Canon EF 100 mm Macro as a portrait lens?
Chris London
Anyone here had any experience using the Canon 100 mm USM Macro for portrait
work? I know it is supposed to be quite sharp for macro, how are its
qualities as a standard 100 mm lens as well?
Thanks,
Chris
---
Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm
Malcolm Stewart
85 f1.8.
Have noticed that my 85 is very sharp when used on my 10D. Haven't done any
sharpness checks at non macro distances with the 100 yet.
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
Chris London <cklo...@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
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Bart van der Wolf
"Chris London" <cklo...@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
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>
> Anyone here had any experience using the Canon 100 mm USM Macro for
portrait
> work? I know it is supposed to be quite sharp for macro, how are its
> qualities as a standard 100 mm lens as well?
It is also very useful at longer distances. Very sharp and with good
contrast, the new version's USM is very fast (2.8 allows fast focusing and
provides a bright viewfinder anyway). You need to purchase the expensive
additional hood (the old version had a recessed front lens element, the new
one doesn't) for protection and optimal contrast.
For portraits, 100mm is sometimes a bit on the long side to keep good
contact with the subject, but that depends on the situation. I have also
used it on architecture (+scanning and stitching) and I really love the
enormous focus range in one lens, and I never have to wonder if another lens
could have produced a more detailed image. And as a bonus, it has the same
filter diameter (58mm) as most of my other lenses.
Bart
Bart van der Wolf
"Malcolm Stewart" <malcolm...@megalith.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
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SNIP
> Haven't done any sharpness checks at non macro distances with the 100 yet.
With a 10D, do try stitching multiple images together, and use this lens
(just lock exposure and colorbalance). You'll get amazing details from
stationary subjects that are just a little too far away to approach or
inspect, but by stitching you can still get a field of view that's closer to
a normal field of view .
The sensation of seeing more detail than was possible to see by eye, but
with a "normal" angle of view, keeps pleasing me a lot.
Bart
Malcolm Stewart
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
Bart van der Wolf <bvd...@nospam.nl> wrote in message
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>
> With a 10D, do try stitching multiple images together, and use this lens
> (just lock exposure and colorbalance). You'll get amazing details from
> stationary subjects that are just a little too far away to approach or
> inspect, but by stitching you can still get a field of view that's closer to
> a normal field of view .
>
> The sensation of seeing more detail than was possible to see by eye, but
> with a "normal" angle of view, keeps pleasing me a lot.
snip
Karen Nakamura
One of my gallery images was taken with the EOS 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro:
http://www.photoethnography.com/gallery/malaysia/index.html
Cheers,
Karen Nakamura
www.photoethnography.com
Bart van der Wolf
> Hadn't thought of that. Any of your examples on the web?
None I can publish without permission at the moment, and they would be too
big anyway.
To give you an idea, I shot some architecture (old mansions and castles, and
there are also a lot of those in the UK) without permission of the owner
(yet), that I couldn't come close enough to without trespassing (meadow with
sheep and cows and a creek between me and the mansion). Taking multiple
shots (I in fact used a 200 mm for that one, but with a 100mm you can do
such a project in fewer overlapping images) reveals lots of detail. It even
revealed that some columns surrounding the facade, where painted rather than
real (that was a bummer, but interesting). The longer focal length also
makes stitching less critical.
Another project I'm doing involves (old) watertowers. It is impossible to
study the details in bricks that high from the streetlevel, and maintain an
overview of the structure. So stitching multiple images (most of them
vertically stacked of course) allowed to read the inscriptions in a
plaquette over the entrance all the way to detecting the missing/replaced
bricks at the top.
If you want to get proficient in this type of work, I can recommend the free
PanoramaTools plug-ins and the modestly priced (shareware) PTAssembler
frontend. (http://www.tawbaware.com/ptasmblr.htm). Although you don't need
the frontend, it does make life easier, a lot.
This is one area where film and digital can complement each other, but all
digital makes experimentation a lot cheaper.
Have fun,
Bart
Victor Bazarov
>
> One of my gallery images was taken with the EOS 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro:
>
> http://www.photoethnography.com/gallery/malaysia/index.html
Nice photo. A fill-flash could help a bit...
But speaking of the lens, do you really think that an JPEG image
resampled to 400x617 pixels says anything about the lens quality?
V
Art Salmons
The 100mm f2.8 macro is an excellent portrait lens and produces very
sharp contraty images. It is a little haeavy but the weight is worth
it if you want a portrait lens that can also do macro work. If you
don't do macro photography I would recommend the 85mm f1.8 instead.
Art Salmons
Malcolm Stewart
digicams (and stitched them successfully with Pixmaker Lite), but I restricted
my attempts to simply widening the restricted AoV of the P&S. I've been
thinking of visiting some of the stone circle sites, and doing a "360deg pan
from the centre" stitch. However, the idea of pointing my (very sharp) EF 200
f2.8 L at some of the old buildings near here and stitching the shots together
is quite exciting!
Thanks again
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
Bart van der Wolf <bvd...@nospam.nl> wrote in message
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