Canon 100mm f2.8L Macro EF IS USM

Hi all,

I recently invested in the Canon 100mm f2.8L Macro EF IS USM lens to shoot macro photography, and whilst the lens is great I'm having a little trouble getting used to it.

I'm looking through the manual I got with it which mentions a zoom feature, although I can only really find it's a focus ring?

"3. Zooming: The zoom lens enables zooming out or in by turning the zoom ring or moving it back and forth." - Surely this doesn't mean moving the whole camera back and forth does it? When I turn the focus ring the lens doesn't move outward at all like my standard 18-55mm lens.

I am somewhat of a beginner when it comes to photography, so anybody who has this lens and could give me an insight as to how to use it to it's maximum potential would be extremely useful.

I realise this may be a silly question, but I'm just looking for a little help from those of you who are more experienced than I am.

Thank you!

the 100mm is a prime meaning there is no zoom. The manual might be generic or a typo. You won't see the lens adjust focus like on the kit lens because it has internal moving elements versus external. One of the great features of the 100mm macro is the ability to focus very close to your subject and achieve a 1:1 magnification ratio where an object the same size as your sensor will take up the entire image.

The Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS does not have a zoom ring. I'm not sure what your talking about or referring to, but there is no zoom feature on this lens. Go out and shoot. Stop worrying about what the manual says. Its probably a miss print from another lens.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

Thank you for explaining that to me, do you have this lens yourself?

I'm playing around with it at the moment, although I find it quite difficult to focus manually when up close to a subject. Do you have any tips?

I don't have that specific lens yet but it is on my wishlist for macro. When manually focusing up close its best to use Live-View with the 5x or 10x focus check.

One technique if your shooting hand-held is to get pretty close with the focus ring and, while using live view zoom in on the LCD at 5x or 10x, make slight movements back and fourth to get what you want in sharp focus.

R_07 wrote in post #14841669
Thank you for explaining that to me, do you have this lens yourself?

I'm playing around with it at the moment, although I find it quite difficult to focus manually when up close to a subject. Do you have any tips?

I have this lens. If you are talking about focusing near its closest focusing distance (i.e. close to 1:1), then the DOF becomes very shallow. Any movement of the lens can easily make the subject out of focus.

You should practice with the camera and lens mounted firmly on a tripod. Really serious macro photographers use focusing rails, but I am too lazy for those

howiewu wrote in post #14841829
I have this lens. If you are talking about focusing near its closest focusing distance (i.e. close to 1:1), then the DOF becomes very shallow. Any movement of the lens can easily make the subject out of focus.

You should practice with the camera and lens mounted firmly on a tripod. Really serious macro photographers use focusing rails, but I am too lazy for those

Thank you for the advice, looks like a tripod is the next thing to buy then! I was using it freehand, hence going for this lens with the hybrid IS technology, but I've been in need of a tripod for some time so I guess this is as good a time as any!

I had the lens for about a year, just sold it last week. i rarely used mine with a tripod and got decent results. what is you're trying to photograph?

Chances are you just need to keep practicing.

A tripod helps (also external flash helps), but they are not necessary. If you really want to do life-size and larger then they start to become necessary IMHO.

Start with shooting larger flowers and progressively work to smaller subjects. The smaller the subject, the larger the magnification, and moving subjects get frustrating at times. Keep in mind at the macro level the slight movement of the subject (say a flower blown by just a little wind) or the camera will cause the subject to be OOF.

It will come, just keep practicing.

Be sure to check out this thread:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=760368

I have this lens. The instruction sheet IS generic and should be disregarded. The paper instructions don't mention the three auto-focus modes or how to use them. The actual instructions are on the supplemental DVD that's included.

I have this lens as well. If your not using a tripod then you need a larger DoF/f5.6 or so. If you move a bit, more is in focus and it will still look good. Shooting a really shallow DoF like f/2.8 is hard to do especially if you move just a hair. You just need to practice shooting macro shots when hand held. Its easier using a tripod.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

R_07 wrote in post #14841669
although I find it quite difficult to focus manually when up close to a subject. Do you have any tips?

If you are watching through the viewfinder, really try to see where the plane of best focus is laying. Statically this is difficult but moving back and forth slightly or moving the focus ring a little will make it more obvious. You will see the plane of sharpness move across the subject. When it is just right, snap the picture. Stop down to at least f/16 to get a little bit of depth of field to cover small errors and get a bit more in focus.