Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I'm recently interested in this new lens, I like the fact that macro photo is my interests now.

Compare to the old 100mm 2.8 macro lens, is it worth for the extra cost?

I've seen people is selling their old 100mm one.

Great for shooting handheld in the rain. (if this is something you like to do, then it's worth the extra cost)

I've heard that the non-IS version is also very sharp.

only worth if you have the money, it's a really awesome lens in any respect, I'd give it a 9.8 out of 10 with slight loss in wide open noticeable CA.
Image quality is much better than old one, but you can't beat the price difference either. At more than twice the price I'd be concerned.

That being said, I upgraded my old macro with it and can't buy any more lenses now

What sort of macro subjects are you interested in?

This may be a bit off topic if you have decided on your focal length, but I've used the old 100 and the 180, and far preferred the 180 (which I now own and use regularly). But I mostly do nature related macro/close-up stuff where a bit more working distance can be very useful.

As between the two versions of the 100mm- I would go with the lens with IS- hand holding for macro subjects is very difficult (more so than other subjects- but I use a tripod 99% of the time with macro) - if the IS helps with this (I would try it), then that would likely make the added cost worthwhile.

I've had the original 100mm and upgraded to the L when it came out and have to say that both are excellent lenses overall but I find that the L gives me more 'keepers' when shooting ad-hoc shots as the IS really helps when not on a tripod and without having to really bump up your shutter speed.

I've done some research and I think I will look for one.

@LE27: you meant the lens has weather sealing? It can be happened to anyone shoots outdoor. This is actually a nice bonus feature.

@PotatoEYE: LOL... the lens is gonna cost my 2 weeks paycheck .

@Conac: I'm interested in mostly flowers. I thought about some cheap bellow adapter would do the job, but then again, it takes too much time to changing lenses. Yah. the IS would be nice, but someone says when the IS is on, AF is really slow.

One more question. I see B&H is selling the lens $884 US = $920 CAD. Has anyone ordered from them and ship to Toronto before?

Thanks

Plus taxes on border, plus UPS bill that's where mine came from

so around $1100 is good? wow.. I'm so tempted.

more like close to 1200

I've ordered from B & H many times before- it's a very reliable store- fast shipping etc.- and their shipping is not too bad. When you put the item in the basket, you can check shipping costs- make sure you get the option with brokerage fees included.

If you are shooting macro, depending how close you want to get in, you are likely not going to use the autofocus so much anyway- it's not so reliable.

But, if you are shooting flowers (and not bugs etc.), there isn't much need to handhold- you can shoot with a tripod (making IS less valuable).

Either way, you may also want to pick up an extension tube in case you find the magnification wanting.

I bought mine from Adorama earlier this year. I got a copy I wasn't happy about, with Helen's help I exchanged it with Adorama covering all shipping back expenses and got one back I'm happy with. By the way shipping was almost instant. It arrived the next morning via UPS

I have also ordered lenses from B&H in the past but in my opinion you can't beat the customer service of Adorama.

Yes. I couldn't wait for it any longer. I just ordered it. Henry's, Downtown camera, Aden camera sell the lens for around $1350 taxes. If I ordered from B&H I could save around $200 and the CAD rate is higher today... So, it's better to get from the states.

@Conac: I tried the checkout and used UPS World Saver option (1-2 days). I didn't see they add taxes on it. (I wish I could get away with the taxes)... I agreed with the IS, it could be good for walkaround lens also.

@Foggy: thanks for the tips. This is the 1st time I order from B&H.

your taxes will come later as well as 2% duty which is due to the wrong code used by B&H

Congrats on the new lens. Enjoy it when it arrives
They will collect GST & PST... but cameras & lens do not get hit with duty (unless someone screws up as Potatoeye implied)

Thanks LE37.

I've read some of the articles from Photoprice.ca.

Really delighted that it all worked out - I've let our fab warehouse manager (Adam) know that he did such a good job with the turnaround time. Thanks so much for the f/back!

yep congrats thuyLa! You'll love the lens. I took the 100L down to the Butterfly Conservatory Niagara falls. The colours and saturation from this lens is stunning, sharp even wide open.

Thanks Foggy.

I just received the lens 15 min ago from UPS courier. I couldn't wait to post here.. I ordered it last Friday evening and it came today. Pretty impressed for B&H S&H service.

Anyways, I just playing around with it, testing some of the buttons and it seems the AF is pretty fast (seem faster than my 17-40mm). This lens is a keeper for sure.

Now. I'm officially $1k poorer

How much was the total cost with shipping+tax?

Congrats and have fun with the new lens!

@Elisha: $923 USD (lens+S&H) and $119 CAD (taxes) = around $1100 CAD total damage (put on my CC, don't know what was the US rate was)

@Conac: Thanks.

What do you guys think of this shot taken with my new lens? the lens was about 20cm away. (no crop)



Is this image size too big?

Nice shot- I like it....

Thanks Conac.

I've been playing with this new lens for a week now. Could you guys tell me whatsoever if this photo is sharp? My photos are not even as sharp as some of the photos in here. (although I use tripod, IS turn off, rank up the shutter to max 32, 2 sec timer used).

So, here is one example I just took:

Resized image, ISO:100, f32, 10s, 0ev, no PS or editing. no crop as well.


Thanks.

It may be a wee bit soft.

Your technique sounds good except for your aperture setting. Try not using the minimum aperture on the lens- at some point the benefit of stopping down disappears and the images become soft/diffuse (where that happens depends on the lens). Try F16- F16 should give you enough depth of field without diffusion- perhaps even F11 (depending on your distance to the subject).

If you are using a tripod with a center column, make sure the center column is not extended- that will help. It looks like you are doing this indoors so I don't think you need to worry about wind.

You might also use mirror-lock-up.

Cheers,

-J

at F32 it will never be sharp, you have to read about diffraction in lenses. It would have been much sharper at F8 but with shallower depth of field though. It's a trade-off. I try to not shoot at F smaller than 16. People perceive sharpness in a way that even shallow depth of field looks sharp to them with the right spot in focus. Sometimes sharpness isn't everything though!

I've taken with all the F stops, I still see images are kinda soft.

Here is another one with F10, ISO=100, 1s, 0ev (same setup above)



I had a UV filter on it. Does filter cause soft image? I'll try take off my UV filter and test few more times.

@Conac: yes, this setup was in my room.

@PotatoEYE. your macro are pretty... love them

soft as in some things are not in focus (too shallow of a DOF)?

or soft as in the places you have focused on are not sharp?

this is assuming the second:

if images are soft using auto focus, play around with micro adjust

if images are soft using manual focus, it might be defective

but it seems fine to me, just remember that you really don't get much depth even at f16 when doing macro. keep in mind that many people are using extension tubes and magnifiers on top of a macro lens for their pictures as well.

A quick test for focusing of a lens is to take a picture of your LCD monitor.

http://www.komar.org/faq/camera/auto-focus-test/

Here's a quick pic I took with my 100mm macro on a 40D:

@100%

My camera body is canon 5Dmark2, the photos above was taken in Av mode, and MF.

@carbon4: ok. I'll try that now...