Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Manual Focus Lens

by Geoff 12 Sep 0 Comments

Canon MP-E65mm Macro Lens

This Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Manual Focus Lens is quite an unusual macro lens as it can focus down to a a magnification of 5.

The lens is exclusively for use for macro photography, the MP-E 65mm can fill a 35mm frame with the tiniest object. Floating internal lens elements keep the resolution sharp, throughout the range of focus. The lens also has one element of ultra low dispersion glass.

This lens is quite unusual in that it focuses with a magnification range of 1 to 5 times, that is objects will be represented on the sensor at a maximum of 5 times their real size, that is simply amazing. No other manufacturer has a lens similar to this one, so mit you are into really large magnifications then go for this lens.

Many times when I have been photographing a subject such as a tiny jumping spider, I have thought that I must get one of these lenses.

The range of Canon’s Macro lenses are summarised as follows, they range from a normal focal length to a focal length of 180mm:

EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro, this is a very compact Macro normal focal length autofocus lens and Canon Life-Size Converter EF is available,
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 Macro lens.

The above 180mm lens is the lens which is most suited to the photography of shy subjects such as butterflies and insects, but it is also an excellent general purpose lens, as well as Macro lens, as are all the complete range of macro lenses. The shorte 100mm and 50mm lenses are more suited to static subjects such as flowers, still life or virtually any other close up subject matter.

Macro photography is a fascinating area of photography to get in to, there are no limits. If you have a small garden, then there are generally many insects which you can use as subjects with your macro lens. I just love my Macro lenses and I have two of them, one the shorter one for static subjects and also a longer one which I love for butterflies. So get into Macro photography.

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