went through the ordering/checkout process on both sites in two seperate tabs to make sure I was pressing the right stuff and such.

Both checkout processes are identical and buttons and such are in the same place, so by flicking between the two of them you should be grand


Then when you get an email off them (confirmation email) just copy/paste it into Google Translate to see what it says (just incase there is an issue, though it's unlikely, and it'll give you an approximate delivery time) an and you'll be fine. A little bit of messing about, but I've heard Amazon are fantastic for dealing with returns and such, so it's worth the hassle in my opinion.