Ken Billington
Registered User
Registered: November 2005
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 407
|
|
Review Date: Mon December 6, 2010
|
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
|
|
Pros:
|
Fast focusing, non-extending or rotating, sharp images, excellent optical performance, practical minimum working distance (MWD) of 150mm.
|
|
Cons:
|
Build quality not as solid as L-Series lenses, No image stabilization.
|
|
Advantages
1. Fast Focusing - Utilizing USM (Ultrasonic Motor), the Canon 100 Macro internally focuses very fast, quietly and very accurately.
2. Non-Extending or Rotating - When focusing at 1x subject distances, the lens does not extend, and the front element does not rotate.
3. Sharp Images - the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens is sharp wide open. The tiniest details in your tiniest subjects will come to life with this lens.
4. Optical Performance - Flare is very well controlled. Color and contrast are excellent and distortion is negligible. Although vignetting is apparent at f/2.8, this rapidly disappears when the lens is stopped down.
5. Practical Minimum Working Distance (MWD) - The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens gives an optimum MWD of 150mm. At the higher MWD of the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 L USM lens (240mm), insects are not really close enough. At the lower MWD of the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens (90mm), insects may scare and fly away prematurely.
Disadvantages
1. Build quality - this USM Macro lens has a reasonable build quality although it's not quite as solid as the L-Series lenses.
2. Image Stabilization - this lens does not feature the image stabilization present with the significantly more expensive Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Macro Lens.
Summary
The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens is a very good choice for macro photography of butterflies, insects or flowers. It offers excellent optical performance and middle-of-the-road working distance, size and
weight. Check out my Butterfly & Insect Stock Photos and Images.
|
|
Welcome to BirdForum.
