Hand-holding the 180L

Am I the only one hand-holding the Canon 180L macro? Articles on the net seem adamant about using a tripod but I have no issues. I use at least 1/200s shutter speed. Sometimes use a flash or push the ISO a bit to get the required DOF. Nice thing about this lens is that the 1:1 focal distance is far enough away that a normal 580EXii mounted on the hotshoe without a snoot illuminates things just fine.

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Whatever floats your boat - if it works for you.

That shot is a touch back focussed, could have focused on the foreground eye and stopped it down at bit more, perhaps with tripod

not to sound harsh or anything but the only thing that this shot convinces me of is using a tripod with a 180mm

Like the previous member posted, the focus is not at the right place and where the focus is, the portion is not what I would consider sharp by macro standards. So, for the focus at the wrong place, either it was not noticed and it is lacjk of experience with macro, either by handholding it, you balanced back and forth too much and did not nail the focus at the right place. The not so sharp in focus area, I would attribute to still a too slow shutter speed- camera shake.

The light is harsh and unpleasing, if it was NL, that makes me believe that there was plenty of ambient light to allow a proper DOF with focus on the font eye that would have allowed you to get the whole face in focus. If it was taken with the 580 with a snout, it shows that the light produced that way is not pleasing for macro work.

I am hoping you can come up with more convincing shots. BTW, I am not against the idea, I have done a few handheld macro shots with my 150mm which should have a relatively similar level of difficulty. But they were stacks of multiple shots at very wide apertures (shooting in NL when it is pleasing early in the morning).

All the best

Martin

No you are not, I hand hold it a lot of the time for some subjects. It is a bit of a relief to revert to the 100 classic sometime though.

In truth they both have their strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation.

I hand hold the Tamron 180 if I can get 1/500 or using flash but otherwise use on a tripod. Excellent length for natural light tripod shots as you can more easily set up without disturbing subject.

I get the impression not many users have access to this lens.

A lot of people go for the tamron or sigma in this length range.

Part of the problem is a spurious poor sharpness review at normal distances, http://www.the-digital-picture.com I think it was. Just checked back and this now shows the 180 as much sharper than the 200/2.8, this is saying something because I also have this lens and it is ridiculously sharp.

Needless to say I have found my copy very sharp, the only problem being the slow af due to the design being more optomised for MF than most canon lenses including the 100mm macros.

[QUOTE=sloanbj;1360787​4]Am I the only one hand-holding the Canon 180L macro?/QUOTE]

You may be one of the very few who can. If you can hand hold and your pics satisfy you, then don't bother what the rest of the world thinks.

Mike