Best macro

[dougsturgess]

What is considered Canon's top macro lenses? Is the macro ring thing necessary, too?

[tim]

Please clarify what you're after. Canon do macro lenses in the region of 50mm, 100mm, and 180mm L, each is for a different range, so you choose based on your needs. No idea what your macro ring thing is, if you mean USM then it's probably not necessary, you manual focus a lot with macro work. If you use the lens for portraits (which I do) then USM is a good and useful thing.

[Dante King]

Think he means Macro Ring Flash. Cant answer the lens question as I am a Tamron man in that department.

[Pyromaniac]

Tim and I have sort of had a discussion about this I use the 50mm f/2.5 macro which I love and Tim uses the 100mm f/2.8 macro. Both are very good lenes and will give you good results. And as Tim said you choose based on your needs. Most of the stuff I shoot macro does not move so I can get really close and don't need the extra working distance of the 100mm. I also don't "need" the 1:1 magnifacation, so the 1:2 is just fine for me. I think the "macro ring thing" your talking about is the Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX or Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX. The MR-14EX is $450 and the MT-24EX is $650 from B&H. Wheather or not it is necessary depends on what your shooting. I don't use one and have have very few instances where it would have helped me any. Hope that helps you out some.

[dougsturgess]

Please clarify what you're after. Canon do macro lenses in the region of 50mm, 100mm, and 180mm L, each is for a different range, so you choose based on your needs. No idea what your macro ring thing is, if you mean USM then it's probably not necessary, you manual focus a lot with macro work. If you use the lens for portraits (which I do) then USM is a good and useful thing.

Sorry for not being clear. I just upgraded from a G2 to the 20d with a 24-70. I'm used to being able to take close-up shots with the G2, but the 24-70 doesn't let me take those kinds of shots. So, I'm just looking for a good, sharp lens that will let me take close-up shots, i.e. flowers, portraits, etc. Some lens that has a very short focus range.

The other thing I was talking about is this: MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Ringlite Flash (Guide No. 72'/22 m). I guess there's some reason the onboard flash won't work?

[steven]

The reason for using a Ring Flash is so that the lens does not get in the way of the flash.
This often will happen with macro since you are trying to get very close.
I don't use a ring flash for macro but do use a flash off the camera to get around this problem.
Often when I'm shooting butterflys I just hold the flash at the end of the lens, works very will.

[dougsturgess]

The reason for using a Ring Flash is so that the lens does not get in the way of the flash.
This often will happen with macro since you are trying to get very close.
I don't use a ring flash for macro but do use a flash off the camera to get around this problem.
Often when I'm shooting butterflys I just hold the flash at the end of the lens, works very will.

Thanks, Steven. Which macro in your collection do you like best?