New addition to my family

Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro EF USM! Got this lens last Saturday from Plaza Imaging in North Bridge.

First of all, I am really impressed with the capability of this lens, the images captured are pin-sharp in details and colours are great. Focusing mechanism is internal (USM), hence it's fast, quiet, accurate and most importantly, allowing manual overide with the focusing rim in AF mode. The length of the lens is fixed and will not extend during focusing, this is great when focusing at 1x subject distance. Build quality is great and is on par with my other Canon 17-85mm IS lens.

However, using this baby in macro photography is a totally different ball game altogether. First is camera shake and frustrating out of focus images. At this focal length doing 1:1 macro shot, any tiny shake will translate to totally blurred images. I guess missing the images stabilizer (IS) in this lens does not do much favour. Another problem that I am experiencing is the control of DOF. Having a narrow DOF, while can produce fantastic looking background/foreground blur, it also means a tiny camera shift can result in out of focus shot! Well... I guess I will just keep shooting, hopefully practice does make perfect :)

Warning!! There are other downsides for buying this lens....as I shamelessly quote from Bryan's review. "You will find yourself looking for little things to use for subjects - which are everywhere. No bug is safe. You will find you neck hurting from looking down all the time. You will discover a world you never knew existed." Macro photography is great fun!