Macro Virgin

[Whippeticious]

I've just in the last couple of hours recieved my Canon 100mm macro in the post. Dammit! where's a bug when you want one.
I've had a little play around with it. gee it's got a very shallow depth of field, I see now why some use a tripod. I dont think I understand what the .31m & .48m do. do you have it on .31 when you want to get closer to the subject?

I might be asking a few questions here, I read the manual but the writing may as well have been little bugs running across the page, sometimes my eyes see it but my brain doesn't take it in.

[LordV]

Guessing thats a focus AF range limiter ? So presumably if you are shooting near max mag (min focus distance) then set it at .048. However you will find most of the macro-shooters here actually use MF. The AF is pretty slow on macro lenses and when shooting near to 1:1 the DOF is pretty shallow. The AF does not know what part of the subject you want in focus.

Brian v.

[John_B]

Whippeticious,
Yes its an AF range limiter.
I personally manually focus when doing macro photos and set the lens to AF - 0.48 for portraits/non macro photos etc....

Try using your flash as it will help you close down the aperture to help get a tiny bit more DOF without the need for a tripod ;)

[Mike]

I've just in the last couple of hours recieved my Canon 100mm macro in the post. Dammit! where's a bug when you want one.
I've had a little play around with it. gee it's got a very shallow depth of field, I see now why some use a tripod. I dont think I understand what the .31m & 048m do. do you have it on .31 when you want to get closer to the subject?

I might be asking a few questions here, I read the manual but the writing may as well have been little bugs running across the page, sometimes my eyes see it but my brain doesn't take it in.

Congrats on your purchase. I love my macro lens! Finding bugs gets easier with practise but I'm sure you can find a few if you really look.

Brian (LordV) has some really good tips HERE (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=50752) that are very much worth taking time to read.

The shallow depth of field sure is tricky but try stopping down between f/8-f/16 to get a greater depth of field. You may need to add some light and this is also when you find out how dirty your sensor is! ;)

[Whippeticious]

I still don't understand why the lens has the .48 switch if the .31 goes to infinity anyway. What am I missing....apart from some brainpower?

[Gnomey]

Its to help speed up AF so it doesn't go through whole focus range.

[Mike]

I still don't understand why the lens has the .48 switch if the .31 goes to infinity anyway. What am I missing....apart from some brainpower?

Its to help speed up AF so it doesn't go through whole focus range.

Yes, it is to save the focus motor hunting between infinity and 1:1 macro for focus, thus speeding up the time it takes to focus.

[Whippeticious]

aah thankyou both!