DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Shots from the back garden, R7 and RF 100mm Macro or 100-500L

Started 6 months ago | Photos thread
OP JayLT4 Regular Member • Posts: 288
Re: Shots from the back garden, R7 and RF 100mm Macro or 100-500L

david31 wrote:

Great shots.

I am being advised to get a macro lens for a trip to Costa Rica but I am not convinced. I think a 100-500 would be more flexible and useful.

Do you have a shot using the 100mm macro and the 100-500 taken from the same distance? I am interested to see how the subject fills the frame. It's virtually impossible to get close to butterflies before they fly off so 100-500 seems a better choice. Stationary subjects that don't run away the 100 macro is probably the better choice.

What do you think?

If you're shooting from the same distance, the 100-500 would likely be the clear winner, unless you can get a lot closer then it's MFD allows, in which case the macro lens might be a better choice.

For larger insects, butterflies specifically, I almost always use the 100-500.  If using it with the R5 I'll even add the 1.4x extender, as long as there's enough light.  And while the macro lens has a much brighter wide-open aperture, you likely won't be able to shoot at 2.8 as the depth-of-field will be too shallow.  I usually stop down to at least f/5.6-f/8 unless stacking is an option.

If you could only choose one lens, then the 100-500 might be a better choice.  However if I was taking a trip there I would be packing both the 100-500 and the 100mm macro.

-- hide signature --
 JayLT4's gear list:JayLT4's gear list
Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.5 1-5x Macro Canon EF 16-35mm F4L IS USM +4 more
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow