Lens for macro

I have a Canon 20D. I've never really been into macro photography, but would like to start taking some photos of my razors, etc.

So... I'm going to need a macro lens.

Any suggestions? What are you DSLR guys using?

There is a Canon 50mm f2.8 macro or a Sigma 105mm macro that both look good.

I have a Canon 20D also. I would recommend the Canon lens. In addition to my 17-55 lens which I use all the time, the macro is great for extreme close-ups. The 2.8 maximum aperature gives you enough leeway in low light situations.

I have a Canon 100mm macro that is a great lens and would be, I think, about ideal for razor photography. I haven't shot any razors with it, but have done a lot of watch photos. The focal length will allow you to back up a bit and establish better depth of field. In addition, given the correction factor for your 20D a 100mm makes a pretty good portrait lens.
I have been using this lens on a 10D and a 1D MK III with good results.

Sorry to go off topic but thats one beautiful piece of time machine.

you can checkout dpreview.com for review of most things camera related.

raditzer said:

you can checkout dpreview.com for review of most things camera related.

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I frequented dpreview.com some time ago, but hadn't been back there for ages. I wasn't able to find anything specifically on lenses.

fredmiranda.com does have lens reviews.

Right now, I'm leaning towards the Canon 100/2.8 macro.

If I may, I would like to make a suggestion or two that may seem a bit odd.

First, if all you want to do is take pictures of razors, you may do well simply by adding a diopter lens to your existing set up. These will not take particularly good pictures, but you may well find that the quality is perfectly adequate for internet postings. Diopters tend to be very very inexpensive. It's a good cheap way to try out macro photography. Check out the 'bay for your size lens and you may well find that for $10 or so, you can try out a diopter that may well do what you want.

Second, the fact is that diopters will not provide great flexibility, nor will they provide great quality, and if you find that you've outgrown the diopter lens, you may want to consider either an extension tube or a teleconverter. I use teleconverters a great deal, and again, the quality does not compare to a good macro lens, they are wonderful gizmos. With a 1.4 or a 2X teleconverter in your bag, you effectively double the number of lenses you own. And in my case, I find that teleconverters provide good enough quality for all my uses.

Third, if you are looking for a lens for macro work only, you may find that you can't really do better than the old manual focus FD lenses. With a very cheap adapter, (take out the glass by simply unscrewing it) they will work beautifully on an EOS system. You can pick up a 100mm f.4 Canon FD for $50 or $60 at KEH, and a $40 adapter from Adorama and you've got a great macro set up for your EOS for $100. Old manual lenses work fine on digital: with macro you generally won't be able to use auto-focus in any event so there's no need to spend the big money on autofocus lenses, and as far as getting the exposure right, with digital you can look at your screen every shot you take.

You may well want to take a look at old manual Nikon macro lenses and add a Nikon/EOS adapter as well.

For my money though, whatever you get, don't go for a focal length of less than 90 mm or 100 mm. Anything shorter is a pain to work with. And as mentioned above, they make fine portrait lenses as well.

And of course, you can always opt to buy any of the dedicated macro lenses from either Canon or one of the good third party manufacturers. You won't go wrong with any of them I wouldn't think. The only disadvantage of that route is the price.

Ontario,

Thanks for the lengthy response. I think the diopter lens must also be called a close up filter. That looks like it would be worthwhile to try for such a minimal cost.

I have a manual focus 100mm macro lens in the Vivitar brand. This same lens is available under the "Phoenix" name in auto focus. Not that you need auto focus for macro work.

A review is here:
http://www.popphoto.com/lensreview/phoenix-af_100mm_f_._3.5_macro_telephoto.html

It can be purchased here for $120:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/186638-REG/Phoenix_09035_Telephoto_100mm_f_3_5_Macro.html

Using an FD (manual) to EOS adapter to use an old manual focus lens on an EOS camera is a great suggestion but keep in mind the lens will not focus at infinity.

IMO the best bang for the buck in a macro is the Phoenix.

I am enjoying the Canon EFS 60mm macro - it comp0act and light compared to Canon's EF100mm macro lens. The 60 mm is a pretty fast lens -f 2.8 and with a Canon 20D it will have the equivalent focal length of a 96mm full frame lens which also makes it a good lens for taking portrait shots. The only drawback is that it cannot be used on a full-frame camera i.e., although it will work on a 30D and a 40D, if you upgrade to a full frame 5D, you will not be able to use the 60 mm EFS lens (not the case with the 100mm lens).

Buzz said:

Ontario,

Thanks for the lengthy response. I think the diopter lens must also be called a close up filter. That looks like it would be worthwhile to try for such a minimal cost.

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You're very welcome, I hope it helps. And yes, diopter lenses are also known as close up filters.

Four things about them: (1) You screw them onto the lens exactly like any other filter, and you then get the subject into focus pretty much by moving closer or further away from the subject. (2) When you set the lens at infinity, any lens at all, you will be able to use the diopter lens to get the subject into focus at one metre. In other words, if you need to get something into focus at a metre, and you don't have a lens that will do so, a diopter lens will do the trick. This isn't something that many people know about, and is a very peculiar characteristic of diopters. (3) The pictures you get will not be as sharp as by using a good macro lens, but for the price diopters can't be beat to try out macro photography. Macro work is completely different than non-macro photography and there are those, like me, who really enjoy it, but you won't know until you try, and this is a good way to get into it without breaking the bank on a good quality macro lens. I picked up an old Nikon diopter lens in like-new condition for something like $5.00. And it really is a beauty. (4) All of your electronics that are built into the camera will work just fine. The one thing that won't work will be auto-focus. So you'll need to turn off the autofocus and just focus manually. All of the exposure/metering electronics should work just fine though.

Gafer said:

I have a manual focus 100mm macro lens in the Vivitar brand. This same lens is available under the "Phoenix" name in auto focus. Not that you need auto focus for macro work.

A review is here:
http://www.popphoto.com/lensreview/phoenix-af_100mm_f_._3.5_macro_telephoto.html

It can be purchased here for $120:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/186638-REG/Phoenix_09035_Telephoto_100mm_f_3_5_Macro.html

Using an FD (manual) to EOS adapter to use an old manual focus lens on an EOS camera is a great suggestion but keep in mind the lens will not focus at infinity.

IMO the best bang for the buck in a macro is the Phoenix.

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I know nothing about the Phoenix, but I can say that Vivitar has an excellent reputation all around. Vivitar's history, interestingly is that they never made their own lenses, but contracted out to third party manufacturers, and their lenses had a reputation for being very good and often top notch.

It looks to me like $120.00 for a macro lens would be a fabulous deal if the lens is half decent. The link though is to a Minolta mount lens, I didn't know that Minolta lenses fit Canons, but I know nothing about Minolta mounts.

Take a look here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/93247-REG/Vivitar_216370_Telephoto_100mm_f_3_5_Macro.html

It looks like BH has a Vivitar 100 mm macro lens for Canon FD for $109. Wow, great deal. But you'll need an adapter to use it on the newer non-Fd cameras.

Auto-focus generally will not work at all in macro work, and so manual focus is all one needs.

Using a $39.00 adapter from Adorama to use an old FD lens on a newer Canon camera will allow infinity focus, but the quality will suffer. You don't need infinity for macro, so you can take the glass out of the adapter by simply unscrewing it. But infinity is a non-issue in macro work. At the moment, KEH is selling a Canon FD 50mm macro lens for $29.00. Add an adapter from Adorama for $39.00 and you have a macro set up. Unscrew the glass from the adapter and away you go with a very very good quality lens.

I don't know what 50 mm translates into for a digital camera, but I think it's something like 70 mm equivalent. I find that focal length to be very hard to work with, but others like it. I prefer 100 mm which would translate into something like 140 or something like that.

You can check KEH for a 100 mm FD lens, and pick one up for something like $60.00 or so used. I got one for that price as a "bargain" quality item. The lens was actually in brand new condition but it had some glue residue on the body left over from a price tag or something. Two wipes with a kleenex and some alcohol and I have a like-new lens.

Using these old manual lenses on new digital cameras will work fine with the right adapter but none of the electronics will be connected. As a result, auto focus, auto exposure and anything else needs electronic connections won't work as they won't be connected. This makes using these old lenses a bit of a hassle with film cameras, but isn't a problem with digital: you can immediately see the results. If the image is too dark for example, not enough light you can immediately compensate by adjusting exposure.

Sadataki said:

I have a Canon 100mm macro that is a great lens and would be, I think, about ideal for razor photography. I haven't shot any razors with it, but have done a lot of watch photos. The focal length will allow you to back up a bit and establish better depth of field. In addition, given the correction factor for your 20D a 100mm makes a pretty good portrait lens.
I have been using this lens on a 10D and a 1D MK III with good results.

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WOW! *stares in awe*

The Canon 100mm macro is highly recommended.

Perhaps you wanna check out some reviews from other users here: Reviews

I use the Tamron 90mm macro (Nikon mount though) and found it to be cost effective and really sharp. I believe the Tokina 100mm macro also has good reviews. Hope this helps.

I ended up finding a used Canon 100/2.8 Macro for a (relatively) good price. I'm waiting on it to arrive now.

Buzz said:

I ended up finding a used Canon 100/2.8 Macro for a (relatively) good price. I'm waiting on it to arrive now.

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That should be a great lens for razors, I'd expect it to be excellent for portraits, too!

Sabledog said:

That should be a great lens for razors, I'd expect it to be excellent for portraits, too!

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+1. You won't go wrong with that lens - it will open up a whole new world of photography for you. Two things: (1) Make sure you have fun with it, take lots of pictures; and (2) Make sure you post some pictures here.

If you're interested, there are lots of great photo sites on the web, but one of the best is photo.net. There's a good starting off article on macro photography here:

http://photo.net/learn/macro/

Here are a couple more that I like:

http://homepages.tig.com.au/~parsog/photo/macro.html

http://www.macro-photo.org/

http://www.macrophotography.org/index.php

Good luck.

Sabledog said:

That should be a great lens for razors, I'd expect it to be excellent for portraits, too!

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That was one of the reasons I went with this lens. I shoot a lot more portraits than I probably will shoot macro.

Buzz said:

That was one of the reasons I went with this lens. I shoot a lot more portraits than I probably will shoot macro.

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It should work very well for portraits. f2.8 will allow you to blur the background quite effectively on head and shoulder shots.