Canon 180mm macro

[Snoweagle]

Both 100mm and 180mm are macro lens, any special difference that make the 100mm more suitable as portrait lens? (in terms of picture quality)
is it because 100mm "compromise" a bit on macro function? which makes 180mm better for macro? (again, on quality, not comparing on distance at 1:1 lah....)
just want to understand more....
thanks....

I strongly do not recommend a macro lens for portraiture. As long as its a macro lens, it should be 1:1, with the exception of the 50mm f/2.5 compact macro.

 

[alus]

[Macro]
In order to have a higher magnification, a macro lens should be able to focus at a close focusing distance. To achieve this while producing a good quality of results, a technology such as "floating" element/ "CRC" is used. A macro lens is well-corrected.

The 180mm will give you a longer working of distance, compared to the 100mm for the same magnification.

[Portrait]
The longer the focal length is, the higher the degree of compression between near and far objects is. Hence, the 180mm will give a higher degree of compression in comparison to the 100mm. As a result, a portrait taken by the 180mm will look "flatter" (more "compressed") than the 100mm.

Assume 85mm is the "reference" lens for portraiture. 180mm is relatively much longer than 100mm with respect to this "reference".

 

[metalgear]

to add on...

the 180mm is a specialized macro lens. auto focus is slow because focusing is very fine and has a long focus "throw". anyway any good macro shooter will tell you that you the focal plane can be is thin as a couple of mm and manual focusing is the only way to get the focus right e.g. the eye of a dragonfly is sharp and the neck is starting to go out of focus.

you can go slightly further out and shoot flowers and bees on lilies and having auto will offer some convenience at the appropriate time.

of course you can also make it your portrait lens; can be done but not what it was designed to do. like driving a ferrari downtown during rush-hour and then asking "why the gears so jerky?"

the 180mm has all the hallmarks of an L lens, super colour and contrast, built to weather the elements and best used in the right hands, and appreciated well by those who can.

 

[Snoweagle]

[Macro]
In order to have a higher magnification, a macro lens should be able to focus at a close focusing distance. To achieve this while producing a good quality of results, a technology such as "floating" element/ "CRC" is used. A macro lens is well-corrected.

The 180mm will give you a longer working of distance, compared to the 100mm for the same magnification.

[Portrait]
The longer the focal length is, the higher the degree of compression between near and far objects is. Hence, the 180mm will give a higher degree of compression in comparison to the 100mm. As a result, a portrait taken by the 180mm will look "flatter" (more "compressed") than the 100mm.

Assume 85mm is the "reference" lens for portraiture. 180mm is relatively much longer than 100mm with respect to this "reference".

Ah...that explains why the pic i took of my friend with the 180mm f3.5L looks flat.

 

[Snoweagle]

to add on...

the 180mm is a specialized macro lens. auto focus is slow because focusing is very fine and has a long focus "throw". anyway any good macro shooter will tell you that you the focal plane can be is thin as a couple of mm and manual focusing is the only way to get the focus right e.g. the eye of a dragonfly is sharp and the neck is starting to go out of focus.

you can go slightly further out and shoot flowers and bees on lilies and having auto will offer some convenience at the appropriate time.

of course you can also make it your portrait lens; can be done but not what it was designed to do. like driving a ferrari downtown during rush-hour and then asking "why the gears so jerky?"

the 180mm has all the hallmarks of an L lens, super colour and contrast, built to weather the elements and best used in the right hands, and appreciated well by those who can.

Yes but it's expensive at over $3k.

 

[i120D]

Wow!!! thanks alot for all the explanations.
now have some more knowledge liao...
thanks thanks... u guys/gals are great :lovegrin:

 

[gernie]

Ah...that explains why the pic i took of my friend with the 180mm f3.5L looks flat.

but do u think techmage 's pics(page 1) looks flat?

 

[Snoweagle]

but do u think techmage 's pics(page 1) looks flat?

A bit. Compare it to a 85mm f/1.8 and you can see the difference.

 

[benny]

A newbie here, considering to get the Canon 180mm macro.
Any hands-on comment on this lens? Anyone tested as a portrait lens?

If you want a portrait lens, get a portrait lens.

The 180 mm macro lens is specialised and is in a class of it's own. Judging it using the same performance indicators for non macro lenses and you will find flaws such as slow Auto Focus (which few macro shooters use anyway) amongst other things. As such, please take that into consideration.

It can be used hand held even when shooting at small aperture as I have friends shooting butterflies with a 180 mm macro. I do most of my shoots indoors so my experience with the Canon EF 180 mm f/3.5 L Macro USM is limited in the field. But I find it easy to use hand held and sharpness/contrast is pretty good. The following is an example from the said lens. EXIF data is embeded if you are interested.

The minimum focusing distance is 48 cm and can be extended to 1.5 m to preventing excessive hunting during auto focusing. Occasionally, I find extension tubes useful to get the best out of this lens.

An excellent addition to the macro inventory if you can use the range. You might want to consider if this focal length is necessary when you can into account the crop factor of the digital body (if any). Might be just a tad too long for some users.

Cheers,

 

[Snoweagle]

If you want a portrait lens, get a portrait lens.

The 180 mm macro lens is specialised and is in a class of it's own. Judging it using the same performance indicators for non macro lenses and you will find flaws such as slow Auto Focus (which few macro shooters use anyway) amongst other things. As such, please take that into consideration.

It can be used hand held even when shooting at small aperture as I have friends shooting butterflies with a 180 mm macro. I do most of my shoots indoors so my experience with the Canon EF 180 mm f/3.5 L Macro USM is limited in the field. But I find it easy to use hand held and sharpness/contrast is pretty good. The following is an example from the said lens. EXIF data is embeded if you are interested.

The minimum focusing distance is 48 cm and can be extended to 1.5 m to preventing excessive hunting during auto focusing. Occasionally, I find extension tubes useful to get the best out of this lens.

An excellent addition to the macro inventory if you can use the range. You might want to consider if this focal length is necessary when you can into account the crop factor of the digital body (if any). Might be just a tad too long for some users.

Cheers,

I tried the 100mm i borrowed from my friend to shoot macro today...i find this lens hunts a lot in AF mode.