Canon EF 180mm Macro: a challenge

This is one tough lens to master. It is so heavy, autofocus is extremely slow, however, autofocus is not the best method for macro for me.
Image quality is breathtaking..
Here's an example: (WARNING: VERY LARGE FILE)
http://home.comcast.ne​t/~eldoronki/vw6t7468n​et.jpg

Just wanted to vent..

WWOOOAAAHHH!!!!!

Top quality, but ya could have posted a warning about the image size. Even my broadband connection is struggling with that one.

Sorry about that..I put a warning.

Great shot for IQ demonstration. I agree that lens is awesome. Was that a raw shot from the 1Ds MkII? What post processing did you do?

after about 5-7 min of loading...lol

Great detail!!! So when you finally focus, it IS sharp!

Would love to get MY hands on one!

Hello Hatem, just wondering if you could maybe have a look at my question regarding the 180 here on this thread...

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=190108

Maybe give me your input?

Many thanks & best wishes.

That's one way to look at a penny...

Kind of suprized at how little DOF there is in that shot even though it was f/11.
Pretty sharp!

I mostly agree with Lester's answer to your question in that thread.

However, I haven't "mastered" the 180mm lens yet, actually, far from it

In the meantime here's a couple of examples:
1- Canon 20d, 100mm macro + 20mm Kenko + MT-24EX flash, handheld: FILESIZE WARNING
http://home.comcast.ne​t/~eldoronki/green_fly​.JPG

2- Canon 1DsMkII, 180mm + 36mm Kenko + MT-24EX flash, handheld: EVEN BIGGER FILESIZE WARNING!
http://home.att.net/~h​atem/moth.JPG

I'm sure now it's even harder to decide. In my opinion, the 180mm lens is only good for two things: image quaity and working distance. Otherwise, the 100mm lens is a better choice. You can autofocus on an insect easily with the 100mm lens, if that's important to you, with the 100mm lens. With the 180mm lens, it is a different story: first you have to manually focus to the closest point that you will actually use autofocus on. When you're there, the insect probably won't be )
A tripod is mandatory. The lens is heavy already, and after five minutes of handholding, you'll get the point.

Actually, this lens is supposedly sharpest at f11. At f32, you get maximum DOF, but the sharpness renders the image useless to me..

Indeed its a great lens. In the only life size comparitive test I have ever seen all the Canon macros did well with the MP-E slightly above the 180 followed by the 100 and then the 50, this would have been before the 60mm EF-S and the Sigma 150mm I think.

In fact all the makes of macro lenses were good, some of the third parties not so good wide open but fine stopped down.

My feeling is you can't go wrong with macro lenses but the Canon's are good and have a few nice features not on some of the other like internal focus (not the MP-E of course).

I have hit the spouse credit limit for now, but when the rolling pin breaks either the 180mm or a T&S will be a twinkle in the eye. (appologies to the ladies reading this male nonsense)