Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro

(2009-today)

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Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro (67mm filters, 22.0 oz./623g, $1,299, or about $825 used if you know How to Win at eBay). enlarge. I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

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April 2021   Better Pictures   Canon Reviews   Mirrorless   EF Lenses   RF Lenses   Flash   All Reviews

NEW: All Canon 100mm Lenses Compared

RF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Review (2021-today)

EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Review (2000-2021)

EF 100/2.8 Macro Review (1990-2000)

EF 100mm f/2 USM Review (1991-2019)

Best Macro Lenses

How to Shoot Macro

Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures

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The Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro L IS is a swell lens. It weighs less than you'd first expect, which is a good thing. it is ideal for use as a general-purpose telephoto, especially if you need close-focus ability.

It's great that it doesn't weigh much, but I would also feel a bit ripped-off paying $1,299 for it when the older non-IS Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro does exactly the same thing, without IS, for half the price. Both have exteriors made entirely of plastic, except for the metal lens mount, another reason I would feel shorted paying $1,299 for this lens.

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS is a compromise. It's a lens best carried in the field as a combination macro and medium telephoto. For serious macro work, I won't use a 100mm lens, because by the time I get close enough to make use of the macro ability, I'm so close that I get in the way of my lights, I annoy any sentient subject, and because I'm so close, the subject doesn't look as good because the perspecive is unnatural from just a few inches away.

For instance, with the hood attached, this lens can focus as close as than 2 1/4 inches (6cm) in front of the hood. There's no way you can get light in and therefore use this lens that close, if you really want to shoot macro with the hood.

For serious macro work, like making the product photos of this lens for this review, I use a 200mm macro lens, which in Canon, is the 180mm f/3.5 L USM, which doesn't sell for much more than this IS 100mm Macro.

Image stabilization (IS) is not relevant to serious macro work, which is done with strobes to allow us to shoot at f/32 to hope to get something in focus. IS is extremely useful for general-purpose hand-held telephoto shooting, but for general-purpose telephoto shooting, the Canon 100mm f/2 USM is sharper, twice as fast, and half the price of this IS macro lens.

If you're photographing anything alive, especially flowers, they wiggle around either by themselves, or from the breeze, so IS and longer exposures don't help you. That's why strobes are so important for macro: they give enough light to let us shoot at f/32, which is optimum for macro, and also have a short duration to stop whatever's moving.

How do we get sharp photos of butterfly wings? Even at f/32, almost nothing is in focus at macro ranges, so we spend a lot of time making sure that the wings are flat, and do our best to place the wings in our very shallow plane of focus.

These caveats aside, if you're looking for one telephoto to put in your bag that will do everything well, this is it. The 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro works great as a general-purpose tele to replace the 70-200mm f/4 L IS II for less money with less weight, and works well as close, and closer, than any rational person would ever want to shoot.

Personally, I bought the 100mm f/2 USM for myself instead, because for general use, the 100/2 USM is smaller, lighter, feels better made, is twice as fast, sharper and costs only half as much.

For dedicated macro use, I wouldn't use any 100mm lens; I'd get the Canon 180mm f/3.5 L (non-IS) Macro for not much more money instead.

I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

 

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blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com World's first image-stabilized macro lens.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Three-position focus limiter switch adds a new 0.3m-0.5m "close only" position.

 

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green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Superb Image Stabilization for ultra-sharp results even hand-held at one-eighth of a second — if your subject holds still that long and you're a smooth shooter.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Excellent optics.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Superb autofocus.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Vanishingly low spherochromatism.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Light weight.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Made in Japan.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com 100% U.S.A.-based high-quality technical support at (800) OK-CANON.

 

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red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Non-compensating diaphragm: aperture does not automatically correct for light loss as focussed more closely. This means nothing to most people and can be ignored when shooting with TTL metering as almost everyone does, however working with manual exposure or external light meters as I do with studio strobes I have to change my exposure settings as I change distance — even though the light isn't changing! This is obvious because you always can set f/2.8, even at 1:1 where the real maximum aperture is closer to f/5!

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com For $1,299 all I get is an all-plastic exterior and crappy plastic hood? At least the lens mount is metal, exactly like the $125 Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Except for Image Stabilization, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM has equally excellent optics, autofocus and ergonomics, with less weight, for half the price.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com For anything at least 3 feet away, the Canon 100mm f/2 USM is sharper, offers twice the speed for moving subjects (f/2.0), a metal filter thread, and is also half the price of this 100mm f/2.8 L IS Macro.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com For serious macro work, macro-specialists (and I) prefer the 180mm f/3.5 L USM, because it lets us stand far enough away as not to interfere with lighting or the subject's attitude, and most importantly, gives a more natural perspective precisely because we're able to stand further away from our subjects. The 180/3.5 doesn't cost much more than this 100mm f/2.8 IS.

 

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gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Nothing; includes caps, case and hood.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Non-compensating diaphragm as explained above.

 

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro. bigger.

 

Compatibility       top

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I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

This lens works flawlessly on every Canon DSLR and 35mm SLR made since 1987.

It work flawlessly on every Canon full-frame and every Canon APS-C DSLR.

It also works flawlessly on every 35mm EOS camera, like my Canon EOS 1V, introduced in 2000, and yes, I tried it on my original 1987 Canon EOS 620 and autofocus is fast and stabilization works brilliantly.

This isn't Nikon; with Canon, everything just works, even if the camera is over thirty years old.

Use an EF to RF adapter to use this on Canon's full frame mirrorless cameras.

Use the EOS-M adapter to use this on Canon's EOS-M mirrorless cameras.

 

Specifications       top

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I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

 

Name       specifications       top

Canon calls this the CANON MACRO LENS EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM:

  MACRO: Focuses to just a few inches.

  EF means "electronic focus," meaning that there is an autofocus motor in the lens itself. All Canon lenses since 1987 have been EF.

  L means as expensive as L.

  IS means Image Stabilization.

  USM means Ultra-Sonic Motor, meaning AF is almost silent.

 

Optics       specifications       top

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Internal Optical Construction

Canon RF internal optical construction. UD element and IS section.

15 elements in 12 groups.

Multicoated.

Internal focus: nothing moves externally. The front and rear elements never move.

 

Diaphragm       specifications       top

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS Macro at f/2.8. (EF diaphragm not visible). enlarge.

9 blades, hallelujah! Canon finally got it right.

Round to f/5.6, nonagonal from f/8 on.

Stops down to f/32.

Like all SLR lenses, the diaphragm is never perfectly symmetrical at smaller apertures. This is normal; this isn't a LEICA rangefinder lens, which are about the only lenses whose diaphragms are perfectly symmetrical at all apertures.

The EOS system does not indicate the true f/stop as focused more closely. If using an external light meter — which isn't likely — you will need to compensate manually for the natural light loss as focused more closely.

 

Filters       specifications       top

Plastic 67mm filter thread.

Does not move or rotate at all.

 

Coverage       specifications       top

Full-Frame (24 × 36mm), 35mm film (24 × 36mm) and APS-C (16 × 24mm).

 

Angles of View       specifications       top

On full-frame at infinity:

24º diagonal.

20º horizontal.

14º vertical.

 

Focal Length       specifications       top

100mm.

When used on an APS-C camera, it sees the same angle of view as a 150 mm lens sees when used on a Full-Frame or 35mm camera.

See also Crop Factor.

 

Autofocus       specifications       top

Internal focussing.

No external movement as focussed, so no air or dust is sucked in.

 

Focus Scale       specifications       top

Yes, but only vestigial.

The ring turns from near to far in about 135.º

 

Infinity Focus Stop       specifications       top

No.

You have to focus somehow to get precise focus at infinity, just like at every other distance.

 

Depth of Field Scale       specifications       top

No.

 

Infrared Focus Index       specifications       top

No.

 

Close Focus       specifications       top

1 foot (0.3 m) from the image plane.

 

Working Distance (distance from front of lens to subject)     specifications       top

5.2" (133mm) at 1:1.

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio       specifications       top

1:1 (1.0 ×).

 

Caps       specifications       top

Canon E-67II 67mm front cap, included in 2021.

The 67mm ET-67U front cap was standard in 2010.

Standard EOS cap rear.

 

Hood       specifications       top

Plastic clip-on ET-73, included ($45 to replace).

The inside is a little bit fuzzy, but I preferl metal screw-in hood over these plastic things.

 

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon 100/2.8 IS Macro with ET-73 hood attached. enlarge.

 

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon 100/2.8 IS Macro with ET-73 hood stowed. Do not shoot this way. bigger.

 

Case       specifications       top

Canon LP1219 sack

Included LP1219 Lens Sack. bigger.

Nice LP1219 case included.

 

Size       specifications       top

3.08" ø maximum diameter × 4.84" extension from flange.

77.7 mm ø maximum diameter × 123.0 mm extension from flange.

 

Weight       specifications       top

21.980 oz. (623.2g), measured.

Ensemble with caps and hood: 24.935 oz. (706.9g), measured.

Canon specifies 22 oz. (625g).

 

Announced       specifications       top

Fall 2009.

 

Quality       specifications       top

Made in Japan.

 

Included       specifications       top

Lens.

ET-73 hood.

Canon E-67II 67mm front cap.

Standard EOS cap rear.

LP1219 case.

1 year USA warranty.

 

Canon's Model Numbers       specifications       top

Product code: 3554B002 (3554B001 in Japan).

Model number: EF10028LMIS.

JAN code: JAN 4960999-635170.

 

Price, U. S. A.       specifications       top

April 2021

$1,299 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H and at Crutchfield.

About $825 used if you know How to Win at eBay

 

June 2013

$900.

 

July 2021

$950.

 

Performance       top

Introduction   New   Good   Bad   Missing

Compatibility  Specifications  Performance

Compared   User's Guide   Recommendations

 

Overall    Autofocus    Bokeh   Color   Distortion

Ergonomics   Falloff    Filters     Image Stabilization

Lateral Color Fringes   Light Loss    Mechanics    Sharpness

Spherochromatism   Sunstars

 

I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

 

Overall     performance      top

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro works as expected, and IS works much better than expected. It's lighter than you'd expect, which enhances the plasticy feeling.

It's a great lens; my only concerns are that other similarly great Canon lenses sell for half as much.

 

Autofocus     performance      top

Autofocus is super-fast and quiet.

Autofocus can pull you from infinity to a foot, and then all the back again for the next shot, almost immediately. It's uncanny.

 

Auto/Manual Switching

Just grab the focus ring at any time if you want manual-focus override.

Only move the AF-MF switch if you want to disable the camera from autofocusing.

 

AF Speed

AF is fast!, as Canons always are.

The AF motor is silent. All you'll hear is some internal sliding.

 

AF Accuracy and Consistency

I got perfect autofocus every time on my Canon 5D Mark II.

 

Manual Focus

Manual focus is easy; just grab the ring.

It takes only 135º to go from end-to-end of the focus scale, which means that I found the gearing a little fast for my taste. It makes it easy to get the lens from one end of its range to the other, but it is not as precise as I'd like for fine focus at f/2.8.

 

Hunting and Hanging

It is common with all AF macro lenses that often your next shot will require a completely different end of the focus range. When it's that far out of focus, the AF system can simply give up and not focus at all.

Presuming you have your camera set to the appropriate Cfn menu option, I could never get AF to hang or to hunt. It simply went where it needed, and bang!, perfect focus.

A menu item that could lead to your camera getting stuck and not autofocusing if it's way out of focus is "AF/Drive when AF impossible." (It's at MENU > AF page 4 > Lens drive when AF impossible > Continue focus search ON in the R5 and C.Fn. III #1 on the 5D Mark II, for instance. Other cameras may call it something different, or not have that option at all.) Set this option to FOCUS SEARCH ON so that the camera can keep looking if it can't see what to do. Set this to OFF, and if the image is way out of focus with a macro, the camera will simply hang and give up, unless you help it out with the manual focus ring first.

 

Bokeh     performance      top

Bokeh, the quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to the degree of defocus, is excellent.

Backgrounds are as soft as possible, and are good regardless of focused distance or position in the frame.

Here are full-frame snaps. There are no larger versions; everything is so far out of focus you can feel the bokeh just swell at this size.

In these first four shots, the lens is focuses on a phase lattice at 3 meters (10 feet), and synthetic reference vegetation is at 200 meters (600 feet).

 

In these next four shots, the lens is focused on a phase lattice to give a 1:5 reproduction ratio, and the synthetic reference vegetation is still at 200 meters (600 feet).

 

Color Balance     performance      top

The color balance of the 100mm f/2.8 L IS is a little bit warmer than my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, which I used as a reference because it is a very simple lens. The 50mm's small number of coated surfaces and very few elements yield fewer opportunities to alter light transmission, so I picked it for this experiment.

In this experiment, I set a manual white balance to the 50mm lens, then shot the same gray surface with the 50mm, and then with the 100mm at the same manual white balance setting.

 

In other words, in this experiment, I forced the 50mm to look neutral, which shows how the 100mm IS differs from the 50mm. This experiment shows the difference; not which is best.

 

Distortion     performance      top

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS Macro has no visible distortion at any distance.

For critical use, use these values in Photoshop's Lens Distortion tool to remove it completely.

 
Full-Frame and 35mm Film
0.0
10' (3m)
+0.5
1:10
0.0
1:5
0.0
1:2
-0.5
1:1
-0.5

© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Ergonomics     performance      top

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS L Macro

Canon 100/2.8L IS USM Macro.

Ergonomics are perfect. I wish everything was this nice. Just shoot.

I find the manual focus is a little on the fast side, which makes it easy to get to each end of the focus range, but less precise when you do get there.

In spite of my whining about the all-plastic barrel and filter thread for a $1,000 lens, I love having a lens as light as possible, especially if it has IS.

 

Falloff (darkened corners)     performance      top

For actual photography, falloff is minor at f/2.8 at infinity, and completely invisible at closer distances or smaller apertures.

I've greatly exaggerated this by shooting a flat gray target and presenting it against a gray background. The exposure variations seen here mimic what I saw, too.

 

Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS Macro falloff on full-frame, no correction.

 
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
Infinity
1:5
1:2
1:1

© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

 

Filters, Use with     performance      top

The filter threads are much bigger than they need to be, meaning that you can stack as many filters as you dare and never get any vignetting on any camera, film, full-frame or lesser formats.

The threads are plastic, and never move as you focus and shoot.

 

Image Stabilization     performance      top

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS Macro has fantastic image stabilization. If you like IS, then this lens is worth double the price of the non-IS version.

On a 21 MP 5D Mark II, I get tripod-equivalent sharpness almost all of the time hand-held at 1/8 of a second — one eighth!

Without IS, I only get that level of sharpness at about 1/125. This is standing with no support, but holding quite still, as one might shoot in a rifle match.

 

Percent tripod-equivalent sharp shots, hand-held Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Macro on a 5D Mark II

 
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/15
1/30
1/60
1/125
1/250
Stabilizer OFF
0
0
0
0
20
83
100
100
Stabilizer ON
5
40
100
100
100
100
100
100

 

 
100% sharp 50% of the time with no IS
100% sharp 50% of the time with IS

Real
Stops Improvement

Marketing
Stops Improvement
100mm f/2.8 IS
1/45
1/5
3 1/3
4 1/3
1/60
1/60
0
2/3

"Real Stops Improvement" are how many extra stops I got, IS ON compared to IS OFF.

"Marketing Stops Improvement" isn't comparing the speed I can use from IS OFF to IS ON, but instead comparing the speed one can use with IS ON to the old-wives-tale speed of 1/focal length. That's called Lying with Statistics.

If the subject is moving, the 100mm f/2 is better because the extra stop of real speed lets you use a faster shutter speed to stop the action. Image Stabilization does nothing to stop subject motion; it serves merely to counteract camera motion.

 

Lateral Color Fringes     performance      top

Almost none. I wouldn't worry about it, or if you do, shoot the 100mm f/2 USM instead.

If you're out-of-focus, you may see a little spherochromatism, which is quite different.

 

Light Loss     performance      top

Macro lenses lose light as focused more closely. I'll skip you the real reason, but suffice it to say that as magnification goes up, the light has to be spread further.

Canon EOS cameras don't show the true f/stop as these lenses are focused more closely. As one focuses to 1:1, one loses about 1 1/2 stops of light, but EOS cameras keep reporting the same f/stop regardless.

Because of this, you will have to compensate if using an external meter, which is very uncommon today. Most of us use our TTL meters, which work fine.

On the other hand, Nikon's AF cameras and macro lenses report the actual effective f/stops as one focuses more closely, so they always show the correct reading.

Again, this doesn't matter to 99% of us.

 

Mechanics     performance      top

Canon 100mm f/2

Canon 100/2.8 IS Macro. enlarge.

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS Macro L's exterior is almost entirely plastic, with a metal lens mount.

 

Filter Threads and Hood Mount

Plastic.

 

Identity Ring

Plastic.

 

Forebarrel

Plastic.

 

Focus Ring

Rubber-covered metal.

The only metal you can feel are one-millimeter-wide sections at the front and back of the focus ring that aren't covered in rubber.

 

Rear barrel

Plastic.

 

Internals

Look like plastic and some metal.

 

Mount

Chromed metal.

 

Markings

Paint.

 

Serial Number

Engraved into the rear of lens mount and filled with paint.

 

Date Code

Laser-burnt into the same black plastic donut at the rear of the lens mount that holds the electrical contacts.

It follows the usual Canon Date Code convention.

 

Rear Gasket (dust seal at mount)

Yes.

 

Noises When Shaken

Some clicking.

 

Made in

Japan.

 

Sharpness     performance      top

Sharpness doesn't matter much, and especially doesn't matter with macro lenses, since sharpness in macro depends more on our ability to manage planes of focus and depth-of-field than any limitation of the lens' optics. Serious macro shooting is done at f/32, where diffraction makes all lenses equal anyway.

Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness and blame crummy pictures on their equipment rather than themselves. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.

If you're not getting ultra-sharp pictures with this, be sure not to shoot at f/11 or smaller where all lenses are softer due to diffraction, always shoot at ISO 100 or below because cameras become softer at ISO 200 and above, avoid shooting across long distances over land which can lead to atmospheric heat shimmer, be sure everything is in perfect focus, set your camera's sharpening as you want it (I set mine to the maximum) and be sure nothing is moving, either camera or subject. If you want to ensure a soft image with any lens, shoot at f/16 or smaller at ISO 1,600 or above at default sharpening in daylight of subjects at differing distances in the same image.

People worry waaaaay too much about sharpness. It's not 1968 anymore when lenses often weren't that sharp and there could be significant differences among them; today they are all pretty much equally fantastic.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro MTF

MTF wide-open at 10 cyc/mm (black) and 30 cyc/mm (blue). Sagittal (solid) and meridional (dashed).

I did a direct comparison between this 100mm f/2.8 IS L lens, the 100mm f/2 USM, Nikon's 105mm f/4 AI-s (1970-1983), 105mm f/2.8 AI-s (1983-today) and 105mm f/2.8 AF (1990-2007) lenses, using a lens adapter on a 21 MP 5D Mark II. They were pretty much the same, while the 100mm f/2 USM easily outperformed all of them at infinity.

Ignoring the 100mm f/2, at f/4 and infinity this f/2.8L IS is about the same on the 5D Mark II as the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF, but not quite as good as the Nikon 105mm f/4 AI-s. The current manual-focus Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AI-s was better than this Canon L lens, second only to the Canon 100/2.

Ignoring the superior 100mm f/2, at f/8 and infinity, this f/2.8L IS is the same as the other lenses on the 5D Mark II.

Macro lenses have focused internally since the 1980s, and automatically optimize themselves to any distance as focused (Even the only fixed (non-floating element) design I tried, the introduced-in-1970 Nikon 105mm f/4 Micro, was also about as good as the newer macro lenses, even at infinity.)

As shot on the 5D Mark II under test conditions at infinity, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS is sharp; about the same as the previous 100mm f/2.8 Macro and 70-200mm f/4 L IS.

The 100mm f/2 USM is sharper, if you're counting pixels at large apertures.

In the real world, your sharpness is more dependant on what you can get in focus. If you're using this for macro, it will take you about two snaps to realize that with macro, there is almost nothing in focus, because depth-of-field is paper thin. At f/32, you might have half a millimeter in focus, and whether or not you can get a sharp picture depends on how well you can wrangle all of your subject into that thin plane of focus.

Back to test conditions, which can see things about lens performance that never come out in actual shooting unless you are very, very good, here's what I see.

 

As seen on the 5D Mark II (Full-Frame 21MP):

f/2.8: Reasonably sharp in center, a little softer on sides.

f/4-5.6: The sides get progressively sharper as stopped down.

f/8: Optimum.

By comparison, if you're splitting pixels at larger apertures, the 100mm f/2 USM makes this 100mm f/2.8 look like something's broken by comparison, but this Macro lens is about the same as most of Canon's other L lenses.

Here are extreme crops, presented at 100%, from the top right corner of 5D Mark II images:

Canon 100mm f/2
Canon 100mm f/2

 

Spherochromatism       performance       top

Spherochromatism, also called secondary spherical chromatic aberration or "color bokeh," is an advanced form of spherical and chromatic aberration in a different dimension than lateral chromatic aberration. It happens mostly in fast normal and tele lenses when spherical aberration at the ends of the color spectrum are corrected differently than in the middle of the spectrum. Spherochromatism can cause colored fringes on out-of-focus highlights, usually seen as green fringes on backgrounds and magenta fringes on foregrounds. Spherochromatism is common in fast lenses of moderate focal length when shooting contrasty items at full aperture. It goes away as stopped down.

The 100mm f/2.8 L USM has almost no spherochromatism, meaning out-of-focus bright areas rarely have any sort of colored fringes around them.

Here's my watch, at f/2.8 and about 1:1.2 magnification.

Mondaine Swiss Rail Watch

Swiss Railways Watch.

 

Sunstars     performance      top

With its 9-bladed diaphragm that becomes nonagonal at f/8 and below, this Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS ought to make great 18-pointed sunstars on bright points of light, when stopped down.

They probably won't be that symmetrical, as the 100/2.8L's diaphragm isn't particularly uniform.

 

Compared       top

Introduction   New   Good   Bad   Missing

Compatibility  Specifications  Performance

Compared   User's Guide   Recommendations

 

I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

 

NEW: All Canon 100mm Lenses Compared

Compared to more Nikon lenses

Best Macro Lenses Compared

 

See my sharpness comparisons above under Sharpness.

 

Old 2010 Comparison Table (newest 2021 comparison table)

 
100/2.8 IS Macro
Manual Focus
Instant override
Instant override
Instant override
Instant override
Instant override
Filter
67mm
58mm
58mm
72mm
67mm
Filter
plastic
plastic
Metal
 
plastic
Barrel
plastic
plastic
Metal & plastic
 
Metal and plastic
Weight, g.
623g
584g
417g
 
756g
Weight, oz.
22.0 oz.
20.6 oz.
14.7 oz.
 
26.7 oz.
Optics
Ex
Ex
Ex+
 
Ex
Ergonomics
Ex
Ex
Ex
 
Ex
Price, 7/2010 USA

 

User's Guide       top

Introduction   New   Good   Bad   Missing

Compatibility  Specifications  Performance

Compared   User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

Canon 100mm f/2

Canon 100/2.8 IS Macro. enlarge.

 

Manual-Focus Override       user's guide       top

Just turn the mechaincal focus ring at any time. Of course if your camera is set to SERVO AF it will probably keep trying to focus itself; be sude you're in ONE SHOT and it's locked befoe you try to focus manuallly — but it does always respond.

 

FULL / 0.5m-∞ / 0.3m-0.5m Switch       user's guide       top

This is a focus limiter.

Leave it in FULL.

The 0.5m-∞ position prevents the lens from autofocusing closer than a half meter (1.6 feet). Use this setting only if you're having a problem with the lens attempting to focus on irrelevant close items, or if for some reason the lens is "hunting" from near to far looking for distant subjects.

The 0.3m-0.5m position prevents the lens from autofocusing farther away than a half meter (1.5 feet). Use this setting only if you're having a problem with the lens attempting to focus on irrelevant distant items, or if for some reason the lens is "hunting" from near to far looking for near subjects.

 

AF - MF Switch       user's guide       top

AF: Auto Focus, with manual override anytime you grab the focus ring. Leave it here.

MF: Manual Focus only. Use this if you don't want the autofocus system to focus the lens.

 

STABILIZER Switch       user's guide       top

Leave it ON unless you're on a very sturdy tripod, or if you're making exposures longer than a second on any kind of tripod.

If your camera has built-in sensor-shift stabilization then this switch controls both the in-camera and the optical stabilization at the same time. There is no way to control them separately; they both are either ON or OFF.

 

Recommendations       top

Introduction   New   Good   Bad   Missing

Compatibility  Specifications  Performance

Compared   User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay.

For serious macro I use the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro instead because its longer focal length gives better perspective rendering at close distances; few things look their best from a foot away with a 100mm lens! The 180/3.5 Macro also gives me more working room between camera and subject so I don't block my light.

Since all the macro work I do is with studio strobes, stabilization means nothing to me for macro, so if I wanted a 100mm macro and money mattered, I'd get the otherwise similar but recenlty discontinued 100/2.8 Macro before it sells out.

If you want the sharpest possible shots of real three-dimensional subjects up close, shoot at f/32 or otherwise very little is in focus. Do your best to get the subject flat so it all can be reasonably in focus; a pro friend of mine who gets published in Ranger Rick (it's more competitive to get published in Ranger Rick than in National Geographic) spends a lot of time making butterflies lie flat so the images show every scale on their wings. This has nothing to do with lens sharpness and everything to do with getting the subject as flat as possible; there is NO depth of field at macro distances.

Use studio strobes, or use flashes mounted close to the lens, so you 1.) have plenty of light to shoot at f/16 to f/32, and 2.) the instantaneous flash eliminates camera shake. Shooting hand-held by available light is a recipe for macro disaster due to both slow shutter speeds and larger apertures and their resulting lack of depth-of-field.

For general-purpose shooting, I prefer the Canon 100/2 USM for its superior optics, smaller size, lower weight and lower price.

If I wanted a lens for use as both a general-purpose tele and for occasional close-focus, I love IS, and for this very popular purpose, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS is superb.

I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap so I'm always ready to shoot instantly. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear without padding — which is never. The UV filter never gets in the way, and never gets lost, either.

The very best protective filter is the Hoya multicoated HD3 67mm UV which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints.

For less money, the B+W 67mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated version and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.

If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I'd forget the cap, and use an uncoated 67mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting.

For color slides like Fuji Velvia 50, I use a 67mm Hoya HMC 81A outdoors.

For B&W film outdoors to make clouds look natural in the sky I use a 67mm Hoya HMC K2 Yellow, or usually a 67mm Hoya HMC Orange for a stronger effect, or a 67mm Hoya HMC Red for the most dramatic skies or to hide pimples on skin.

Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD3 stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.

All these filters are just as sharp and take the same pictures, the difference is how much abuse they'll take and stay clean and stay in one piece. Since filters last a lifetime or more, there's no reason not to buy the best as it will last you for the next 40 years. Filters aren't throwaways like digital cameras which we replace every few years, like it or not. I'm still using filters I bought back in the 1970s!

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Ken Rockwell® is a registered trademark.

 

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Ken.

 

21-22 April 2021, June 2013, July 2010