Macro: Canon 180mm 3.5 vs Sigma 150mm 2.8 +/- OS

[Bagginz]

Would wait for the new Macro from Sigma
--
E.J.W
http://ejwadddel.smugmug.com/

 

[Eugene Powers]

Sigma 150mm EX has 4 years of warranty as long as you buy it from Sigma dealer.
Buy it with AMEX and get one more year.
--
Eugene

The only time a smaller sensor with the same pixel count is superior to a larger sensor (aka higher pixel density) is when you are focal-length limited.

Quote by Lee Jay

 

[botw]

The Tamron 180 is also an exceptional 180 macro lens at a fraction of the cost of the Canon. Not quite the build quality, but every bit its equal, if not better in IQ.

I love the 100L. I don't know whether I get more than 1 stop or not when hand-holding macro shots, but it definitely helps. It helps tremendously, in my opinion, in steadying the viewfinder enough to aid in focusing.

 

[fred vachss]

Not exactly the OP's question, but I found that when I had a single macro lens the 100mm focal length was a good jack-of-all-trades. Once I got a 65mm MPE it satisfied all my macro needs in situations when I could get close to the subject. What was left was those situations when long working distance was required. For this I've found the 180L to be very effective - and now much more useful to me than the 100/2.8.

 

[Bill MacBeth]

What do you want to photograph with the macro lens?

• If flies, spiders, and small flowers, a shorter macro is better.
• If you want to photograph butterflies and dragon flies which generally won't let you get as close, a longer macro is better. The longer FL also works for clusters of flowers.

Check out the work in the Macro/Close Up Thread , and the Flower, Foliage & Fungi Thread in the Canon SLR Lens Forum. That may help you decide on the subject matter.

A good starter macro is something that works over the 1X to infinity focus range, and will have value other than as a macro lens.

Regards, Bill

 

[NancyP]

I have to say that the MP-E lens is a blast to use. When I got it home, I put it on a tabletop tripod and putzed around with photographing items on my desk, mostly at 1.5 to 2x, with a variety of lighting techniques and colored reflectors and background. I had great fun taking abstract photos of a metal mini-slinky toy, a metallic charm on one of my flash-drives, etc. I can't believe that people hand-hold this lens and get sharp shots at 2x or greater. Medical specimen photography at 4x magnification was more challenging - focus stacking might be required to fully capture some textures. I can see that my next DIY project will be making a cheap mini-stage to adjust specimen plane to parallel camera sensor plane. It's easier to adjust specimen plane at lower magnification with bits of damp paper towel, etc, but for 4x, I ended up shoving single 2mm squares of towel under one edge of the specimen - pain in butt if you want to have towel out of sight. (Dental wax is fantabulous but is hard to remove from lucite copystand stage).

 

[NancyP]

Subjects:
abstract compositions of textures, shapes in nature and in man-made objects
flowers
butterflies and dragonflies
"studio" documentation of a few unusual old coins
recognizable fossils, rocks
medical specimens (for teaching)

I have the Canon 60mm f2.8 and MP-E 65 for "studio" photography, and for hand-held outdoors shooting (60mm only). I was fortunate that nice used lenses became available. The other lens should be one of the 150 or 180mm lenses, which would also be useful for a fast-ish medium telephoto. My walkabout lens, the 15-85mm, is slow and thus it is hard to blur out unwanted background.

 

[fred vachss]

I can't believe that people hand-hold this lens and get sharp shots at 2x or greater.

You'll be surprised how high a mag you can do handheld after some practice with the MPE. Stabilizing your left hand (or holding the subject in the same hand as the lens so that they move in tandem) can help a lot.