Best Manual Focus Macro Lens?

So I hear that it's best to use live view and manual focus when shooting most Macro shots... who uses the older MF lenses? Which one is the best for this?

Thanks!

This may not be an "older" lens but it does have the best IQ for a macro lens and it is MF. I just bought a Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS lens because I didn't have the $1,843.00 plus shipping for this lens. I will one day get this lens, but probably not until the end of the year.
Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2 ZE Lens
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …o_Planar_T_100m​m_f_2.html

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

Lol... I guess I should have said something cheaper than the 100mm f2.8 non IS

I don't use liveview generally, but do manually focus normally.

Lenses with only manual aperture control can be a little frustrating because you often want to stop down, yet it's hard to stop down and then compose/focus as light is typically limited.

the 100L macro is an amazing piece of glass. hands down it's the favorite of my humble collection. great portraits and TOP TIER macro.

the Vivitar 90mm macro gets great reviews

Certainly best to use manual focus for macro shots near 1:1 or higher magnifications whether the lens is manual focus or not. Not necessary to use liveview but can be handy if you are doing stabilsed shots (eg using a tripod) - not very easy to use with handheld shots as your head is part of the stabilisation system. As for best manual lens I'd have to vote for the MPE-65 rather than a more exotic macro lens.

Brian v.

I use a Zuiko 50/3.5 macro from my OM gear with a chipped adaptor. It gives 1:2. If I want more, I have extension tubes, including a cunning expandable one (like bellows in function). I can mount my OM T10 ring flash on it and fire that from my 30D.

It does the job well, but I really miss the TTL flash control I had with the OM-2.

If I had the money, I'd be getting a 100L.

yuriyo923,
I agree with LordV, as the best manual focus macro lens (to me) is the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x It is the only lens that gives 1:1 to 5:1 with excellent results and no AF. I also agree with LordV in that its best to use MF on all macro lenses even if they have AF, because to achieve life size 1:1 the lens is usually on its closest focus point.

Canon EF 35-80 with the front chopped off. Here's two I handheld last night.

First is at 35mm F/6.3, second at 80mm F/13. Unsharpened/processed, but both lost a bit from the resizing and compression.

It goes from ~.9x life size to well beyond. Figure that last frame is a 1.3cm wide pop tab on a 3.6cm wide sensor. Goes for ~20$ on ebay everyday.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Vivitar Series 1 90mm f2.5, aka Tokina AT-X 90mm f2.5. It's commonly referred to by the nickname "Bokina." It can be easily found under $300.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Coastal 60 macro, followed by the Leica R 100/2.8 APO macro. ZE 50/2 and ZE 100/2 are in the running. Olympus 90/2 is great.

Sp1207 wrote in post #11657234
Canon EF 35-80 with the front chopped off. Here's two I handheld last night.

First is at 35mm F/6.3, second at 80mm F/13. Unsharpened/processed, but both lost a bit from the resizing and compression.

It goes from ~.9x life size to well beyond. Figure that last frame is a 1.3cm wide pop tab on a 3.6cm wide sensor. Goes for ~20$ on ebay everyday.

Do you have pictures of the lens itself?

None personally, but https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=190428 has some.

You can (and very likely will) turn off AF on any auto focus macro lens.

There are a great many excellent, vintage, manual focus that are quite easily adapted to fit EOS. However, the problem with these is that they have strictly manual aperture. This means you have to focus wide open, then stop down to the aperture you want to use (stop down/"match needle" metering works fine) before taking the shot. It works.... But is slower and tougher to work with moving subjects.

I use a Tamron 90/2.8 that's one of these older manual focus and aperture lenses. It works quite well (it's a 1:2 lens unless you use a matching adapter, or just put a macro extension tube or two behind it). My main reason for having it, in addition to my other macro lenses, is that it's small and tucks into a corner of my camera bag easily, when I don't want or need to carry one of the larger macro lens with me. Another reason I have it is that it cost me all of $65 - including a $45 adapter I had to order from China - like new with lens hood and a Tamron 2X and a Nikon F mount.

"Modern" manual focus macro lenses made for use on Canon cameras will most likely have full electromechanical aperture control. So you will be able to fully use TTL metering, eTTL flash, etc.

One of my lenses that I use for close-ups and macro is manual focus only. That's the Canon 45mm TS-E. It's a large, heavy lens to accomodate the Tilt and Shift features, so mostly just used in studio. It and all the TS-E lenses have full aperture control.

My other two macro lenses are AF, but I just turn it off most of the time when I'm shooting macro.

Frankly, if I only had one macro lens, I'd prefer it be an AF lens so that it can best serve dual purpose, as a short to moderate telephoto for non-macro distances... Even if I shut AF off when I am taking macro shots. A brand new Tamron 90/2.8 or Tokina 100/2.8 can be had for about $400. You could probably find either one used for a little less.