Canon 100 f2 - Any users

[taxboy]

I'm thinking about adding a new lens to my collection mainly for portraiture and wondered if this was a decent value buy pre owned. Currently I have the 70/200 f4, which I rate highly due to its ease of use but looking to add something which gives the chance of using smaller dof

Open to any suggestions but budget a little tight max £300

 

[Boots]

I know people hate someone saying "I don't know they answer to your question but...", however that's exactly what I am doing - sorry!

No experience of the lens you are asking about, but a couple of close contenders. I have the 100mm f/2.8 L and absolutely love it. I consider it the best value for money L I own (and I do have a few). It is water resistant, has IS (in case that's important to you) and it is all in a remarkably tidy little package and tends to be cheap. It is reasonably fast, and you can happily shoot it wide open. It is a macro lens as well. You may be lucky and find a second hand example for your budget, or save up for a bit longer. This is the lens which, if I were told I could only keep one, I would choose (from the, hmm, dozen lenses I think, never counted).

Then I also have the 135mm f/2 L. A very different lens, but also gorgeous in a different way. So fast, such lovely OOF highlights, such a slender DOF when wide open. Again it is not too large, although bigger than the 100mm. No IS or water resistance. As I say, a very different lens. You won't find a second hand example at your budget (unless you are incredibly lucky), but if this is the lens that would suit you, get saving, it's worth it.

The classic portrait lens is the 85mm f/1.2 L, but in honesty, I could not recommend it. Sure it's very fast, and delivers wonderful results, but so expensive, so heavy, so large and so weird to use with the electronic focussing.

Good luck with your search.

 

[HoppyUK]

I'm thinking about adding a new lens to my collection mainly for portraiture and wondered if this was a decent value buy pre owned. Currently I have the 70/200 f4, which I rate highly due to its ease of use but looking to add something which gives the chance of using smaller dof

Open to any suggestions but budget a little tight max £300

I used to have the Canon 100/2, but sharpness was always disappointing wide open. I now have the 135/2 L

Are you wanting shallow DoF or more background blur? They're not the same thing, and if it's the latter then longer focal length is another way of achieving it.
In terms of background blur, these combinations are all the same (with subject distance increased to maintain same framing): 85mm f/1.2, 100mm f/1.4, 135mm f/2, 200mm f/2.8.

From that, it's clear why the 135/2 makes such a good bokeh machine. Good blur simulator here https://dofsimulator.net/en/

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I used to have the Canon 100/2, but sharpness was always disappointing wide open. I now have the 135/2 L

I had the 85mm f1.8 which is a by all accounts a very similar design. If anything 100mm is supposed to be a tiny bit sharper.

Any unsharp results wide open were due to ever so slightly missed focus. If you nail it, like using live view there were no complaints apart from very prominent purple fringing in case of bright highlights. For whatever reason the accuracy wasn't stellar on newer 5D3 or 40D, but perfectly good by f/2.8. On the older 1DsII and 1DIII it hardly ever missed the perfect focus. I presume the latest mirrorless would have it worked out to make it perform at its best again.

Given the opportunity I would now opt for either Sigma ART for a longer Canon 135mm version.

100mm macro L is stellar, but you will find it renders the image a bit more like your 70-200mm f/4, which is obviously not a bad thing but may be not what everybody is looking for.

 

[mortimerhill]

The 100mm f2 is a fantastic lens, probably up to L standard for image quality

You can get for it for £300 or under if you buy second hand

 

[nandbytes]

I really loved mine and it was plenty sharp even on a 42mp sensor. It renders very nicely too with decent AF.
I got mine used for £200 iirc.