Macro lens for 50 D

 

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p>My brother needs

a macro lens (he shoots butterflies, dragon flies, flowers etc) his 50 D. We were thinking of 100mm L. Please suggest. A

lso is it ok for portraits also?</p>������������������������������������������������������������������������

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<p>I've heard that the 100 mm "L" macro is quite good, but I have the standard 100/2.8 macro (non-IS) and it's very good. The EF-S 60mm macro is one of the best of the bunch (won't fit FF bodies).</p>

<p>160mm (eff FOV) may be a little long for portraiture (depends on style of course), I'd probably try out the EF-S 60mm. the eff. FOV is 96mm, which is much more condusive to most portraiture... plus it's a great macro lens!</p>

<p>In a small room, 100mm may be a bit tight unless you want face-only portraits (so the answer kind of depends, as mentioned). But for macro in general I would not go shorter than 100mm. For critters, I'd go for the 180mm macro. So you may be thinking about 2 lenses for different uses here. The 100mm might end up being a compromise that isn't quite ideal for either use.</p>

<p>All three are superb. As someone who does mostly macro and uses a 50D with both the EF-S 60mm and the 100mm L, I would say that the choice depends on what he will focus on (no pun intended) most often. For work with bugs, I almost always choose the 100mm because it allows you to stay a little farther away and hence scare the critters off less often. For indoor tripod work with flowers, I most often choose the 60mm precisely because of the shorter working distance. the two L's are reasonably similar in terms of optical quality. On balance, ignoring the portrait issue, he is probably better off with one of the 100s.</p>

<p>I agree with Marcus--the 60 is pretty close to a traditional portrait length once you take the crop factor into account.</p>

<p>If he shoots macro handheld at least some of the time, the EF 100/2.8 L is probably his best option, since it has a state-of-the-art image stabilization system. I've heard that it's a decent portrait lens, too, but it would be too long for indoor portraiture on a crop body, at least for me.</p>

<p>Anil,<br>

All good advice & recommendations given above, but I think Dan M sums it up best. It's really going to depend on what your brother shoots the most of, . . . bugs, butterflies or portraits. And I expect it will be most often used on bugs.<br>

I would suggest the 100mm f/2.8 L IS Macro if it's in the budget. I got mine shortly after they were released and I haven't regretted it! But in my case, I already had the EF 50mm f/1.4 that I could use for portraits and was specifically looking for a Macro to use with my 50D.<br>

What other lenses does your brother already have?</p>

 

<p>The Canon 60mm focuses very quickly and accurately and can be found used for a good price. The Sigma 150 is slow to focus, but a great macro lens for manual focusing since it has a long focus throw compared to the Canon 100s and the newer 150, and can also be found for a good price used. Both the 60 and 150 are very good for portraiture. I have added two handheld snapshots taken recently (last six months)with an APS-C camera, the first with the 60mm and second with the 150mm:<br>

<a href="photo?photo_id=14338215&size=lg"><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/14338215-md.jpg" border="0" alt="60mm_40D_spider.JPG" width="680" height="453" /></a><br>

<a href="photo?photo_id=14338216&size=lg"><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/14338216-md.jpg" border="0" alt="150mm_40D_frog.JPG" width="680" height="453" /></a></p>

 

<p>While the Canon 60mm is a fine lens, I'd recommend the Sigma 70mm f2.8. It can also be used on "full-frame" cameras. The slightly longer focal length will add some more flexibility. The lens is exceptionally sharp. The only drawback is that the AF is on the slower side, but for closeup or true macro shooting I always focus manually on a tripod.</p>

<p>ME</p>

<p>I have only tried one macro lens - very recently - and that was a friend's Tamron 90mm Macro. It is slightly noisy and not as fast as the Canon lenses will be, but I was EXCEPTIONALLY impressed with the overall performance and VERY SHARP (REALLY, VERY SHARP) image quality. I must say though, the noise did scare some of the critters away and there will be advantages of the Canon 100 here with its instant focus, silent operation and non-extending components.<br>

Do check out Photozone reviews of the Tammy though - it is a very good lens.</p>

<p>I assume you meant Canon 100mm f2.8L IS USM Macro. This is a terrific lens. I bought mine two weeks ago. Very good build & silky operations. However its not significantly different from its non IS version in terms of optical quality. The main difference is the IS. For handheld shots its very useful. I could experience upto 3 stops of IS though the spec says it supports 4 stop of IS. No doubt it does a wonderful job as a portrait lens. While shooting macros we need to ensure the distance option is set correctly. (Three choices: Full, 1.5 metres to infinity and 3.5 metres to infinity) This is to ensure minimal movement of glasses internally to give u that quick AF.<br>

The Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro USM non IS is quite enough. Most of macro shots are with the tripod and IS is less valuable. I bought the IS because I take a lot of hand held shots. The IS version was almost 330€ more than the non IS version a price I paid for my shaking hands.<br>

I am new to this forum but I believe these forums exist to impart the knowledge/experience. The suggestions on Canon EF-S 60mm, Sigma 70mm & Tamron 90mm are absolutely valuable. My friend uses the Tamron 90mm on a Nikon and its a real beauty of a lens. Quite sharp. Only one drawback is the extension of the front element while focussing close ups. If your brother is okay with this extension then I wud suggest you to check this Tamron piece too. Tamron also has a 60mm. I did not choose the EF-S 60mm because it is not supported in full frame. However I tried it with my 7D & must say its impressive too. <br>

I am sorry I dont know about the longer focal length macros. Also as others said, the alternatives such as Sigma 70mm, Tamron 90mm are real good lenses. Perhaps the Tamron even optically better than Canon 100mm. Its worth to check/test all of these lenses and then decide.</p>