Looking to buy a Macro lens to shoot food for a Canon EOS 70D

yessehm said:

I plan to shoot a lot of close ups of food, including wedding cakes, bread, pies, etc..

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As your subjects are static all you really need is an point and shoot with a macro mode and a tripod.

Put the camera on tripod. Use a long exposure at low ISO and a timed release to avoid shake.

Ideally you'd use controlled lighting, but not essential depending on end-use of images.

yessehm said:

Hi,

I am looking to buy a Macro lens to shoot food for my new Canon EOS 70D.

There are so many options and the prices are so high, that I really need advise on the right one so that I make the right decision.

I plan to shoot a lot of close ups of food, including wedding cakes, bread, pies, etc..

All help and advise will be so welcome.

Thanks,

Click to expand...

You want to shoot food for your Canon? Sounds a bit boring, doesn't it? If your Canon is comparable to my Oly, its appetite is probably also limited to memory cards and batteries, not really interesting subjects to shoot! :-D

As an Oly shooter I can't help you with modern Canon macro lenses, sorry.

All I can add here is that when it comes to macro where AF isn't really that important, to save a few bucks you could also look for some of the good old manual Macro lenses from the 70s and 80s, usually in the 90 and 100/105mm range.

Build quality usually much better than all the modern plastic-electric AF stuff, the pleasure already starts when touching something like an old Kiron 105/2.8 1:1 macro lens! Or the great Vivitar S1 Tokina made 90/2.5 macro, the famous "Bokina". Or something like a Vivitar 135/2.8 Close Focus, etc., etc.

Also a good idea to maybe look for a bit more than 50mm, even on a crop body; much nicer to have a bit more working distance when it comes to bugs and bees! For close-ups (not real macro) of e.g. butterflies I even prefer an old manual 180/2.8 Nikkor lens on the Oly, that would be 360mm in FF.

Absolutely not an expert on macro, but I could imagine with your intended shots it is not only about the lens but also about the entire set-up, lighting, etc.

RS

For food photography you probably want a short focal length macro lens like 30mm. If you want to shoot plates of food in a restaurant, or a large wedding cake in a tight venue, you won't have room to stand far back enough with a 90mm lens.

AFAIK the kit lens will focus close enough to make sharp pictures of food unless you photograph single petits fours.

Why do you want a macro lens? Getting a tripod and maybe a few speedlights, light stands and modifiers would be a better investment IMHO.

yessehm said:

yessehm wrote:
I am looking to buy a Macro lens to shoot food for my new Canon EOS 70D.

Click to expand...

Canon makes the EF-S 60mm macro. I'm unclear whether you'll actually need really close-up macro for food. Perhaps the kit lens will work ok?

yessehm said:

Hi,

I am looking to buy a Macro lens to shoot food for my new Canon EOS 70D.

There are so many options and the prices are so high, that I really need advise on the right one so that I make the right decision.

I plan to shoot a lot of close ups of food, including wedding cakes, bread, pies, etc..

All help and advise will be so welcome.

Thanks,

Click to expand...

depends on the budget but lighting will be more of a factor in pics of food. look at the Tamron 90mm 2.8 macro, Canon 100mm 2.8, 60mm 2.8

D Cox said:

So that is what I suggest. Find out the filter size of your kit lens, then look on Amazon for a set of four closeup lenses. It will cost the price of a good bottle of wine.

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That should cover anything you need.