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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Canon lens users. . . BUY THIS LENS!

Erik Widding said:
Mine is also an old one. Probably two to three years old. Aqua is correct, I had written this lens off. Maybe wrongly so.
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I will play with mine as I bought it less than six months ago. Erik, I can ship it to you if you would like to evaluate.
 
Okay. . . here's some info of a quick and dirty test I just did upstairs.

I did repeated (over 100) rack pulls between two objects placed on a table about three feet apart. The first object as about 12" from the lens, while the second one was about 3' beyond that.

With slow pulls (three seconds or more), I never once got a single jump in the pulls. Nothing. Utterly smooth.

With rocket-ship fast pulls, I never got a jump, either.

With one second pulls, it was pretty smooth in almost every trial. Every once and a while, it would give me a little jump, but not much.

One to two-second pulls, I had a lot more jumps, but still only about once in every three or four tries.

Overall, I stand by my original statements: This is the best value lens in my Canon kit, and that includes the following:

11-16mm f2.8 Tokina
16-35mm Canon f2.8L USM II
24mm Canon f1.4L USM II
35mm Canon f1.4L USM
50mm Canon f1.2L USM
85mm Canon f1.2L USM II
100mm f2.8 USM
135mm f2.0L USM
200mm f2.8L USM II

All of these lenses were purchased in the past two weeks.

The worst of the bunch, in my opinion, is the 135mm, as it has a considerable amount of slop in the left-right movements of the image as you rack focus back and forth. I purchased two of these lenses just to be sure, and they both exhibited an identical amount of slop. I am keeping it, because that focal length is pretty darn good for close-ups, but, unless you're going hand-held or only want to pull focus one direction, it's not going to work for you.

I should probably do a detailed report of the pros and cons of each of these lenses at some point, but I still have a beta Birger and so that would probably not be the best thing for me to do at the moment.

Again, however, I can't tell you how much I love this new lens. It's clearly my favorite of them all at this point. And it was, by far, the cheapest of the bunch.

Stephen
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
With one second pulls, it was pretty smooth in almost every trial. Every once and a while, it would give me a little jump, but not much.

One to two-second pulls, I had a lot more jumps, but still only about once in every three or four tries.
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That is scary for bigger productions... but I guess you don't have to use it unless you are doing a macro.
 
Not to me. This is a macro lens. . . it's just killer for getting in super tight for an insert. This isn't a drama set-up lens whereby you've got everyone in the world standing around breathlessly to see if you can get the shot. This lens is for those "easy inserts" that you could never get before because you couldn't get in close enough. And for those. . . it's just utterly killer.

Once I get my Birger updated, I'll do a "jump test" on all 9 of my lenses. My guess? I'll be able to make all of them jump under the right (wrong?) circumstances.

Stephen
 
That is what I meant to say. However I also see a 100mm as a very appealing length for CUs. I often like like the look of a 100m over an 85mm and it would add a little something extra for key moments.

Please share your results Stephen. I am very interested in your findings with your particular lens set.
 
Well, Roberto, I, personally, would feel very comfortable using this lens (the 100mm macro) for close-ups in situations I didn't have to worry about a rather slow lens. My fumble fingers would blow a shot on a pull at least as often as the jumps I'm experiencing with the Birger.

Stephen
 
Hi Stephen,

yes the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro is in deed an excellent lens, definitely a great value of money and quality considering the $500 price tag.

I must say that my experience has shown me that the extra dollars ( almost triple at about $1,350) spent for the bigger brother, the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro, will give you far better results then you can possibly imagine, especially when considering the sharpness of the 180 which is almost at par of the super sharp 135L, considered by every photographer one of the sharpest if not the sharpest lens in the Canon Eos series.

But one of my favorites aspects of the 180 vs. the 100 is not only the power of resolve that has on Macro shots, but its Bokeh, sharp objects and lines are great in the 100 but to me the out of focus blur created by the 180 has no equals in any other Macro I ever used in my now almost thirty years of Photography.


Again the 100 is a great lens and great value, but if you are truly after the absolute best Macro lens from Canon, you must consider the 180 with no reservation for $$.

NOTE: I can't post any pics and even if I could there is no need for it, as the net is full of pics of both the 100 and 180 Macro lenses, (just not on the RED ONE).

ciao
 
Hi there, Ketch. . .

You may be right about that 180. . . I've never used it, but I do have and love the new 180mm f2.8L USM Mk II. That's a doll of a lens for sure.

Be well. . .

Stephen
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
Hi there, Ketch. . .

You may be right about that 180. . . I've never used it, but I do have and love the new 180mm f2.8L USM Mk II. That's a doll of a lens for sure.

Be well. . .

Stephen
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Hey Stephen,

yes you are right the 180L is lots of $, but on a RED I will always try to use the best, in Canon lenses and Macro that would be the 180, off course the 100 remains an excellent lens, lighter, smaller, and about three times less expensive, a great deal and a great lens.

BTW, you made a small typo error, there is no 180 II out yet, in the works but not out, the one you have hast to be the EF 200mm f/2.8L II, or I'm calling Canon now and tell them that I should have received the Prototype of the new:001_tt2: 180 before you

ciao
 
No. You're right. . . it's the 200. My error. I had a 180 Nikon I just sold, and got the two confused.

What new Canon prototypes in the Mk II format can you tell us about?

:-)

Stephen
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
No. You're right. . . it's the 200. My error. I had a 180 Nikon I just sold, and got the two confused.

What new Canon prototypes in the Mk II format can you tell us about?

:-)

Stephen
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hehe, I tough so.

The new M II of the T&S lenses are absolutely stunning both the 17 and the 24, just amazing lenses which I can see do tremendous great things on any RED.

There is some speculation on the imminent arrival of the new 135 II and the Macro 180 II to be also faster from 3.5 to 2.8, and off course the most anticipated upgrades on the zoom side are the new 24-7o II (possibly also with the same or updated IS as the 24-105, and even a IS (inner focusing ) like the 70-200, and the 70-200 IS II with updated IS and better control for flaring, and breathing.

Please note that the above are not statements of facts, are just speculations and rumors coming from sources close to Canon but not directly from Canon it self.

ciao
 
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