Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens

by Geoff 12 Sep 0 Comments

Canon EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM Lens

The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens is a superb quality L-series lens for close up photography. The lens has Canon’s Optical Image Stabilization with up to 4 stops of shake control and it also has the Ultrasonic Motor (USM) for quicker and quieter auto focusing with full-time manual override.

The lens allows for continuous focusing down to 1:1 life size and is very suitable for static subjects such as flowers. Optional extension tubes can increase the reproduction ration for even greater magnification than 1:1.

This lens is a highly professional quality Macro lens with exceptional close up performance. This lens will be very suitable for photographing subjects such as flowers, still life and for some insects. If you want to photograph shy subjects such as butterflies you may be better going for the 180mm Macro lens.

It can be quite confusing in selecting a Macro lens and you need to carefully consider the type of close up work you like to do and whether you want a short or longer working distance to the subject. The range of available Macro lenses available from Canon is summarised as follows:

EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro – Compact Macro Normal Autofocus Lens and Canon Life-Size Converter EF
MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro – Manual Focus Lens with 5 times magnification
EF 100mm f/2.8 USM – Macro Telephoto Lens
EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM – Telephoto Macro Lens
EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM – Autofocus Long Telephoto Lens

Macro lenses are not only suitable for close up photography, in general macro lenses perform very well at all focal lengths and are very suitable for portraits, in particular the 100mm focal length Macro lenses.

If you like using flash for your macro lighting, which is very useful, then you may like to consider a longer focal length macro lens, as it will give you more working distance to arrange the lighting around the subject. Lighting is very important for macro photography as it is for all photography.

Take a look at the Flickr site for samples from this Macro lens.