canon 180mm macro lens

captain jack

captain jack

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Has anybody tried this lens, thinking of buying one but Sigma do similar at 1/2 the price. Advice always welcome.

cheers!
Captain :shrug:
 
I've got one Capn...pretty much does what it says on the tin....not brilliant as a medium tele though and I would say that it really is only zoom quality (70-200'ish) when used at lower mag's and out of the macro range.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
I've got one Capn...pretty much does what it says on the tin....not brilliant as a medium tele though and I would say that it really is only zoom quality (70-200'ish) when used at lower mag's and out of the macro range.

Bob
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Thanks Bob, I only need it for macro use but from your comments I guess I can probably get what I want from the Sigma for a lot less money.
 
malla1962 said:
I had one but to be honest I used it at the zoo most of its life.
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Cheers Malla, You seem to confirm my views as posted to Canon Bob.
 
captain jack said:
Thanks Bob, I only need it for macro use but from your comments I guess I can probably get what I want from the Sigma for a lot less money.
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I've not tried the Siggy so can't offer a comparison. You won't go wrong with the 180L but you might go hungry.

Bob
 
I had the siggy 180mm macro, and although all my macros ended up looking like Mr Blobby, whatever I took, they were always clean and sharp Mr Blobbys.

Good lens, good macro, but not as light and compact as the smaller lengths, will double up as a mid range tele, though not brilliant.
 
Thanks Les, I might now consider the 150mm Sigma, around the same price as the 180 but a tad faster at f2.8.
 
captain jack said:
Thanks Les, I might now consider the 150mm Sigma, around the same price as the 180 but a tad faster at f2.8.
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If you're only going to use it for macro then f/2.8 or f/3.5 doesn't really matter....you're likely to be down at f/11 or beyond all the time.

Bob
 
Quite right Bob, but it will give a touch more light for focusing.I think now that I've decided to go for the canon 100mm f2.8 based on price, it will do what I want, & it has the mounting groove to fit the ringlight.
 
I love my EF 100mm, I suspect it is my most used Canon lens (only because I can't afford an 85L) brilliant for portraiture too on a full frame body.
 
I bought a Kenko Pro 1.4x Extender as a bit of a bodge to get me more length on a Canon 100mm macro, and now find that I use it almost all the time. It creates a 140mm f/4 macro of course.

Here it is, used with a RingFlash Adapter which I find gives wonderful soft light, even down to 1:1. I also have canvas on the wall taken with this combo that is over 4ft wide.
http://www.flaghead.co.uk/pages/ringflash-intro.html
Mine is an earlier version without that hideous logo ;)

cat.jpg
 
I have the 180L. Fantastic build quality, tack sharp. Impressively quiet AF - important if you don't wanna scare the bugs away

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As a mid range tele I find it pretty good.

4336_182381838346238172d9766.jpg
 
HoppyUK said:
I bought a Kenko Pro 1.4x Extender as a bit of a bodge to get me more length on a Canon 100mm macro, and now find that I use it almost all the time. It creates a 140mm f/4 macro of course.

Here it is, used with a RingFlash Adapter which I find gives wonderful soft light, even down to 1:1. I also have canvas on the wall taken with this combo that is over 4ft wide.
http://www.flaghead.co.uk/pages/ringflash-intro.html
Mine is an earlier version without that hideous logo ;)
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hoppy what magnification do you get with the extender and does it affect the min focusing distance ?

Thanks

and sorry for the hijack
 
The mag will increase to 1.4:1 but the FOV will be cropped to the equivalent of a 140mm lens. The MFD isn't affected but the working distance is reduced by the physical length of the converter.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
The mag will increase to 1.4:1 but the FOV will be cropped to the equivalent of a 140mm lens. The MFD isn't affected but the working distance is reduced by the physical length of the converter.

Bob
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Thanks Bob:thumbs:
 
Canon Bob said:
180L to a 100/2.8 in two hours.....I wish I could save £770 that fast.

Bob
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Yes Bob, over the years I've saved thousands using this method, just got to convince the wife now!

Thanks to all for the info. just been playing around with my extension tubes -might save even more money Bob, at this rate I'll have saved enough for a 1dsmkIII before the nights out. :lol:
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
Thanks Bob:thumbs:
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You're welcome ;)

Two minutes with a ruler reveals a working distance with the 100mm at 1:1 of about 148mm, which increases to about 170mm with the Kenko Extender, so a gain of about 22mm. The Kenko itself is 19mm long between the mounting faces.

Given that the Canon 180mm Macro is 49mm longer than the overall length of the 100mm + Kenko, I wonder which of the two has the greater working distance? Can't be much in it.

One thing I will say about the 100mm with the Kenko is that it's quite long, and front heavy on a tripod. It really needs the optional tripod collar which I cannot bring myself to buy at £100.
 
captain jack said:
Yes Bob, over the years I've saved thousands using this method, just got to convince the wife now!

Thanks to all for the info. just been playing around with my extension tubes -might save even more money Bob, at this rate I'll have saved enough for a 1dsmkIII before the nights out. :lol:
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I had the 100 macro and I think its a hard lens to beat.
 
HoppyUK said:
You're welcome ;)

One thing I will say about the 100mm with the Kenko is that it's quite long, and front heavy on a tripod. It really needs the optional tripod collar which I cannot bring myself to buy at £100.
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I bought an ebay copy for my 100mm, I don't use it often (mainly if I'm using extension tubes with it) but it's quite well made and does the job well.

I can't remember which one of these it was, but it was black and under £20 including postage.
 
EdBray said:
I bought an ebay copy for my 100mm, I don't use it often (mainly if I'm using extension tubes with it) but it's quite well made and does the job well.

I can't remember which one of these it was, but it was black and under £20 including postage.
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That's brilliant Ed, thanks. I had a quick look on ebay last night and could only find new for $134! I don't care if it is a cheap Chinese copy - how hard can it be to make one of those? £15 posted will do for me :D
 
HoppyUK said:
I don't care if it is a cheap Chinese copy - how hard can it be to make one of those? £15 posted will do for me :D
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I have heard stories of these cheap copies scoring the lens barrel when the lens is rotated to portrait position. The price of the Canon one is prohibitive I agree, but I suspect they're made to finer tolerances than you may think.
 
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