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Hurray for the Canon EF-S 60mm Macro

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byteseller

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Five reason to love this great lens:

We often get requests for macro lens recommendations on the forum -- here's 5 reason why I chose to buy and use this great lens. All photos take with one of two EF-S 60mm lenses, many more can be found in:

http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/macro

To see a larger image of each, CLICK on the link below the thumbnail.

1. It's sharp, very sharp (this is true for almost all macros, but it still should be said):



http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/image/52649849

or see the 100% crop insert (lower right) showing a tiny mite on a daddy-longlegs' leg:



http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/image/71242202

2. You can use the onboard flash[ B] even at 1:1 WITHOUT casting a shadow on your subject - not many macro lenses can be used this way. Macro specialists seem to frown on shooting this way, but there's many a photo I would have never taken if I had to be carrying lots of extra gear and weight -- the surest way to screw up a photo is to never take it.

I think the built in flash can do very well used in conjunction with this lens-- you be the judge.



http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/image/86129931

3. Some prefer longer (heavier and bigger) macro lenses, but I find this to be a very nice length on my 1.6X body. An added benefit is that on a crop body this makes for a very nice portrait lens[ B] without having to be 20 yards from your subject:



http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/image/83119023

4. The lens is very sharp even wide open[ B] (obviously within the very shallow depth of field) and has great bokeh. This is not true of many macro lenses:



http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/image/79071462

5. Focus is quick, quiet, internal and can be manually over-ridden[ B], all which allows you to get in close to some subjects that would be spooked by other lenses "buzzy" sounding focus systems or extending front elements:



http://www.pbase.com/pyanez/image/71877193

The list could easily be longer, but 5 is a nice number.

Cheers
 
thanks for the post, that one's on my shortlist...and it just moved up a couple of notches. I was looking at the 100 macro, but I think this is a much better call to double as portrait lens. Thanks for the info about the flash too...very useful. A mite on a spiders leg...are you frickin kidding me? wow
 
Nice list and great examples - thanks for posting! I hadn't thought about the onboard flash benefit. I have the Canon 180mm and it has its uses but I wanted something light to use on the 40D so I ordered the 60mm.

The 60mm just arrived - If you can believe it, it was mailed in a thin, padded envelope!! It was a scary sight - the lens box had been crushed so much that the bottom was blown out and the lens was floating around free in the envelope! I should just return it but I guess I will test it first and if it works ok then I will keep it. I hate the hassle of returning stuff and the next one will probably arrive in worse shape :) Keeping my fingers crossed.....

--
Rachel
CATS member #51 > ^..^
Hummingbird Hunter #6
 
It is an excellent lens. Indeed my copy seems marginally sharper than my 100 mm f/2.8 macro. The contrast, color, resolution, lack of geometric distortion, flare resistance, and flat field of focus are all great. The barrel doesn’t extend or rotate when focusing. It does have some slight CA wide open that I don’t see with the 100 mm.

One thing that seems to be missed when evaluating this lens is its excellent working distance to focal length ratio. Although in general increasing focal length will give you a greater working distance, the Tamron 90 mm macro has less than a centimetre more working distance than the EF-S 60 mm at maximum magnification.

I just wish it had been a EF instead of EF-S lens.

Brian A.
 
byteseller said:
Who the heck mailed it that way? I hope it wasn't a "professional"
reseller.
Click to expand...
No suprise, it was Dell. I had a coupon and saved a little $$ :) Packaging from all the retailers I use has gotten a little shabby lately (except for Adorama) but this was the worst I have seen!

--
Rachel
CATS member #51 > ^..^
Hummingbird Hunter #6
 
Hugo,

You're absolutely right people often say that it doesn't give you enough working distance, that working this close will scare critters, etc. Unless you move to something like a 180mm or 150mm macro the differences in working distance are (IMHO) trivial and far offset by often not having to work with a mono or tripod, extra flashes lights, etc

I've found that nothing scares a critter away like trying to set up a studio next to where they are sitting.

BTW - I think Canon does make an EF version of this lens, it's called the 100mm Macro :-)

I think the gains in size and weight can only be made because of the smaller sensors - you'd have to violate some laws of physics to build this exact lens (effective) for a larger sensor at the same weight and length.
 
byteseller said:
Hugo,

You're absolutely right people often say that it doesn't give you
enough working distance, that working this close will scare critters,
etc. Unless you move to something like a 180mm or 150mm macro the
differences in working distance are (IMHO) trivial and far offset by
often not having to work with a mono or tripod, extra flashes lights,
etc
Click to expand...
This is exactly right. I have had the 100mm macro and I still use the 180mm macro. Shooting with the 180 can be like setting up a studio :) I love the set up and will still use it a lot but now I have something for when I want an easy grab macro shot.
byteseller said:
I've found that nothing scares a critter away like trying to set up a
studio next to where they are sitting.

BTW - I think Canon does make an EF version of this lens, it's called
the 100mm Macro :-)
Click to expand...
The 100mm is an excellent lens - worth every penny!

Because I already had the 180mm, I wanted something flexable, light weight and convenient. The 60mm is said to be as good as the 100mm in image quality - I can't wait to find out :)
--
Rachel
CATS member #51 > ^..^
Hummingbird Hunter #6
 
byteseller said:
Hugo,
I think the gains in size and weight can only be made because of the
smaller sensors - you'd have to violate some laws of physics to build
this exact lens (effective) for a larger sensor at the same weight
and length.
Click to expand...
Oh if it were only true. Nikon have a really nice 60 mm that is small and works on full frame. With a 12 mm extension tube, the EF-S 60 mm also works on EF mount cameras.

Brian A.
 
Your right Nikon makes a 60mm, and Sigma a 50mm macro. My point was that on a full size body the 60mm would not "behave" like the 60m lens on one of the 1.6x canon bodies and that in a lot of ways the Canon 100mm is the equivalent lens for a full size camera.

The Nikon 60mm is a good lens, but it's design is very old, much more like the old Canon 50mm f2.5, both of which have slow, fairly noisy focus systems and extend significantly when focusing. I do like the design of the newer Nikon 105mm VR with the fast silent focus and no extension, but then again it costs 3X as much, and weighs significantly more (2X?). The VR function is great for non-macro photography, but in my testing and from what I've heard from others it really does not do much once you get down to 1:1.
 
byteseller wrote:
The VR function is great for non-macro
byteseller said:
photography, but in my testing and from what I've heard from others
it really does not do much once you get down to 1:1.
Click to expand...
Yes, and it is obvious from this that the main component of “shake” at or near 1:1' is along the axis, not the lateral and angular motion that can be corrected by VR/IS.

My question is: why did Canon make the 60 mm lens an EF-S? It works just fine on my 5D with 12 mm of extension showing no obvious vignetting. Looking at the rear of the lens, it would seem that half this much extension would be enough to clear the mirror. I am sure there must be a reason why it was optically better to have the short back focus. other than just saving a few millimeters in the length of the lens.

Brian A.
 
I bought this gem of a lens as my second lens after the kit lens with 400D & got some really nice Macro photos like flowers, insects & believe me Butterflies though the working distance was too narrow.

Also a very sharp for head portraits.

BTW, after getting the new 17-55 IS, I have lost the appetiite for this lens for none of the problems in the lens.
---------------------------------------------------------
Canon XTi
ef-s 17-55 IS 2.8, ef-s 18-55, ef-s 60mm Macro
 
Don't extension ring use the central portion of the image captured by the primary lens, thereby getting rid of the corners that would otherwise be vignetted? I haven't used extension in a while, but as I recall you loose some light (depending on the extension length) when using them.

Or is that only the case with teleconverters?

On the otherhand the vignetting problem maybe would be worse on a full body camera when focused on infinity?

Long ago when I had a 10D I put out a manual of sorts for people to modify their 18-55 lenses for the 10D (which did not accept EF-S) which was pretty popular:

http://members.cox.net/byteseller/EFS-WEB/EFS-WEB.html

(wow I just checked and it still googles almost at the top of the page :-)

But I've never heard of anyone modifying a 60mm this way -- seems like too nice of a lens to go whacking with a hacksaw as I did in my modification of the 18-55mm -- I wonder if anyone has attempted this?
 
byteseller said:
Don't extension ring use the central portion of the image captured by
the primary lens, thereby getting rid of the corners that would
otherwise be vignetted?
Click to expand...
Not as far as I understand it. The extension tube shifts the focusing range allowing closer focusing but losing longer distant focusing.
byteseller said:
I haven't used extension in a while, but as I
recall you loose some light (depending on the extension length) when
using them.
Click to expand...
The extension causes a change in the effective focal length of the lens, which changes the effective aperture and this shows up as a apparent light loss at the sensor (and a dimmer image in the viewfinder). But it is over the whole image, it isn’t an edge thing.

You get the same apparent light loss even with a dedicated macro lens when focused at 1:1. For example, both the EF-S 60 mm and the 100 mm f/2.8 will require “two stops” more exposure at minimum focus than at normal shooting distances.
byteseller said:
On the otherhand the vignetting problem maybe would be worse on a
full body camera when focused on infinity?
Click to expand...
Maybe, but I doubt it. But there is no way to tell with an extension tube mounted, since you lose the ability to focus anywhere near infinity.
byteseller said:
Long ago when I had a 10D I put out a manual of sorts for people to
modify their 18-55 lenses for the 10D (which did not accept EF-S)
which was pretty popular:

http://members.cox.net/byteseller/EFS-WEB/EFS-WEB.html

(wow I just checked and it still googles almost at the top of the
page :-)

But I've never heard of anyone modifying a 60mm this way -- seems
like too nice of a lens to go whacking with a hacksaw as I did in my
modification of the 18-55mm -- I wonder if anyone has attempted this?
Click to expand...
Not something I would want to try with either lens. I will leave that for those braver souls.

Brian A.
 
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