Comments on: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM and Macro Photography

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:33:33 +0000

Gedas: It’s an excellent lens but it has a plastic barrel and can be a bit fragile so handle with care. Very slow AF in anything but macro mode, really made for manual focus macro photography. However, it can be used for portraits and such, just not super fast work.

Let me know what you think.

By: Gedas Girdvainis

Gedas Girdvainis — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:13:31 +0000

Hey, i’m ordered this old version today, hope tomorrow or saturday ( on wedding) I can play with it.

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 01 May 2011 02:12:53 +0000

Jolee: It’s a great lens, every bit as good as the L version of it which has a sturdier barrel and image stabilization.

I eventually sold this lens and got the higher end L version, less for the optics (about the same), more for the IS and lack of fragility.

If you’re careful with the non-L lens you’ll be fine. Thanks for commenting here and enjoy the world of macro photography.

By: Jolee

Jolee — Sun, 01 May 2011 01:47:47 +0000

Thanks Richard. I’m deciding on a macro lens and you just sold me this one! I’m glad you never delete postings too, this was written five years ago and is still so useful.
Jolee

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:38:37 +0000

Sabina, It’s always better to use a dedicated macro lens than a macro closeup ring added to another lens.

I’d avoid the ring flash until you explore macro photography more. I do quite a bit of it but have no ring flash and don’t use flash at all in my macro work. A good tripod and a remote shutter release are the most important pieces of gear you’ll want.

Thanks for the kind words about my images.

By: sabina

sabina — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:46:37 +0000

hello,
do you know maybe what would be the difference, if i put raynox 250 lens on my 135mm canon or if i but 100 mm macro canon lens.
The first option is cheaper, but i wouldn’t mind to but the latter if the performance is much better / sharpness etc.
Is the magnification greater with one or another?
i am very fresh at this so i appreciate any help/advice you can give me.
I am also interested in buying a ring flash – which would you suggest for any of these compositions?
thank you so much for reply
btw, great photos!
sabina

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:08:22 +0000

Greg: I'm not sure about the compatibility of the Raynox device but I'm quite sure that better quality is gotten out of dedicated macro lenses than it is from adding macro glass/magnifiers to the front of existing lenses. A better solution as an alternative to a dedicated macro lens would be extension tubes. Kenko makes a nice set that's not too pricey and works with all Canon compatible lenses.

By: Greg F.

Greg F. — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:39:11 +0000

Richard thank you for this wealth of info. A store closing and sale
is helping me towards this purchase for a Canon 40d. I have a friend at Flickr that uses a Raynox-250 and was wondering if this could be used on all of Canons lenses. Im new to all of this Digital camera work and now being retired gives me some freedom to enjoy it. Thanks again for your wonderful write up on this lens.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:10:53 +0000

CK: You can certainly get a polarizer for the 100mm macro and use it for non-macro applications. It is not, however, the 85mm f/1.8 which is an excellent lens too with faster AF and probably the better lens for portraits.

But, you can do portraits and macro with the 100mm macro, you cannot do macro work with the 85mm f/1.8.

Solution: buy both lenses. I’m not kidding. This is what you have an interchangeable lens DSLR for, to be able to put on different lenses for different applications.

I know, it’s easy for me to say but seriously, there is no perfect single lens for every or even these two applications.

If you’re serious about macro work then get the 100mm macro and see how it works out for portraits. This solution at least gives you some options. The 85 simply cannot be used for 1:1 macro work.

By: CK

CK — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:48:59 +0000

Hi Richard,i’m eyeing this lens but in a dilemma between this and the 85mm/f1.8 cause i want to do both portrait and macro.

for landscape shoot using the 100mm macro,can i get a polariser for it?