Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 2.1 x 2.1 inches ; 1.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B00004XOM3
• Item model number: 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #21 in	Camera & Photo > Lenses > SLR Camera Lenses
  #23 in	Camera & Photo > Lenses > Digital Camera Lenses
  #31 in	Camera & Photo > Accessories > Film Camera Accessories

• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Bring small things into full-sized view with the Canon EF 100mm macro USM lens. Macro lenses can uncover detail that would be impossible to detect by the eye and give new perspective to extremely minute subjects such as insects or the petals of a small flower, and this lens is no exception. The lens offers such features as a three-group floating system for exceptional close-up performance; a secondary diaphragm that blocks stray light at f/2.8, which increases contrast when shooting wide open; a ultra-sonic monitor (USM) that provides outstanding autofocusing speed at all focusing distances; a wide manual focusing ring with smooth action; and full-time manual focus even in AF mode. The first lens in its class to feature inner focusing, the lens carries a one-year warranty.

• Focal length: 100mm
• Maximum aperture: 1:2.8
• Lens construction: 12 elements in 8 groups
• Diagonal angle of view: 24 degrees
• Focus adjustment: Inner focusing system with USM
• Closest focusing distance: 1 foot (film plane to subject)
• Filter size: 58mm
• Dimensions: 3.1 inches in diameter, 4.7 inches long
• Weight: 21.1 ounces

Product Description

This telephoto macro lens is capable of focusing to life-size (1X) without attachments. Although it replaces the EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, it is a completely new design. It incorporates a ring-type USM giving quiet, high-speed autofocus. The full-time mechanical manual focus gives very smooth manual focusing. For the first time in a 1X focusing telephoto macro lens, inner focusing is used.The lens length remains constant and a long working distance of 149mm makes worrying about getting too close to the subject unnecessary. Also, during focusing the front ring does not rotate making use of front-mounting accessories like macro ring lites simple and effective. "Three-group floating" focusing construction uses three independently moving groups, which holds focusing-related changes of aberrations to a minimum giving excellent image quality all the way from infinity to life size.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

333 of 337 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent lens for the budding nature photographer, December 15, 2004

By	Scott Burgess (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Prospective buyers of a macro lens for a Canon EOS system can't make a better first choice than this 100mm Macro. The extra length over a 50mm macro gives much better working distance (space between lens and subject) in the field, and EOS-compatible lenses by other manufacturers match poorly with accessories and are nowhere near as sharp.

Compared with the earlier Micro motor 100mm Macro that Canon made (which I also own), the USM lens focuses *very* fast. The USM lens also can accept a tripod collar (by use of a small plastic adapter)--I recommend you buy the collar with the lens, as adjusting to a vertical composition with a tripod means repositioning everything. The front element is not recessed in the USM model, which makes lens cleaning easier. And build quality is improved--the earlier model was prone to its switches breaking (could fix it yourself with the ordered part, but really annoying) and eventually the Micro motor gearing gave out (no trouble so far with the USM ring motor). The USM model will work with Canon's 2x teleconverter by interposing a 12mm extension tube, allowing 2x magnification with lots of working distance.

I will quibble with another reviewer--Canon does make sharper lenses (notably their 90mm tilt-shift lens, which is a better choice for studio product photography), and sharpness compared with the earlier model is virtually the same. But this is still one of the sharpest lenses you can buy, and ergonomically a huge improvement over its predecessor.

If you are building up a set of lenses for outdoor/nature photography and you do occasional macrophotography, this might be the first or second lens to buy. If you work significantly at magnifications greater than 1:1, consider the Canon 65mm 1x-5x Macro zoom (which I can push to a decent 10x with the teleconverter).

205 of 208 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely versatile lens., January 7, 2005

By	Richard B. Williams "huge nerd" (Los Alamos, NM USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the lens I leave on my camera for general purpose use. At non-macro focus distances, it is a very fast lens in a convenient short-telephoto length. The images are sharp out to the corners. This is one of those great Canon lenses that probably deserves an L-series rating but is available without the red stripe and exorbitant cost.

Tested in an astrophotography context (point sources on black backgrounds - excellent for revealing aberration and coma), I have found that this lens is reasonably sharp at f/4 and completely sharp by f/5.6. For daylight terrestrial photography, the tiny aberrations caused by the wide-open f/2.8 aperture are hardy noticeable and by f/4 the images are exquisitely sharp.

There is a lot of glass in this lens - it is heavy. I highly recommend buying the tripod collar as it allows you to attach the camera and lens to a tripod or ballhead with much better balance.

Also, if you plan on using the macro functionality, keep in mind that the effective f-stop of the lens goes way up when you're focusing at very close range. At 15cm from the front surface, it performs as though it were an f/9. You'll either want a lot of light or a very steady subject and a good tripod (another reason to buy the hideously overpriced tripod collar).

140 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharp, versatile and a bargain, January 29, 2006

By	G. Clark "hogwallow" (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The 100 f/2.8 macro is very sharp, even for general shooting, so it works great for portraits, too. When I'm not using a zoom, this is my walkaround lens for people, relatively tight scenes and even indoor sports. Think of it as a great lens that also shoots macro than the other way around. Hard to beat that versatility at the price.

But it comes into its own at close distances. If you've never had a macro lens, you'll run around shooting everything in sight because everything looks new from a macro perspective.

Canon has several macro lenses. I prefer the 100 mm over shorter lenses because I don't have to get quite as close to that bee or wasp. The 180 mm gives you even more distance from your subject, more background blur and amazing sharpness. But it's much more expensive and in most cases you'll need a tripod, and I shoot a lot of improptu macros as I'm hiking.

For extreme closeups with larger-than-life images, there's the MP-E 65. It goes up to 5X, compared to the 100mm's 1X, but you lose autofocus with this lens. In fact, you set your magnification and then move the camera until the object is in focus! As you get beyond about 2X, the viewfinder gets fairly dark. If you're doing still life macro work, it's amazing. I'll probably get one someday for shooting my mineral colletion.

One thing to keep in mind with any macro is that because of the close distances, you're often in lower light conditions. Althought it's fairly pricey, I'm using the MT-24 EX, which lets you adjust the direction of the twin flashes. The MR-14EX ring light is a couple hundred dollars cheaper but will produce a slightly flatter image. And you can always use one of the standard flashes, though the closeness of your subject may cause some odd shadows.